By Omo Bewaji Ofokutu
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
- George Santayana
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, on 30th September 1938, after signing the Munich Agreement by which Britain, France and Italy allowed Adolf Hitler to take control of a part of Czechoslovakia, got off the plane from Munich, holding up a piece of paper which, he said, represented ‘peace in our time’ and ‘peace with honour’.
At that time, many people believed that he was right, and that the Munich Agreement had saved Europe from war! But, in March 1939, Hitler took all of Czechoslovakia. And, in September of the same year, the Second World War began - when Poland was invaded. Chamberlain’s confident declarations of peace are now remembered with great bitterness at his ineptitude and supineness.
In the present outrage, the Ijesa are being administered a sleeping potion which not a few are eager to swallow in order to dull the pain of the destruction of their most sacred institution; unfortunately, not by a foreign invader, but by a local satrap!
Ofokutu
What is most outrageous and insulting is this appeal coming from Yinka Fasuyi, as if he didn't know what was going on before the evil was perpetrated. Indeed, from the way the narrative was being manipulated, one could simply conclude that Fasuyi was part of those who colluded to desecrate the throne of Owa Obokun of Ijesaland. Why else would he write his soporific, pleading for the Omo Oyes to accept the premeditated obliteration of our sacred throne?
Make no mistake, there are many throughout history who had chosen the path of acquiescence, of course, to their eternal regret. Fortunately for Ijesa, there have always been brave stalwarts who rejected such blandishments. I imagine there must have been some supine Ijesa who would have counseled the acceptance of domination by the all-conquering Ibadan war machine in the 19th Century. But Ogedengbe, Arimoro and others would have none of that! Now, the people proudly sing “Ijesa re, arogun yo…" What would you be singing now if our ancestors had cringed as we are now being advised to do?
It is very difficult to see how any right thinking or self-respecting Ijesa son or daughter, not to talk of prince or princess, can accept this gross violation of the throne of Owa.
So, Yinka Fasuyi should go and peddle his snake oil somewhere else!
Omo Bewaji Ofokutu,
Ilesa, Osun State.