'I met Elerewe's palace in ruins'

       How I became the Elerewe  of Owo Kingdom  (PART 1)

      ...... We have 11 Courtyards and 40 rooms
       ....... Elerewes' wives cook food while naked

        ...... There were  Slaves' rooms 

  This interview was conducted two years ago immediately after his enthronement.The newly enthroned chief despite being busy that night  still granted  this interview.


         For  High Chief  Ilori Tunde Elerewe , the road  to the throne has not been an  easy one. However, he said ''I  give thanks to   the great Elerewe  family who believe in me, the Olowo of Owo, HIM Oba (Dr) DVF Olateru - Olagbegi III (CFR),  the Owo people at large  who supported me  throughout the struggle and to God almighty''.
 Elerewe made reference to Alexander the Great and said ''when Alexander left Memphis and crossed the Nile by a bridge ....and at Tyre he did honour to Heracles by religious celebrations and games but for me when I got to the throne  I gave honour to God the Alpha and Omega, the Omniscience  and Omnipotent''.
     He continued  ''I thank God for everything for my installment ,I thank the noble family of Elerewe  and  the Olowo  of Owo , His Imperial Majesty Oba  (Dr) David Victor  Folagbade Olateru -Olagbegi III (CFR). Olowo is  a man of integrity , he believes in justice, fair play and equity .He stood by his words .He is a man of his words who  has the character of God in him.Having weighed all the contestants and  family support and with his prerogative power  I was made the Elerewe of Owo Kingdom. Above all I thank God Almighty for He is God''.

            


                      CHALLENGES
      The High Chief  said coming to the throne was not an easy task as he   faced many obstacles , he said ''If I start counting to  you all the problems I went through  I will still be counting till tomorrow morning.  I faced a lot of pressure, antics, physical and spiritual attacks  but I thank God  and I give glory to God that He was with me throughout .He is still with me and will be with me forever. I have nothing but Him . He led me as He led the Israelites. When there was no light He gave me light ,and  when danger loomed  He  made me crossed the Red Sea unscathed . I worship Him . I give adoration to Him''.

          THE PAST ELEREWES
 When asked to talk about  his predecessors ,  he started  counting off hand , he said ''the  last  Elerewe died seven years ago, and by God's grace I am the present Elerewe. Before I ascended the throne  we had  Elerewe Aketi, Olubobare, Adesunloye, Adekanye, Olakunori , Ojo, , an interim,  Awoba and me . I have the full stories of them all and  I will let you know later. Infact I will write a book on this for the unborn generation to  know all our ancestors.''


        THE PALACE  HAS BEEN DESECRATED
      The High Chief said he  was moved to tears  when he  got to the palace  and found the place in a total mess  , he said  ''When  I came to this  Palace  here I met this place in total wreck '', as he said this , he  looked up, shook  head  and with nostalgia he said ''When I got here the day  I was installed I shed tears. I knew how I left  this place and I met it in ruins'' . he stood up and showed this reporter what had been destroyed and what he had quickly put in place .
  With voice laden with pity , he said  ''a lot of taboos were broken like where I  am backing now.  Again there is a place called ile Oru,  of which  they have turned  to toilet.Ile oru is a sacred place for Elerewe, not only this, the sacred kitchen too has been turned to soak away, this was a place where Elerewe's food was being prepared , and this was a special sacred place the wives would prepare his food in their  total nakedness but has been  converted  to soak away''.
   The  High Chief who is versatile  in Culture and and rich in  history  describes  how big the  Elerewe Palace is with many courtyards saying ''Elerewe's Palace is the second largest palace in Owo'', he started counting  ''we have 11 courtyards and 40 rooms, we have other sacred rooms like Ugha Oju Ebo and this is where any Elerewe that passed on is being buried , there is Ugha Awosiken ,Ugha Keji, Ugha Eyinode, Ugha Nla, Ugha Awosupen, Odo Ugha, Ugha Uli Ase, Ugha Uli Orun, Ugha Akete, and many more'',  he said as he adjusted his beautiful and  most precious coral beads the Kabiyesi Olowo of Owo decorated him with which is specifically meant for the most respectable , honourable and envious  among the highest chieftaincy  titles in Owo Kingdom.
Elerewe  explained further about the sacred rooms ''There  is Uli Oru , and this is  a room without a window , it is always dark and this is where any spiritual .. prayer is done'', he continued with confidence but with total conviction and humility , he said '' if a dead child is taken into the room  the child would come back alive,  even he is going to die again but he will still revive and live !'', he described the place , ''the place is always dark it has no window , it is always a dreadful place and this is where the babalawos enter into if ..
Asked whether he is not  afraid  of all these places?
but the man in  total confidence responded  ''No, never. I  was born here and I grew up  in the palace here . My late father, Ojo  Elerewe showed all these things to me  likewise my grandmother , I mean my father's mother who was  one of the wives of Elerewe Olakunori . My grandmother was very old before she passed on some years ago and I  had been  equipped by them all and they had given me   both oral and written history and documents''.

           I WILL SET UP A MINI MUSEUM
      The Chief raised his voice and went  straight to the point when asked what he would do to restore the Palace, he said  ''I  have come to put in my best and restore lost  glory.I have come to put many things in place  and to right the wrong .I have come to correct the anomalies . Look (pointing) there are many works to be done here. With what I found here I am not happy at all. I am not happy at all with all what I met on the ground .My prayer is  that God should give me the grace, ability and  power to repair all these. I have contacted many people , I  have consulted the old men in the community with the support of the  family  on what  other things to do. Now I have from my own pocket repaired many things here . I cannot watch the family house , a big one for that matter to become a pack of mockery, it is painful. Do you know who Elerewe is in Owo Kingdom?. It is a big name . And please pray for me to be successful. .
''You see, during my father's days he used to receive visitors who were  Art Historians like Professor Rowland Abiodun , and researchers from overseas to know the History of this place . The  University students, lecturers and professors would come here for research and thank God  I have all what it takes to dish out for  whoever comes now , so we have to bring all those things that have lost here  back . We have to  operate a small museum   here and put all our forefathers' antiquities  and relics here for those who want to do research. I still have some of the written books infact I  have plans to put all these in a written form. Do you know this is not how this place was before? . We have  old pictures and these pictures would make stories.We must not forget our culture and tradition.
''I am going to set a mini museum here  , all the paraphernalia of Elerewes will be there ,all the photographs of the past Elerewes have to be here. We have some other things to put in place and I think before long I would have gotten to a point''.

   
                 THE SLAVE ROOMS
     Reminded that his grandfather  and great grandfather had  slaves in the compound and what will he do with some of the rooms ,  the young man nodded in acceptance. He went into inner room and brought out some old notes with cursive hand writings , and said  ''Yes I learnt there were slaves my grandfather had rooms for them  but they no longer exist. They  gained their freedom long time ago''.
''Do you want to have?'',he was asked. ''No, it was in the olden days they had slaves , in  this modern times nobody has slaves again. and i don't believe in that for we all born free!


              SACRED ROOMS 
  The Chief speaks about some rooms one must not  enter , according to him ''We have about seven here or more sacred rooms  .One is called Uli  Ase ( Kitchen) this is where the Elerewe's  food is being prepared and the wives  must not wear  any clothes at all . I mean the wives  must be naked  while preparing his food . Again  all doors leading to his dining  must be closed while  the High  Chief is eating  and the wives must  all be naked'', asked whether he would practice it , the High Chief laughed and said '' Ah, in this civilized  world  I can not  practise this.And the world  ha changed ''.
  As he said this he went inside and brought out  about 40  old , torn and dirty exercise books , big notes and official papers of over 60years old . Surely this man has  fully equipped and prepared himself for the throne.

     TO BE CONTINUED