feel qualified to offer this advice for many reasons. As an Akure prince and a grand child of Deji Afunbiowo who is one out of the 6 units making up the Ojijigogun Ruling House, and as a great great grand child of Deji Ojijigogun, and a nephew to Deji Agunsoye, Deji Otutubiosun and Deji Ataiyese, I have had more than a casual interest in the Deji as an institution for more than 60 years now. As a certified historian by education and training, I have done extensive research on the Institution and I have authored the first biography ever written on Deji Afunbiowo, who by general acclamation, is regarded as the most benevolent Deji of all times. I have done a comparative research on the Deji and other traditional rulers in Nigeria like. I have studied the role of king makers before the Afunbiowo era and after. I have seen a yawning gap between the two generations of king makers and how they viewed their duties and responsibilities.

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We have to give credit to the pre Afunbiowo era king makers for not committing some of the blunders many of the post Afunbiowo era king makers have committed in Akure despite their education and more civilized exposure. The older generation of king makers were not driven by an insatiable desire to make money out of the selection exercise. They did take their traditional kola like their current peers but they did not live or die by it or base their selection on the highest bidder like the current king makers did when they all backed Ileri Oluwa until they were forced by circumstances beyond their control to abandon him at the last minute after he was disowned by his own family and in large part because he was very unpopular with the rank and file of Akure people at home and abroad. They allowed Ileri Oluwa to perform all the traditional rites of passage that should have led to his coronation regardless of what the great majority of Akure people were saying about him.

The current king makers committed their second blunder when they picked the deposed Deji without doing their home work, and when they all looked the other way or failed to raise any objection when the Agagu Government rail-roaded them into selecting the man and having the man desecrate Akure tradition and customs by rushing his presentation of his staff of office before his going back to start performing those rites in a haphazard manner. The Agagu Government had deliberately delayed appointing a new Deji until it has rubber stamped the elevation of the Osolo and the Iralepo to traditional rulers in Akure during an interregnum knowing fully well that the then Regent was just too powerless to stop the Government.

The Agagu Government had taken undue advantage of the feud or rift between the then Regent and Akure Council of Chiefs led by the Olisa to push thru their own agenda. By the time the new Deji came on board, he had become too much of a stooge of Government to challenge the same Government that has rushed his coronation for their own selfish interest, The deposed Deji was just too inexperienced and naive to know how best to begin to reclaim his independence from the Agagu Government. He saw a little window of opportunity when Mimiko and the Labor Party were swept to power in Ondo State but he went about asserting his authority the wrong way, and by so doing, he became so dictatorial, power-drunk and temperamental to differentiate between foolhardiness and bravery. He was behaving more like a thug who did not fully understand the full ramifications of his high visibility office.

It was only a question of time before his ship of state ran aground thru "Edi" and "Asasi" when he left his palace to go engage in physical combat with his estranged wife in full glare of cell phone cameras in Akure. He was rough-handled , bruised and bloodied and publicly disgraced. It was for him the last straw that broke the camel's back. Mimiko was forced by circumstances beyond his control to throw him under the bus because the man had become a total liability to him and his Government at that point. He had to be let go thru banishment. Olowo Folagbade Olagbegi as Chairman of the Ondo State Council of Obas was the first to throw the first salvo and he was totally correct to take that position. I strongly believed he served notice to Mimiko he as Chairman, was not going to tolerate that kind of behavior from a first class Oba.in Ondo State. The Nigerian Senate in Abuja following the Olowo's leadership openly tabled the Deji's problems for open debate on the floor of the Nigerian Senate. Once that happened, Mimiko's hands were tied behind his back. He had to act very quickly or he would have been seen as weak and spineless.

The Akure king makers could only watch in disgust as the Deji's institution was dragged in the mud by the individual they had picked as their best choice for the Deji's throne after Ileri 's selection had been torpedoed by the people and the Agagu Government for the wrong reasons as I hinted earlier on. The newly created Osupa/Odundun Ruling line could only scratch their heads in horror as they watched their life ambition go down in flames right before their eyes. Individuals like Prince Dr. Ige Ogunleye Aladejana, the late Aladetoyinbo descendants in Akure and Prince Olu Adegboro and Prince Alewi and the remnants of the Osupa /Odundun descendants in Akure could only watch in total disbelief as the deposed Deji put paid to all their hopes, dreams and aspirations and what they have all labored hard to establish since 1845 when any individual from their household was ever crowned a Deji in Akure. It was a tragedy of monumental proportions, You have to trace the origin to what the current king makers had done or did not do, if you are thinking like me.

Gone were those days when an Elemo Akomolafe out of principle and conviction bluntly told his fellow king makers that it was time for Akure to crown his first educated Deji and that he would go to any length to ensure that Prince Ademuagun did not miss his chance to be crowned a Deji in 1957. He bluntly told the multi millionaire Ajao, the father-in-law of Prince Ademuagun not to waste any money on the king makers because their first priority was Akure interest over and above the power and influence of money. He bluntly told Pa Ajao he, Elemo Akomolafe, was a highly fulfilled man in his own right and that money could not buy him or shake his own resolve and determination as the third in rank to the Deji in Akure. How many of our current king makers High Chiefs could talk like that today? It has to be very few indeed, I might add. Money has become the root of all evils in our society and it is a big shame.

The king makers now have another chance to put Akure first in picking a new Deji. They must be reminded of their past mistakes and blunders and encouraged to pick the best candidate for Akure this time around. They must be made aware that Mimiko is already playing politics with the Deji's title like Agagu had done before him. They need to be able to put their feet down, this time around, unite and speak with one voice, to preserve the traditions and customs of Akure to the best of their ability. I totally reject the Regency Council created by the Mimiko Government as a major distraction and a departure from Akure traditions.

The silence of the king makers and the Akure Council of Chiefs as a group is deafening and very embarrassing to say the least. The role of the Local Government in the selection exercise is grossly exaggerated. If care is not taken, the Local Government is going to completely politicize or usurp the role of the king makers and the role of the Ruling House from all we are hearing now. If the Local Government was an observer at the meeting where the Head of the Ojijigogun Family and the Secretary were selected, it should have been their role as a legitimate and responsible observer to ensure that one or two units out of a 6 unit family do not constitute a forum as was being suggested in Newspaper reports of the meeting

The Local Government is there to be sure the law and protocol are followed to the letter. The Local Government observer is not there as an accomplice to illegality. Once that hurdle is cleared, then comes the nomination of candidates to be presented to the king makers. If a thousand princes show interest and they have one person to second their nomination, their names must be be listed according to the existing Declaration. The family can decide to reduce the number of candidates they want to present to the king makers but they cannot do so by force. It has to be democratically done because the family too can be corrupt like we found when Osupa/Odundun decided in 2005 to submit only one name in order to tie the hands of the king makers behind their back. That was how the deposed Deji was able to knock the heads of his family with those of the king makers to his own benefit. The king makers must factor all of these points into their equation this time around and the Ojijigogun family must not fall into the same trap again.

The family should be held accountable. If for any reason they submit names of fakes princes who have no verifiable claims to the throne like was done when Osupa/Odundun Family submitted the name of Ileri Oluwa only to denounce him as their member after the poor man has spent so much money helping the family to establish its claim to the throne. The king makers must take their responsibilities very seriously and do their home work before selecting the next Deji. They must device ways and means of finding out that whoever gets selected is not going to end up the same way like the deposed Deji who was a drifter just passing through.

I once predicted in one of my articles that the deposed Deji was going to let loose a "divide and rule" vengeance against the king makers who once pronounced him as banished before the Mimiko Government finally decided to rescue him some six months earlier. The deposed Deji did precisely what I predicted when he decided to knock the head of the Odopetu with that of the Olisa before deciding to suspend or remove the Olisa even as his own terrible scandal broke out. Even though he remained banished from the throne today, he definitely has put the Olisa between the rock and a hard place. Because he had the power to remove any of his chiefs, the deposed Deji had definitely put the Olisa in quandry or cul-de-sac as we speak.

That was one reason the Olisa was not sufficiently empowered to raise an alarm or speak out when the Mimiko Government went over and above his head to create the so-called Regency Council in Akure and picking one or two of Akure Chiefs to serve in that Council which was an insult to Akure like I pointed out in all of my past articles on the same subject.

The Deji's title is being reduced to a second class Oba in Ondo State by the blunders of the last Deji and the activities of the Mimiko Government. You can tell from the caliber and the age of the person picked as Chairman of the Akure Regency Council by the Mimiko Government. It will take time for the next Deji to be able to reclaim his prestige and authority in the committee of Obas in Ondo State even though he is the Oba of the State Capital. That point is even more poignant with the elevation of two additional Obas in Akure city alone namely Kabiyesi the Osolo and Kabiyesi the Iralepo. The Deji and his high chiefs are for ever diminished if not totally compromised when you factor that development into Akure equation any way you slice it.If the last Deji had lost the throne. I do not see how he would have been able to look those two Obas in the face and assert his authority with that type of scandal hovering over his neck like the sword of Damocles.

That is why it is so important that the Akure king makers and the next Deji have their jobs cut out for them if they ever want to regain or reclaim their prestige and authority among their peers in other major towns in Ondo State. I agonize about that a lot, and that is why the Ojijigogun Ruling House cannot afford to fumble this time around like Osupa/Odundun family has done by reluctantly backing a wrong horse in 2005. Educational qualifications alone are not enough criteria to picking a candidate. Integrity, character, temperamemt, sanity, hard work and a deep insight into the history and problems of Akure in the new dispensation must be factored into the king makers equation as they make the next selection. The problems have become a lot harder for the king makers because they would have no other choice than to pick another "non- Ono Ori Ite" meaning a grand child whose biological father may never have been crowned a Deji before. Nine out of ten chances the next Deji is likely to be a grand child again from the male side. Even though a candidate from the female line can be selected, but the Law says first priority had to be given to candidates from the male line.

If Akure is matrilineal like Ghana where Jerry Rawlings became President because his mother was a Ghanaian and his father was Scottish, one would easily have argued that candidates from the female lineage are much more authentic and genuine than candidates from the male line. A candidate's mother is never in dispute in the promiscuous society Nigeria has become, I am not that sure of candidates from the male line. Few of them may have come from a different father from the one they have claimed, for all we know. But who will bell the cat? By their fruits we shall know them. Need I say more

I rest my case with a word of advice to Akure king makers to do a better job this time.. May the good Lord guide their decision this time around.? Amen.

This ends my first series on the Deji like I promised my readers unless there is a compelling reason to revisit the subject.