Some not many years from now political, literary, cultural, sociological and even religious historians as well will dwell on it. And the story will be given its due grandeur. For it is a story of immense dimensions and huge proportions.

It is a story of seductive palace love and matrimony which is truly seductively moving. And a friend and colleague and a first rate drama critic and poet in Ife has since described it as an epic. He calls the luring story the royal epic of Akure.

Do we agree with him? You may not, but I do - perfectly. We all are familiar already with the story of the principal dramatis personae of Akure: Oba Adesina and his Olori - Queen Bolanle. The simple story, to re-tell it as simply as possible, pertains to a Deji of Akure, who in the fifth year of his reign, had a public quarrel and row with his queen.

The domestic quarrel, because of the personages involved, attracted the wide attention of all and all in 21st century Nigeria. The media, human rights persons and groups, senators and legislators and community leaders of various ilk and the presiding government of the day from the state where the royal personages hailed, made a mince-meat of the Oba for his un-royal conduct.

Of course, the Oba who has since been de-robed, de-crowned, de-beaded, de-throned and forced into exile forgot he was not a Deji in the Kingdom of Akure in any period of the medieval age. Then, any action of his would have stood -  and would have been divinely unquestionable.

And who would be that mortal who would query the Deji for doing a public brawl of love and matrimony with his loving Queen? Who would dare to do so and not end up in the belly of the anger of the royal tiger? Who born dog? But times have since changed and the mighty and almighty Deji is today flourishing in disgrace.

His is the fall of love, and although he and his Olori whom he publicly chastised have made up, with the latter giving her lord and master and loving oga and father of the princess he bore him forgiveness, as worthy of a true wife, the matter of whether the fallen Oba would regain his Deji-ship seems to have been fully laid to rest with the recent installation of a new Deji of Akure.

This aspect of the enthralling story is worth examining a little.

When Oba Adesina assaulted the wife, the publicly domestic incident was reported with gusto. Up to now, I still wonder how the media got wind of it as soon as it happened. Of course, we knew that the Oba’s enemies and detractors were at work. And Oba Adesina’s enemies and detractors are un-exaggeratingly legion.

How he wrested the Deji-ship from the Ruling House that had been in royal power for more than a century, how he defeated other princes from his Osupa Ruling House, how the royal oracle gave him the nod for the Deji-ship, and how his political suavity won him the then government of the day’s acceptance, and how, finally, he comported himself throughout the five years of his “usurpation”, all contributed to his fall.

Yet, we must ask here now: why is it that Queen Bolanle’s forgiveness of her husband and the reconciliation between both of them (which I rightly said would happen) are not generating applause in exactly the same way that Oba Adesina’s “assault” raised upheavals and chaos? The only answer I can proffer for now is that, that is the way of the world and of man.

We luxuriate in the mess of those we dislike – for whatever reason; and any goodness that comes from any act of theirs seems paltry when compared with the crisis that their disliked actions initially generated.

And even though I want to acknowledge, as I had in the past, that Oba Adesina’s conduct pertaining to the open, outside-palace brawl with Queen Bolanle was something we all felt sad about, that act did not in any way shatter our dreams and personal goals and happiness in the same way that the acts of our unfeeling and anti-people senators and legislators do to our sensibilities.

A husband, whether he is a Deji or not, and his wife can try to realize their ideals and find happiness the best way they know how. They can also quarrel the best way they know how.

They have their moments when they would feel sad and full of regrets for several days or weeks or even months. Or are they not mortals? But we live in a most decadent and reactionary period full of intrigues, subterfuge, envy, corruption, adverse political circumstances, all of which would affect our abilities to manage our respective destinies. Today this is the lot of our (ex-) Deji and (ex-)Queen Bolanle (and other ex-Queens of Oba Adesina).

Of course, Oba Adesina has since gone to court to challenge his oppressors and humiliators. One would have expected Governor Mimiko, his chief and foremost oppressor and humiliator, to wait for the outcome of the case before installing a new Deji of Akure. A governor who came on board via the due process of rule of law ought to be exemplary and refrain from showing open disdain for the conventions of due process.

And, in fact, Governor Olusegun Mimiko ought to have promoted and encouraged the ideals of pacification and reconciliation among the different Ruling Houses of Akure rather than causing and widening the division among them. His installation of a new Deji will compound the problem for the kingdom and the royals and the people of Akure sooner or later.

For now, until the courts say no, there are two living monarchs in Akure Kingdom: the one suffering the misery of love and matrimony that has since seen him in exile after his forced de-stooling and the new one whose fate still hangs in the balance of justice in the hands of the gods and of man.

Of course, our judges can be arm-twisted, leg-twisted, mind-twisted,  heart-twisted, ear-twisted, eye-twisted and even brain-twisted, but ultimately, what will happen will happen in the same way that what will not happen will not happen, no matter what immoral men do and do not do.

Governor Mimiko’s conduct in the love and matrimonial affair of the royals clearly enlightens me that some men seek office and power to advance the cause of their private sentiments. His conduct also indicates that only few men in power and authority are rarely un-vindictive. These statements need immediately pertinent qualification, but I shall skip doing so until a more auspicious moment and time which do not belong to the present. Yet I must admit, as we all know, that Governor Mimiko is mortal, like all men of power and authority.

We, students, scholars and journalists of the Bible, know the story of King David pretty too well. Kind David was a supreme womanizer who killed his very able lieutenant called Uriah and thereafter married his wife called Betshaba.

What sin could be more heinous than murder? Yet God forgave him his acts of adultery and murder.

And to boot, the Saviour of mankind, our Lord Jesus the Christ, came from the House of David which much earlier on gave the world the wisest and richest man and king ever known in the person of Solomon. And we also know nicely well that no man, living or dead, had more enemies and detractors than David, the herds boy who killed Goliath and escaped several attempts on his life by Saul to become king eventually.

His foremost son, Absalom even joined forces with King David’s enemies to dismiss him from his throne but Absalom and company never triumphed.

What is therefore our thesis in this piece? It is this: “to judge between good and bad, between successful and unsuccessful, would need the eye of God”. We should not judge Oba Adesina and ought not. We should sympathise with him and ought to do so always – as long as he lives and as long as he still has hope of being restored to glory after necessary penitence acceptable to his Creator and Maker. Indeed, we ought to feel a sincere sympathy for the now poor and oppressed Oba Adesina who was once on the other side where loneliness and unhappiness constituted a fire-breathing monster to be slain.

And I look forward to an Akure sculptor to carve for us and posterity on an immortal stone the state of Oba Adesina then and now: the tale and fate (and destiny) of a Deji and his Queen in love but overwhelmed with sorrow and who look more emaciated than a butterfly.

How their present state tempts me to cry! As I utter these words here I remember the English poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias”. O sympathy! O forgiveness! O restoration! May God grant these to Oba Adesina and Queen Bolanle and their lineage!

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