The founder of Ado-Ekiti-based Afe Babalola University and Ibadan-based Emmanuel legal Chamber, Are Afe Babalola today showed his anger at the Oyo State 2nd Economic Summit held at Jogor Centre, Ibadan because he was addressed as a chief not as Are.

His words, “I have three regrets to have attended this gathering. First, in the programme, I was addressed as a chief. I have gone above chief. I am more than a chief. I was installed as Are Bamofin of Yorubaland by Alaafin of Oyo not by Elewi of Ado-Ekiti or Ooni of Ife. The day he made me Are, he made me to know that I am superior to any chief in Yorubaland and that I cannot and must not prostrate for any king in Yorubaland. Anyone that address me as a chief henceforth will be sued to court.”

Speaking further, he registered his displeasure that the summit did not attract enough people, adding that the business people that were supposed to turn up for the summit did not.

He said that Oyo State is richly endowed with human and natural resources but confronted with the failure to exploit these resources, adding that no government in the world could single-handedly develop either a state or the country.

His words, “Gone were the days when government provided all the needs of society alone. The truth of the matter is that no government anywhere in the world can do that alone any longer. The trend across the globe today is to involve public spirited citizens and organizations in the infrastructure, socio-economic and educational developmental projects of government.”

Delivering his address tagged ‘Imperatives and strategies for improving the competitiveness of sub-national economies in Nigeria”, the founder of Lagos Business School/Pan African University, Pat Utomi said except true federalism is practised in Nigeria, revolution is imminent.

He advocated for regional police, judiciary that can give justice, change of value system, strong attention given to entrepreneurship and vocational studies.

He urged leaders to shift focus from paper qualifications to what an individual could contribute to the nation.

Utomi noted that except there is an avenue for all the states and region to compete for development just like what was the case during the period the nation was practicing regional government, the nation cannot develop economically.

The majority of those that attended the summit were journalists, civil servants and public servants. Governor Akala could not attend, though his deputy, Honourable Taofeek Arapaja, stood in for him

Anyone that address me as a chief henceforth will be sued to court.”

the same man continues on to say this

He urged leaders to shift focus from paper qualifications to what an individual could contribute to the nation.

someone might want to listen to his own message and stop worrying about an irrelevant traditional title

Kennyblues:

I was addressed as a chief. I have gone above chief. I am more than a chief. I was installed as Are Bamofin of Yorubaland by Alaafin of Oyo not by Elewi of Ado-Ekiti or Ooni of Ife. The day he made me Are, he made me to know that I am superior to any chief in Yorubaland and that I cannot and must not prostrate for any king in Yorubaland.

The manner in which he debased the stool of oba in Yoruba land baffles me a lot. What was he thinking comparing Elewi Ekiti and Ooni of Ife to Alaafin of Oyo

with due respect these man is senile.

with his level of education and exposure, it is a shame that such statements are coming from him.

thank God i wasnt the journalist who he spoke to cos i would have asked if he needed medical check up

traditional title of aare bamofin?

even aare oona kakanfo prostrates to Kings

wtf is aare bamofin?

he shd be tied and sent to a psychiatrist

I guess age is telling fast on him
He is getting more foolish

Kennyblues:

The manner in which he debased the stool of oba in Yoruba land baffles me a lot. What was he thinking comparing Elewi Ekiti and Ooni of Ife to Alaafin of Oyo

, the stool of Oba in Yorubaland is already debased by people who know very little about history. Who is 'Elewi Ekiti'? What is the origin of 'Ooni of Ife'? Alaafin of Oyo is a direct descendant of Oduduwa - that title belong to Oranmiyan - the first Alaafin of Oyo. A caretaker is not the landlord of the house - Ooni (Owoni or Omo Oluwo Ni) is not related to the Oduduwa and the institution of Ooni of Ife only gained relevance in the past 50 years when the AG party of Awolowo needed to settle scores with the then Alaafin of Oyo! Read your history if you want to make categorical statements about history. Traditional rulers are 'TRADITIONAL' - read more if you want to know more about Obaship in Yoruba history and tradition.

Can we all see why Nigeria is what it is today? These are the so-called front-line lawyers and the so-called educators of Nigeria fighting over traditional titles. This man has travelled world wide and yet his eyes are still blind to civillizations. It is really a shame.

The day he made me Are, he made me to know that I am superior to any chief in Yorubaland and that I cannot and must not prostrate for any king in Yorubaland. Anyone that address me as a chief henceforth will be sued to court.”

this is beyond ridiculous!

the name sounds familiar. . . . . . .

anyway, if he says call him Are then call him Are.

simple as ABC and end of story.

a lot of people today dont know their left from their right talkless knowing the difference between a chief, an oba or an Are.

many think abusing govt and eating suya or eba is all being nigerian, or whichever tribe, entails.

His words, “I have three regrets to have attended this gathering. First, in the programme, I was addressed as a chief. I have gone above chief. I am more than a chief. I was installed as Are Bamofin of Yorubaland by Alaafin of Oyo not by Elewi of Ado-Ekiti or Ooni of Ife. The day he made me Are, he made me to know that I am superior to any chief in Yorubaland and that I cannot and must not prostrate for any king in Yorubaland. Anyone that address me as a chief henceforth will be sued to court.”

This man is an embodiment of African man's stewpidity. In a country where youths are feeding on stones and struggling to survive, he is more engrossed  with his useless chieftaincy titles. And to think that an educated man like him will be worried over such frivolities is more appalling and that goes to show the people who we look unto to help us transcend into a better world. How many chieftaincy titles does Bill Clinton, Geroge Bush, etc have?. He wants to be adressed as a demi god instead of a chief, no  problem as long as he can demonstrate his uprightness and how many people who feed their children and comfortably pay their school fees due to his largess or employment opportunity. Bloody Fagggot.

tpiah:

the name sounds familiar. . . . . . .

anyway, if he says call him Are then call him Are.

simple as ABC and end of story.

a lot of people today dont know their left from their right talkless knowing the difference between a chief, an oba or an Are.

many think abusing govt and eating suya or eba is all being nigerian, or whichever tribe, entails.

if he says call him aare , we shd call him aare?
do u have any legal translation to what u typed? whats my biz with his traditional title? how is that affecting the GDP and my existence
his title is in his kingdom and household not for the streets

and so if they dont call him aare, he wont prostrate to Kings?
im slow, i dont get ur point

the man is suffering from some unidentified ailment
witf is he? na my papa ni? abi he paid my school fees?

Shikena, you must be an igbo person, you just told a lie about Yoruba history. And on the issue of prostrate, I  prostrated just yesterday, when I saw an older Yoruba person. It is Yoruba culture to prostrate. Even Forget the internet and people insult Obasanjo, even If I meet Obasanjo or olu falae or HID awolowo, I would still prostrate. Even if I am the richest man in the world or even the president Nigeria, I would prostrate to the king or my elder. This is my culture, I cant do anything about it.

Look while Obasanjo was president. I saw  Chief Obasanjo prostrate while as president of Nigeria. I have been looking for the  picture, I cant find it.  It is our culture, no one can take it from us. If I meet obasanjo today, even while I may disagree on some of his policy, I still have to prostrate to him.
Even if I am president of Nigeria, and I go to the Oni of ife palace or the Alafin of oyo palace or the osemowe of ondo or olubadan etc, I would prostrate. This is what my culture says. I am not ashame of my culture. I even still do it in canada. And most nigerian here teach thier children to do the same here.
When I go into older nigerian home in canada, I prostrate, while thier female children kneel down for me. Even if you become billionaire you still  prostrate. There is an old lady in canada, we call iya canada and everytime, I go see her, she tell me dont use  prostration to kill me. I do prostrate in public places in canada. I dont care if white people at looking at me. It is my culture and I am not ashame of it. People from china still greet the way they greet in China in canada. They teach thier children thier culture.


Pastor Fadele of the Redeemed is older than me, he does not like it when I greet him that way. even his former assistant Pastor clement Ojo. would tell me, O ti change.

tkb417:

if he says call him aare , we shd call him aare?
do u have any legal translation to what u typed? whats my biz with his traditional title? how is that affecting the GDP and my existence
his title is in his kingdom and household not for the streets

and so if they dont call him aare, he wont prostrate to Kings?
im slow, i dont get your point

the man is suffering from some unidentified ailment
witf is he? na my papa ni? abi he paid my school fees?

you dont see a Lord in the UK and call him an esquire or something other than his title. Neither do you call a general, sergeant.

Are is different from chief.

that's all he's saying.

let's not disguise ignorance as pride.

^^BCR

I do not believe all these your assertions.
Any Satellite images to buttress or proof your point?

tpiah:

you dont see a Lord in the UK and call him an esquire or something other than his title. Neither do you call a general, sergeant.

Are is different from chief.

that's all he's saying.

let's not disguise ignorance as pride.

lie

aare = chief in english

If ure not a King, ure a chief and by the way, how am i supposed to know hes supposed to be called aare instead of a chief?
abiola was called Chief when he was aare ooan kakanfo of yorubaland

and forget the the fact that peeps dont call him aare, why will he not prostrate to kings cos of his chieftaincy title?
thats the part i wanna get

@ stupid Aare, pride comes before a fall.You command respect, but refuse to give respect(to other kings), even rubbish the institution to elevate yourself.Who cares about a damn title?Bigger and more successful people in this world prefer their first names(Bill Gates).So Afe, you are lucky they even called you chief, which is all you are.Nigerians believe so much in useless things, shows how our leaders think.When they get small change they begin to act crazy.To get respect, you have to humble yourself and give respect to the lowest of the low.Then maybe you become more human.Very stupid man sha.

^^^ thank you

he so much wants us to call him aare yet hes calling the bluff of kings

i hope he denounces that report or else, he loses the respect he commands amongst peeps

i fear this man.

one day he might wake to claim the title of OBA and say God gave him the title.

that is damn too petty for a man of his standing. who cares about the blabbering title?
will it light up the country?
will his Areship put an end to chronic insecurity we have in the country? or will armed robbers quit robbing because one Puffy old man wants to be addressed as Are?

utter rubbish, blistering barnacles!

OBJ's right hand man in action: partner in politricking, polistealing,and ranting. They only love Naija customs and traditions when they are beneficiaries of such practices, but forget about them when they want to collude to exploit people.

I came in contact with this man when he fiercely defended WARP-West African Rubber Plastics- owned by by Asians in Lagos for locking in their Naija slave workers inside the manufacturing presimess when it caught fire and killed a lot Naija whom he called hoodlums in 2002. Company owners did not want workers to go on break while still on their shift.

tkb417:

lie

aare = chief in english

If ure not a King, ure a chief and by the way, how am i supposed to know hes supposed to be called aare instead of a chief?
abiola was called Chief when he was aare ooan kakanfo of yorubaland

and forget the the fact that peeps dont call him aare, why will he not prostrate to kings cos of his chieftaincy title?
thats the part i wanna get

Are is NOT chief in english.

abiola had hundreds of chieftancy titles, but the Are one superceded all of that. I'm sure most of you are wrongly using abiola as the basis for your calling an Are a chief.

You're wrong

that's all he's trying to tell you, and i dont know if y'all would prefer some other person to send thugs to beat you up, nigerian style, before you'll take correction.

Who cares?.,.,.,.,, ,.,.,.,i will call him by his name Mr. Afe Babalola.,.,.,., if he dosen't like it like that, he can go drown himself in the Lagoon, silly Old man

^^Lawyer Afe Babalola.

^^^^Are a Boy Are Afe Babalola

^^great

You're wrong

that's all he's trying to tell you, and i dont know if y'all would prefer some other person to send thugs to beat you up, nigerian style, before you'll take correction.

LOLOLOL

on top of this matter

dem no born am well

we called MKO Chief MKO Abiola b4 he died and he had the biggest title in yorubaland
Afe babalola is just a chief in alaafins palace

meanwhile Tpiah i know say u sabi speak english so dont fall my hand

Chief is a title or a rank. Aare is a title so calling him chief is not wrong
the man is just arrogating unnecessary power to the useless title
thats all

Are Afe Babalola is a very proud, arrogant and philanthropic man, I have listened to his life story and it is an interesting one. On the issue of not prostrating before Kings, he might be right. In authentic yoruba tradition, a high ranking Chief in Oyo is far superior to any King including the Ooni. The Bashorun of Yorubaland was superior to everybody except the Alaafin, even his lieutenants ( his Osi, Otun and Balogun etc) were superior to most Kings. We know that that is now a thing of the past but in those days, woe betide a King that takes the idobale of the Oyo Mesi or any high ranking Chief in Oyo. (Normally the Ibadans would be asked to make short work of such a King). The rankings in traditional yoruba kingdom then was based on your linkage to the progenitor of the yoruba tribe. For instance, when say the Ibadans or any other town make conquests, they send a big percentage of the booty goes to the Alaafin who shares it with his Chiefs, so if you send me booty ( na by force o), will I prostrate to you? If we remember the story of Basorun Gaa, he killed many Alaafins, do you think anybody will take his idobale, even Oba Abiodun used to prostrate to the guy ( the guy na Abacha x 10000000)

Shikena:

,  the stool of Oba in Yorubaland is already debased by people who know very little about history. Who is 'Elewi Ekiti'? What is the origin of 'Ooni of Ife'? [b]Alaafin of Oyo is a direct descendant of Oduduwa - that title belong to Oranmiyan - the first Alaafin of Oyo. A caretaker is not the landlord of the house - Ooni (Owoni or Omo Oluwo Ni) is not related to the Oduduwa and the institution of Ooni of Ife only gained relevance in the past 50 years [/b]when the AG party of Awolowo needed to settle scores with the then Alaafin of Oyo! Read your history if you want to make categorical statements about history. Traditional rulers are 'TRADITIONAL' - read more if you want to know more about Obaship in Yoruba history and tradition.

This is very good Shikena. It's refreshing to know that that part of Yoruba history has not been swept under the carpet.

and oh yeah, hes not Bashorun and he doesnt carry any of those big titles

@ post
I do not know much about Afe Babalola, but I know he is a man of letters. I also know that though most of us new generation do not accord much respect to tradition,, well it is not our fault we were brought up to be so. However, I think my fellow landers who re not from youruba land may not know the import of Babalola's arguement, because what he said ie rooted in youruba tradition.

By the way, many pple see Oni as being the foremost traitional rulers in yoruba land today because of a twist in history. As far as yruba is concern, Aalafin dynasty is the begining and the end of tradition (next to the gods- and possess the power of life and death). Ooni ascendancy was as a result of the disagreement btw the former Aalafin and the Action Group party of Awolowo, so Ooni dynasty was elevated politically to spite the Aalafin dynasty. In short, ooni dynasty has no place in yoruba history but thanks to forsight of the former Ooni (Adesoji Aderemi- who happened to be Awolowo's right hand man.).

Again, the position of Aare and Bashorun in Youruba land are next to Aalafin, while Bashorun heads the powerful kingmaker, Aare is the chief of defence staff for the Old Oyo Empire- the strength of the entire empire. that is why even Ooni opposed Aalafin when MKO was to be made Aare, but non could stop him (Aalafin) because he alone could confer that title in yoruba land.

That is one reason why Ooni worked against June 12 of election of MKO. Again,in yoruba history, every king bow before Aare except the Aalafin and the Oyo Messi (King Makers)

So I could understand my non-yoruba friends not knowing where the man was coming from. Anybody who cares to check up yoruba history will know that, it is only Aalafin that can give title across yorubaland and he actually crowned all the yoruba kings. Ooni is not a crowned king, infact he is not regarded as king, but a traditional ruler, but Ooni dynasty gain prestige by its location in Ife - the cradle of Yoruba race

he is right, laafin supported the yoruba cause all the time while ooni supported his pockets cause all the time. a critical example is abiolas june 12 issue. kudos to afe babalola.