The Ooni’s revenge

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has been a public fascination for some weeks since he launched into what looks like a race to inscribe himself within the e-book of data. Inside two months, the 51st Ooni has wedded six girls. It’s attainable that by the point you might be carried out studying this, the palace would have introduced marriage to spouse quantity seven (and probably, eight). For a monarch who has had a string of failed marriages, marrying a raft of ladies is a reprisal for the embarrassment he suffered when his ex-wives left ceremoniously. By no means once more will it occur that any of the ladies filling up his harem, every married a couple of week of the opposite, will achieve as a lot social mileage for divorcing him. Marriage has develop into a revolving door. If now, any of the six—and nonetheless counting—wives need to go away him dramatically, it’s no large deal. By the point she finishes asserting her exit on social media, maybe one other two would have been lined up as replacements. What higher tactic is there to assuage disgrace than shamelessness?

I don’t assume anybody has points along with his polygamy, however the virtually unprecedented act of marrying one lady per week jars the sensibility. Since such a sequence of quick-draw marriage ceremony ceremonies is considerably uncommon, no less than from the times of Fela and his iconic 27 wives, individuals have understandably satirised the king’s libido. The cheers and the jeers are to be anticipated, particularly since a bit of the Ooni’s non-public enterprise has been within the public area. In addition to, conventional rulers are sources of meaning-making, and other people can’t however be invested of their points. What I discover fairly placing about the entire affair is how a lot trendy monarchies, their political relevance severely curtailed underneath trendy democratic methods, thrive on public consideration and naturally, gossip. And nothing excites gossipmongers like man-woman points as a result of they mirror the diploma of society’s funding within the politics of virility and ecstasy.

Probably, the Ooni himself relishes the fantasies being projected on him by voyeurs. In a patriarchal society like Nigeria, nothing is seemingly extra valorizing for a person than to be ascribed outsized sexual prowess. A few of the innuendos about his serial marriages mix conspiracy theories with suspicions of diabolism. Once more, for a standard ruler whose legitimacy depends on the myths and legends of his ancestry and affiliation with 201 Gods, the Yoruba deities and ancestors, the talebearers are doing him an enormous favor. In a superstitious society, if individuals think about that you’ve some supernatural energy and your actions are knowledgeable by some otherworldly affect, it’s your curiosity to ramp up that perception. It would create concern and reverence, their technique of self-subjectification earlier than you.

Like many individuals, royalty fascinates me too. Some days, I’m impressed by its resilience. It says so much {that a} holdover energy construction from an period of absolute rule nonetheless exerts a lot power on the general public creativeness. On different days, I’m additionally bemused by how individuals keep the notion that somebody who lives like different people by some means manages to embody “custom” any greater than anybody; asking us to deal with them accordingly strikes me as a hoax. Earlier than the fashionable period, the king didn’t even present his face to the general public. As soon as topped, he’s deified. From that time, he turns into distant from atypical mortals to keep up the parable of his invincibility. However today, Obas take selfies and put up movies of themselves doing what atypical mortals do on social media. It could maybe be unthinkable for an Oba to be invisible simply to show they’re a superior specie. Anybody who tries that stunt will probably be forgotten whereas alive. A lot for being custodians of custom!

Within the a part of Nigeria the place I come from, sure Obas don’t even reckon with the so-called “conventional” values they supposedly embody earlier than adorning amoral characters with chieftaincy titles. Repeatedly, conventional rulers have demonstrated they’re as complicit within the oppression and energy abuse of modern-day Nigeria as different energy buildings. If we, as a society, have didn’t problem the methods conventional rulers undermine our worth system, it’s exactly as a result of we purchased into the parable that monarchs hyperlink us to a romantic African previous the place our ancestors’ outlook on the world was easy and pure earlier than being tainted by modernity.

However as any royal will let you know, the sentimentality of nostalgia alone is just not sufficient to maintain individuals invested within the establishment. Each royalty additionally wants spectacles, which might be supplied to the general public within the type of splendour or scandals. Their pomp and circumstance impresses us and produces a sense of being within the presence of what’s deeper than us, runs longer than the occasions of our lives, and stays secure regardless of social evolutions. That’s the reason the British monarchy particularly doesn’t toy with its rituals throughout public ceremonies. It’s notable that one of many few occasions Donald Trump spoke of his mom, his reminiscence was of her glued to one of many first few tv units in New York then and watching Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation.

Whereas the grandeur of energy excites, royalty additionally wants an occasional scandal earlier than all its gaudy shows begin to really feel like tasting saccharine. Their scandals—largely household drama and subsequently revolve round problems with intercourse—counterbalance the splendour and supply a “human curiosity” angle that makes the existence of royalty even value watching. The numerous tv reveals about monarchs illustrate how the general public satiates its want to see drama across the royals by inventing them. The British monarchy and the cultural trade constructed round it have tremendously profited from the dissensions of individuals like Princess Diana and recently, Meghan Markle (who has develop into one other fixation of their press). Scandals are the lifeblood of monarchies so long as they adequately steadiness the magnificence of their energy.

For our a part of the world the place virtually 5 kilometres is dominated by one fake royal or the opposite, the majesty one associates with monarchies are subtle. Within the bid to accentuate their value, some conventional leaders deck themselves with anachronistic titles like “imperial majesty.” It’s a frantic try to cling to relevance in a world that will in any other case deal with them as a historic residue. Even “first-class” Obas who embody the splendor of royalty can’t do with out a little scandal from time to time to stoke public feelings. When the late Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, seen how the general public ogled his retinue of wives, he turned them right into a showpiece. Prefer it or not, no less than he made you look.

The Ooni’s marriage spree is a composite spectacle of each splendour and scandal, and the which means we derive from his actions depends upon the angle we view it. Some girls see his union with six of their gender in a single fell swoop as a triumph of patriarchy. Another girls see a lifetime of freedom for these wives, every of whose profession profile reveals as achieved. Their marriage ceremony to the Ooni is a marital association that confers standing on them and doesn’t essentially relegate them to the tedium of domesticity that dooms most girls in monogamous marriages. Becoming a member of the Ooni’s harem is a handy association of part-time wifehood. When they’re carried out with what royalty affords them, they’ll at all times go away. Nigerian males, particularly those who wish to valorize the advantages of polygamy—however, fortuitously, additionally don’t have the financial energy to practise it—can no less than derive vicarious pleasure from seeing their fellow man dwell out their non-public fantasies. Whichever manner one views the Ooni’s actions, hardly anybody is detached, which makes all of the distinction to the monarchy.