Public scrutiny has trailed the recent visit to Warri kingdom of Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the reason he knelt before the 37-year-old Ogiame Atuwase III.
Special Assistant on Media to the former president, Kehinde Akinyemi has given reasons for Obasanjo’s action.
The young Tsola Emiko, a serial entrepreneur, was crowned in an elaborate ceremony on Saturday, 21st August 2021 as the 21st Olu and immediately adopted the title of Ogiame Atuwase III.
Akinyemi said that his principal undertook the journey to the Ancient Were kingdom, the ancestral home of the Itsekiris to pay homage to the new monarch.
He stated this when he addressed the issue of the 84-year-old former president’s motive.
Speaking with The Punch on Sunday, Akinyemi said that his boss is the ‘Baba of Africa’ who can pay homage to all exalted seats.
He said that Obasanjo did not kneel before the person of the monarch, but before the ancient Were kingdom which does back over 5 centuries.
In his words’ “He, (Obasanjo) went to Warri this (Sunday) morning to pay homage to the new king. It is a traditional institution; he (Ogiame Atuwase III) is not the one sitting down, it is the institution that is on the throne.“
He added that, “Obasanjo is the Baba of Africa and he can pay homage to every exalted traditional seat.
“It was not Baba’s first time; he also once prostrated before Gbagura.”
The Punch reports that in 2019, the former president, who is the Jagunmolu of Egbaland attended the coronation of Oba Saburee Bakre as the Agura of Gbagura in Ago-Oka, Abeaokuta where he also paid homage to the new king.