Monarchs in Ibadan all stood on their feet after former President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered them to do so.
At an event in Ibadan on Friday, Obasanjo, told the monarchs, more than a dozen of them, to rise on their feet and they immediately complied.
He said: “You the kings, I greet you on your seats. I thank you for coming here,” he said, before changing while looking stern. “But let me say something. In any place, a governor or president is, there is no king. He must stand for Governor or President. All of you stand up!”
The traditional rulers complied and all stood on their feet. He then asked them to sit down, which they did.
He told them if he had visited them in their palaces, he would have bowed before them.
Obasanjo’s action appears to be consistent with his disposition toward traditional institutions which he has always respected.
In 2021, Obasanjo at the time 84 years old, knelt before the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, who was 37 years old at the time.
Obasanjo’s media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, while responding to the reason his boss knelt before the young king, said he did not kneel before the monarch but before the ancient Iwere Kingdom.
“He (Obasanjo) went to Warri this morning (Sunday) (August 22, 2021) to pay homage to the new king. It is a traditional institution; he (Ogiame Atuwatse III) is not the one sitting down, it is the institution that is on the throne,” he said.
Watch The Moment Fmr. President Olusegun Obasanjo Commands Oyo Monarchs To Stand Up & Greet Him pic.twitter.com/OiAGatjquk
— TVC News (@tvcnewsng) September 15, 2023
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