No Sensible Person Will React” – Ooni’s Palace Blasts Oluwo Over Controversial Comments

The palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has rejected recent claims by the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, who argued that Ile-Ife is not the cradle of the Yoruba people.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

According to Punch, the Ooni’s spokesperson, Moses Olafare, dismissed the comments as unfounded and unworthy of serious response.

“No reasonable person will react to Oluwo’s comments,” Olafare stated.

In a video shared on his Facebook page during a chieftaincy ceremony, Oba Akanbi asserted that Ile-Ife, long regarded as the ancestral home of the Yoruba, does not represent authentic Yoruba culture.

Surrounded by his chiefs, he argued that the dialect spoken in Ile-Ife is different from mainstream Yoruba, pointing out that some of their expressions, such as “Eledumare” and “Olofin,” are alien to Yoruba tradition.

“Ife is not the origin of the Yoruba race. Their language is different. They say Eledumare, but in Yoruba, it is Olodumare. They say Olofin means the owner of the palace, but in Yoruba, that is Alaafin. Ile-Ife has no Yoruba culture. I am the Arole Olodumare, here to reveal the true history. Iwo holds the real story that has never been documented,” he said.

His controversial remarks have once again reignited the age-old debate over the origins of the Yoruba people and the powers of traditional rulers to confer titles beyond their jurisdictions.

Just last month, a clash erupted between the Ooni of Ife and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, after the Ooni conferred the title of Okanlomo of Yorubaland on Ibadan businessman Dotun Sanusi.

The Alaafin, through his media aide Bode Durojaiye, countered that no king other than him holds the authority to bestow a pan-Yoruba title, issuing a 48-hour ultimatum to the Ooni to revoke it.

In a sharp response, Olafare dismissed the ultimatum as laughable.

“We cannot dignify the ‘undignifyable’ with an official response. We leave the matter to public opinion. Let’s focus on unity rather than divisions. No press release, please. Forty-eight hours, my foot!” he wrote on Facebook.

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