Prominent Yoruba elders and leaders on Tuesday called for restraint and intervention of cultural and political figures following the reopening of hostilities between the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi.
The fresh row began on Monday after the Alaafin faulted the Ooni’s decision to confer the title of Okanlomo of Yorubaland on a businessman, Chief Dotun Sanusi.
The Ooni had bestowed the title on Sanusi during the unveiling of 2geda, an indigenous social media and business networking platform, at Ilaji Hotel, Ibadan, over the weekend.
In a statement signed by his media aide, Bode Durojaiye, the Alaafin declared that no traditional ruler other than him has the authority to confer a title covering the entire Yorubaland. He issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Ooni to revoke the title or “face the consequences.”
But reacting, the Ooni’s spokesperson, Moses Olafare, said the monarch had directed him to ignore the Alaafin’s outburst and leave the matter “in the court of public opinion.”
“We can not dignify the ‘undignifyable’ with an official response. We leave the matter to be handled in the public court of opinion, as it is already being treated.
“Let’s rather focus on narratives that unite us rather than the ones capable of dividing us. No press release, please. 48 hours my foot!” he wrote.
Monday’s exchange was the latest in a series of public disagreements between the two foremost monarchs.
In May, a clip from an event hosted by First Lady Oluremi Tinubu showed the Alaafin remaining seated while other monarchs stood to greet the Ooni.
Another viral video in June depicted both monarchs shunning greetings at the West African Economic Summit in Abuja.
Though both palaces denied any rift, the repeated public spats have deepened concerns.
Speaking on the latest rift, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, on Tuesday, said he had reached out to Yoruba leaders to mediate in the crisis.
He said the intervention of cultural and political leaders alike is being sought to quell the lingering crisis.
Recalling history, Adams said he would also intervene to avert the opening of old wounds in the interest of unity in Yoruba land.
Adams said, “It is an issue between two fathers. I have been calling Yoruba leaders to look for a way to resolve it. We don’t want the unity of the Yoruba land to be tampered with now.
“I will be in touch with the two fathers.
I will talk to them, but I have talked to some of the Yoruba leaders that we should weigh in on the issue. Before I became Aare Onakakanfo, I had been very, very close to the palace of Ooni. At the same time, I was very close to the late Alaafin.
“So I see them as two fathers. Anything that happens between your two fathers, you must look for a way to resolve it amicably. We don’t want to open our old wounds in public.”
Acknowledging the resolution of the crisis is long overdue, Iba Adams said it was expedient for the leaders to intervene to ensure that all issues between the Obas are amicably resolved.
Rallying the need for intervention of all relevant Yoruba leaders, Adams expressed optimism that the impasse between the two monarchs would be resolved in no distant time.
Adams said, “It’s an issue that will be resolved by the Yoruba leaders soon. Our political figures have a role to play, too.
“Apart from the individual leaders in social culture, our political leaders have a role to play, and our real fathers have a role to play. We know that the issue has been lingering for a long time. But in the long run, I believe it will be resolved soon.”
The Yoruba Council of Elders urged restraint from the royal fathers to avert further action contrary to the Omoluabi ethos.
Secretary-General, YCE, Oladipo Oyewole, who spoke with The PUNCH, also tasked the governments of Osun and Oyo States to urgently intervene to prevent aberration by the two monarchs.
Oyewole noted the need for a serious dive into history to ensure that the royal fathers uphold culture in a proper perspective.
Oyewole said, “The Yoruba Council of Elders has been inundated with inquiries on the unfortunate incident in which our royal father, Kabiyesi Ooni of Ife and the Alaafin of Oyo are in a serious disagreement over the rites of their offices and/or responsibilities as torch bearers for our culture.
“History has to be understood to sort out the issue in a proper perspective. Pending when that will be done, there is no gainsaying that any action that goes beyond the ‘Omoluwabi ethos’ must be avoided by the royal fathers.
“In this case, the government of both Osun and Oyo states ought to swiftly come to the aid of our motherland by putting measures in place to contain any aberration by the royal fathers. This is an urgent situation.”
Similarly, world-renowned Ifa scholar and Awise Agbaye, Prof. Wande Abimbola, appealed for calm in the growing tension between the two prominent Yoruba monarchs.
Speaking in a telephone interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday, Abimbola, a former Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University and ex-Senate Majority Leader, declined to take sides publicly but hinted at quiet efforts to broker peace behind the scenes.
“I won’t assign blame in the media—elders don’t do that,” he said. “There’s no need for conflict. Often, it’s third parties—those who stand to gain—who stoke these misunderstandings. Awon alagbata ni won so oja di owon (It is the middlemen who make goods expensive).”
Shedding light on his next steps, Abimbola revealed that plans are underway to convene a high-level meeting of Yoruba traditional rulers and elders to resolve the impasse.
“We, the Yoruba elders, will collectively deliberate and resolve the matter,” he explained. “We’ll ensure participation from each of the six Yoruba-speaking states, as well as Kwara. We will pick an oba from each of these states. I’ll personally attend the meeting with a lawyer. Together, we’ll examine the issue and seek an amicable resolution. Our obas are fathers to us all, they must not be seen quarrelling.”
Meanwhile, the President of Ibadan Mogajis, Asimiyu Ariori, and Coordinator of the Ibadan Compound Peace Initiative, Nurudeen Akinade, berated Alaafin over his 48-hour ultimatum to the Ooni.
The Ibadan Mogajis described the Alaafin’s action as “irrational and divisive, as they called on Yoruba elders and leaders to intervene in the simmering feud and stem further escalation.”
They stated: “The kind of Alaafin we have now may end up being an embarrassment to Yorubaland. He has started provoking Ibadan people by targeting a foremost Olubadan chief, philanthropist, and respected personality, Dotun Sanusi. Ibadan will resist any attack on its pride,” they held.
The Mogajis further alleged that the Alaafin had, during a recent visit to Ibadan, spoken disrespectfully to the Ooni of Ife, warning that such conduct was unbecoming of a custodian of Yoruba culture.
Meanwhile, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, backed the Ooni as head of all kings in Yoruba land.
Organising Secretary of the group, Abagun Omololu, on Tuesday, blamed the British for the confusion after dividing the Yoruba land into several provinces to facilitate administration.
Omololu said, “During the colonial period, the British deliberately divided Yorubaland into several provinces to facilitate administration, grouping different divisions or districts. By the 1920s, 1940s, the principal provinces comprised:
Oyo Province – encompassing Ibadan, Oyo, Ogbomoso, Iseyin, Osogbo, Ede, Iwo, and Ilesa; Ondo Province – including Ondo, Owo, and the Ekiti districts (Ado, Ijero, Ikere, Ise/Emure, Ikole), as well as Akoko. Ijebu Province – covering Ijebu Ode, Remo, and Egbado (later Yewa); Abeokuta Province – comprising the Egba towns of Abeokuta, Ibara, Ake, Owu, and others; Colony Province (Lagos) – Lagos and surrounding settlements such as Epe, Ikorodu, and Badagry.”
According to Abagun, the Alaafin’s authority was confined to Oyo province and constituent towns, while the Ooni’s supremacy transcended provincial boundaries.
He claimed that the evidence of the Ooni’s supremacy is epitomised in the fact that all Yoruba lineages trace their origin to Ile-Ife.
Abagun stressed, “It is, therefore, historically evident that the Alaafin’s power was largely confined to Oyo Province and its constituent towns. While the Alaafin exercised temporal and political authority within this domain, he never held control over all Yoruba towns. By contrast, the Ooni of Ife’s supremacy transcended provincial boundaries, resting on spiritual, ancestral, and cultural legitimacy. All Yoruba lineages trace their origin to Ile-Ife, recognising the Ooni as the primordial custodian of their heritage.
“Thus, whereas the defunct Oyo Empire’s political dominion was geographically limited, the Ooni’s authority as ‘first among equals’ endured across Yorubaland, encompassing every Yoruba town, including Oyo itself. The distinction is clear: temporal might does not equate to spiritual or cultural primacy, and colonial records consistently reinforced this hierarchy.”
He further claimed that the Ooni was revered by all Yoruba kings, including the Alaafin, as the spiritual head of the race.
“While the Alaafin of Oyo retained historic prestige as a symbol of the Oyo Empire’s political might, the Ooni of Ife was superior in colonial recognition as the spiritual head of the entire Yoruba nation. This was not a power imposed by the British, but rather one they acknowledged, codified, and used in their provincial administration,” Abagun said.
Backing the Afenifere, a legal practitioner, Pelumi Olajengbesi, said the Ooni was within his powers as custodian of Yoruba identity to confer the Okanlomo title on Sanusi.
Olajengbesi further held that “no Supreme Court judgment or constitutional instrument vests exclusive pan-Yoruba jurisdiction in the Alaafin.”
He added, “With the greatest respect, the oft-cited Supreme Court decision that purportedly vested Alaafin authority now exaggerated must be properly confined to its facts. Judicial pronouncements are case-specific, and no ratio decidendi of that court has ever declared the Alaafin the sole custodian of Yoruba legitimacy. No statute in any Yoruba-speaking state vests exclusive authority in the Alaafin to confer titles of pan-Yoruba significance, and the court cannot by judicial fiat extend such jurisdiction.
“The law is clear, history is unambiguous, and jurisprudence is settled. The Ooni of Ife has not usurped power; he has exercised it intra vires—lawfully, historically, and culturally. He remains the ancestral father of the Yoruba nation, and his competence to confer honours symbolic of unity is beyond reproach.”
The legal practitioner asked that the Alaafin should be properly advised, as he argued that Ile-Ife is acknowledged as the cradle of the existence of the Yoruba people.
“Every student of Yoruba history knows, tradition and scholarship unanimously affirm Ile-Ife as the cradle of existence of the Yoruba people, the primordial seat where Oduduwa, progenitor of the race, laid the foundation of legitimacy from which all kingdoms, including Oyo, derived their authority.
“As a lawyer, I find no legal, historical, or moral defect in the Ooni’s conferment of the title Okanlomo of Oodua on Chief Dotun Sanusi, an illustrious Yoruba son. On the contrary, it is a timely reminder that while empires rise and fall, the foundation of Yoruba identity, the Ile-Ife and the Ooni, remain timeless, indivisible, and unimpeachable. The Alaafin of Oyo should be properly advised,” Olajengbesi added.
Meanwhile, several monarchs contacted by The PUNCH on Tuesday declined to comment on the matter.(Punch)
