The supremacy battle between two foremost Yoruba monarchs has deepened as the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, brushed aside the 48-hour ultimatum issued by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade, over the controversial conferment of the “Okanlomo of Yorubaland” title on Ibadan businessman, Engineer Dotun Sanusi (Ilaji).
Reacting on Tuesday through his spokesperson, Moses Olafare, the Ooni dismissed the Alaafin’s demand as “empty” and unworthy of an official response.
Olafare, in a Facebook post, disclosed that Oba Ogunwusi personally directed him to ignore the ultimatum, stating that the matter was already being judged in the “court of public opinion.”
“My Principal has directed me against issuing a Press Release on the Empty Threat of the Alawada Babasala,” Olafare said, likening the Alaafin to the late comedian Moses Olaiya, popularly known as Baba Sala.
“I beg to disappoint you gentlemen of the press. We cannot dignify the undignifyable with an official response. We leave the matter to the public court of opinion where it is already being treated. No Press Release please. 48 Hours My Foot!!!” he added.
The Alaafin had on Monday described the Ooni’s conferment of the title as an affront to his authority, insisting that only the Alaafin holds the exclusive right to bestow Yoruba-wide chieftaincy titles, citing a Supreme Court judgment as precedent.
“The conferment of a Yoruba-wide chieftaincy title by the Ooni is not only ultra vires but an insult to the Titan of Yorubaland,” the Alaafin declared through his media aide, Bode Durojaiye.
The monarch warned that failure to withdraw the title within 48 hours would attract “dire consequences.”
This latest exchange marks another chapter in the recurring tussle between the thrones of Oyo and Ife. In 1991, the late Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, clashed with the late Ooni, Oba Okunade Sijuade, after the latter conferred the “Akinrogun of Yorubaland” title on Chief Tom Ikimi, then National Chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention.
With both traditional stools standing their ground, observers say the controversy could further stoke debates over hierarchy and authority within Yorubaland’s revered institutions.
