The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade, has come under fire from Doyin Odebowale, a former Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties to the late Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, for demanding that the Ooni of Ife withdraw a chieftaincy title that was recently granted to a businessman from Ibadan.
In an interview with Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Odebowale made the case that traditional leaders are not constitutionally superior to elected officials at the local government level and only have power within their domain.
Roles are misunderstood in relation to the majority of these rulers today. Despite their want to be called Kabiyesi, they are not.
In their individual localities, they report to the head of the local government. Therefore, the notion that someone would sit in Oyo and enact laws affecting events in Ile-Ife is misleading, Odebowale stated.
He claimed that the Alaafin must have been duped into thinking that his office and the Ooni’s had a jurisdictional conflict.
“I want to think that the Alaafin of Oyo must have been duped into thinking that there was a problem between that office and the Ooni’s that needed to be fixed. “I fail to see any rationale for this diversion,” the former government official stated.
Odebowale blamed the system’s “permissive decadence” for the frequent conflicts between traditional rulers.
The fact that the majority of people who identify as traditional rulers are unaware of their role makes the situation extremely pitiful. I get the impression that they are eager to do away with tradition.
He bemoaned the complete disregard for traditional norms, saying, “They are so happy when they are addressed as Oba, assistant pastor, or Alhaji.”
In the past, the British colonial government had “downgraded empires into stools,” the former adviser said, enacting chieftaincy laws that curtailed the power of kings.
Those who had taken knighthoods and colonial titles, he said, could no longer claim to be superior to other rulers.
According to their letter, their authority does not extend beyond their local government due to the structure of the government. Osun state is home to the Ooni of Ife, who have their own traditional council. Oyo state is home to the Alafin of Oyo, who have a traditional council.
Only four Obas are recognized as imperial majesties under the chieftaincy code of Oyo State. The Alaafin’s authority is limited to his local government. He is legally under the chairman of his local government,” he stated.
During an event in Ibadan last weekend, industrialist Dotun Sanusi was given the title of “Okanlomo of Yorubaland,” which sparked a dispute between the Alaafin and Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife.
The Alaafin claimed exclusive right to grant titles encompassing the all of Yorubaland and gave the Ooni a 48-hour ultimatum on Monday to remove the title, calling the conferment a “affront.”
He maintained that a Supreme Court decision had upheld his exclusive authority in these situations.
Moses Olafare, a spokesman for the Ooni, rejected the ultimatum as a “empty threat,” claiming that the king would not honor it with an official reply.
“We cannot use an official answer to elevate the undignifiable. In a Facebook post, he stated, “We let the public court of opinion decide the issue.”
Bode Durojaiye, the Alaafin’s media aide, stated in a subsequent statement that the monarch was merely preserving the sanctity of Yoruba custom and had no intention of gaining power over any other ruler.
