A Southwest socio-political group, Yoruba Heritage Forum, has condemned what it called the latest descent into seniority contest between the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and the new Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, emphasizing that the rivalry and differing roles between the two revered monarchs have been part of Yoruba history and culture.
The YHF, in a statement made available on Monday by its secretary-general, Comrade Olufemi Aduwo, specifically frowned at the 48-hour ultimatum issued by the Alaafin of Oyo to the Ooni of Ife to reverse the chieftaincy title the latter had conferred on a prominent Ibadan businessman, Engr. Dotun Sanusi, describing it as “childish threats and an attempt to re-ignite dormant rivalries within Yorubaland”.
Below is the text of the Yoruba Heritage Forum address:
The purported ultimatum issued by Oba Abimbola Owoade, the Alaáfin of Ọ̀yọ́, to Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ifẹ̀, concerning the conferment of a chieftaincy title upon Chief Dotun Sanusi is not only legally baseless but historically unsustainable. I am unaware of any subsisting court judgement, if such even exists, that grants the Alaáfin supremacy over the Ooni in matters of traditional authority or chieftaincy recognition. Any reliance on such a phantom judgement constitutes a grave error and distortion of history.
It must be emphasised that the historical Ọ̀yọ́ Empire, celebrated though it was, never at any time encompassed the entirety of Yorùbáland. Scholarly consensus, including Samuel Johnson in The History of the Yorubas (1921), establishes that Old Ọ̀yọ́ was, at its zenith, a coalition of certain territories whose power was often contested and ultimately fragmented. Its authority was largely confined to a collection of towns and villages in the savannah belt, never extending to the whole of Yorubaland. The Alaáfin’s political and military supremacy was therefore limited, and any chieftaincy title he confers, even the once-glorified but now ceremonial Are-Onakakanfo , holds force only within Ọ̀yọ́ town and immediate environs. Such titles cannot, by law or custom, impose authority over Ifẹ̀, the cradle of the Yoruba people.
Colonial records consistently reinforce this distinction. British reports, including the Intelligence Report on Ife Division (1930s), recognised the Ooni as the spiritual father of the Yoruba race, stating:“Ife is recognised throughout Yorubaland as the source from which all the Yoruba people sprang. The Ooni is regarded as the spiritual father of the race.”Similarly, A.B. Ellis noted in 1894:“The Yorubas unanimously admit that their kingship and institutions took rise at Ife, whence their rulers trace their authority.”
By contrast, the Alaafin was described as head of the Oyo Empire, a political and military authority whose reach, even at its height, was geographically limited and temporal in nature. The 1920s Intelligence Report on Oyo stated:“The Alaafin’s authority, though now much diminished, was once the political overlordship of much of Yorubaland. His supremacy was temporal and not spiritual.”
Colonial administration formalised these distinctions between Native Authorities in the 1916–1930s era: while each Oba had authority within their districts, the Ooni was never reduced to a local king of Ife alone; his prestige as the father of the Yoruba race was explicitly recognised. By contrast, the Alaafin’s jurisdiction was largely confined to Oyo town and its immediate environs.
It is therefore patently wrong for the Alaafin to assert that the Ooni’s powers are limited to certain Local Government Areas. Traditional authority in Yorubaland is not coterminous with modern political boundaries. The Ooni of Ifẹ̀ embodies not just kingship of Ifẹ̀ township but the spiritual primacy and ancestral custodianship of the entire Yoruba race, a status no political subdivision can diminish. Historical and colonial records alike affirm that Oyo Empire, Yorubaland, and that the Ooni’s spiritual authority transcended temporal boundaries.
The Alaafin is firmly advised to desist from issuing childish threats or attempting to re-ignite dormant rivalries within Yorubaland. The Yoruba nation, already burdened with insecurity, economic instability and generational aspirations, cannot afford another chieftaincy-fuelled crisis. Let it be clearly understood that any attempt to provoke strife under the guise of supremacy will be resisted both by law and by the collective will of the Yoruba people.
