The cold war that had existed between the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade, and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has snowballed into an open confrontation as the Alaafin took umbrage at the conferment of the chieftaincy title of Okanlomo of Yorubaland on an Ibadan business tycoon, Engineer Dotun Sanusi by the Ooni.
In an outburst on Tuesday, Oba Owoade handed down a 48-hour ultimatum to the Arole Oduduwa, Oba Ogunwusi, to revoke the title which he described as an insult to the “Titan of Yorubaland” and an affront to his authority or face the consequences. The Oyo monarch insisted that he is the only one with the exclusive right to bestow titles that cover the entire Yorubaland.
The Ooni, responding on Tuesday through his media aide via social media, however dismissed the Alaafin’s press release as an “Empty Threat of the Alawada Babasala”, (a comedian), taunting, “48 Hours My Foot”.
The Alaafin’s threat was contained in a statement on Monday signed by the Director of Media and Publicity of the Oyo throne, Bode Durojaiye, wherein he claimed that the Ooni’s action was a direct challenge to his authority.
According to the statement: “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 Supreme Court itself has ruled that only the Alaafin has such authority. Yet, the Ooni continues to act above the law, trampling on both tradition and the courts.”
The Alaafin warned that if the Ooni fails to withdraw the title within 48 hours, “consequences will follow.”
However, in his reaction, the Ooni’s media aide, Moses Olafare, said the Oba had directed him not to issue an official response to the Alaafin’s demand.
Writing on his Facebook, Olafare said, “My Principal has directed me against issuing a Press Release on the Empty Threat of the Alawada Babasala. I beg to disappoint you gentlemen of the press.
“We cannot dignify the undignified 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 pls. 48 Hours My Foot!!”
But contrary to the Alaafin’s claim, an Abuja-based lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi insisted that no Supreme Court judgement made the stool of the Alaafin of Oyo the sole custodian of Yoruba legitimacy.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday, the Abuja lawyer described the Alaafin’s threat as wholly gratuitous and constitutionally unsound.
He argued that “beyond its surface provocation, the Alaafin’s order constitutes an impermissible assault on the very foundation of Yoruba heritage and seeks to revive a jurisdictional contest which neither law nor history sustains.”
According to him, “The Ooni of Ife acted squarely within his lawful, ancestral, and cultural prerogatives. These prerogatives are sui generis, inherent, and incapable of usurpation by any other stool. They are not the product of conquest or temporal power but derive from the very normative foundation of Yoruba civilization.
“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.”
Olajengbesi emphasised that as a lawyer who has litigated disputes around chieftaincy law, he could affirm that no statute, Supreme Court judgment, or constitutional instrument vests exclusive pan-Yoruba jurisdiction in the Alaafin.
He said, “The law recognises traditional rulers through state chieftaincy statutes, not residual claims of imperial conquest.
“With the greatest respect, the oft-cited Supreme Court decision that is now exaggerated and purportedly vested authority in the Alaafin 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 conferment of the title Okanlomo of Oodua on Chief Dotun Sanusi, a distinguished Yoruba entrepreneur and philanthropist, is not a political office or military command. It is a cultural honour, symbolic of fraternity and solidarity. Such honours fall well within the Ooni’s remit as custodian of Yoruba identity”.