Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife, has disclosed that he was chased out of his palace after visiting Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi.
On Sunday, the king announced this in a TikTok video that quickly went viral.
Speaking, the Ooni of Ife stated, “When I visited Oluwo, he chased me out like a child; after that moment, I have always been close to him. Now that you (attendees) are pleading with me to return, what if he does whatever he wants to me?
“But I have to contain his excesses as an elder, although I am a young person sitting on the throne of the elders. Oluwo, I greet you.”
Although Ogunwunsi did not mention any feud between him and Oluwo of Iwo in the viral video, as both are revered monarchs in Osun State, investigations revealed that Oluwo was dissatisfied with the Ooni’s relationship and activities with traditionalists, whom he referred to as ‘idol worshippers.
In another video, Akanbi, also known as Telu 1, was shown instructing the residents of Iwo to despise traditional rituals and warning that anyone who engages in them should do so in their own houses.
“My work as a monarch is to stand for God and preach about him alone while challenging those worshipping things other than Him. I don’t do Ogun or any idol festival. Although, I have previously celebrated the Egungun festival with the worshippers but I will never do that again. Except that they don’t call it idol worshipping. I don’t support their activities, that’s why their dealings don’t thrive here.
“And you cannot even perform sacrifices in Iwo here. Anyone who does that will eat it. Better still, litter your house with the sacrifices. Environmental sanitation has been exercised here to curb things like that. What anyone would need to be successful is to challenge the idols and their worshippers. That alone would make you a soldier of God,” he added.
Continuing, Oluwo noted in a Facebook post on Monday that Iwo was once ruled by a traditional monarch but has since ceased to be so since the rise of Oba Memudu Ayinla Lamuye in 1800, who propagated Islam throughout the town by converting the entire Iwo people to Islam.
He wrote, ”Oba Ibirinade Abioye Adekanbi (Alawusa) brought Islam in 1600. He evacuated idols and converted a place of worshipping deities to the Oluwo Central Mosque. Precisely, he birthed the first Mosque in South Western Nigeria in 1600. Later in the late 1800, another Oluwo, Oba Memudu Ayinla Lamuye (pictured above) spread Islam and converted the whole Iwo people to Islam and that’s why in Iwo, every compound has a Mosque and there is no Iwo indigene that does not have a Muslim name including recent convertees when the missionaries came.
“Oba Ibirinade Adekanbi was also called Alawusa because he was hospitable. He accommodated Malians who people tagged Hausa then they came to settle in Iwo. Oluwo was turbaned. New Oluwo used to be enthroned with a beaded crown before 1600. After 1600, turbanning used to come first before wearing the beaded crown. Oba Muhammad Ayinla Lamuye spent 90 years on the throne. Exactly 100 years after, the reigning Oluwo, was enthroned to complete the good work of the past monarchs.”
In 2018, Akanbi claimed that Ogunwusi ordered his bodyguard to shove him out of the way during a meeting of traditional rulers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State’s capital.
According to Akanbi, the event took place at the Hotel Presidential in the oil-rich city.
He stated that incident occurred just as the Ooni was called to the stage to present a vote of appreciation.
“The bodyguard of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, in what seemed to be an errand message, pushed Oluwo at the public gathering of the first-class paramount rulers held at the Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State last Tuesday,” Akanbi said in a statement.
“Dignitaries at the event were taken aback by what they considered as a desecration of the crown as the bodyguard of the Ooni pushed a first-class paramount ruler, Oluwo.
But the Ooni denied the allegation in a statement that the director of public affairs at his palace, Moses Olafare, issued on his behalf.
Ogunwunsi described the claims of the Oluwo as untrue, saying, “There was no altercation between Oluwo and anybody at that venue at all.”
