Yoruba Advancement Foundation, being a major voice in the upholding, advancement and preservation of Yoruba cultural heritage worldwide, believes in the ancient wisdom that concluded that, “Ibi a ba pe l‟ori, enikan ki i fi te ile” – that is, wherever that has been acknowledged as the head is not meant to be walked on or be tainted in any way. Unfortunately, the report flitting out from Osun State to the Yoruba sons and daughters all over the world is telling of the opposite of this age long set standard. The news reaching out to all “Omo kaaro oojire” is that which can be termed as unbecoming of anyone in a normal society not to talk of a royal father in whose hands royal authority has been entrusted.
With due respect to the royal stool of Oluwo of Iwo Kingdom, we believe that to stand aloof or chose to be indifferent and not lend our collective voices against the recent actions of Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi (The Oluwo of Iwo Kingdom), no matter the provocation, and how he has been openly portraying Yoruba Obaship to the world is to jointly contribute to the demise of our highly referred traditional institution. If others have decided to resign to not speak up against this strange and not so royal attitudes that are being exhibited under Oluwo‟s royal garb these days, we won‟t look away as if all is well with Yoruba royal institution – especially in Iwo Kingdom.
One Yoruba adage says, “Ohun to ye ni lo ye ni, okun orun ko ye orun adie”. Unfortunately, that is not the case with Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi of Iwo Kingdom. From all that we have been hearing and monitoring regarding the actions of Oluwo, being a very controversial personality since his enthronement as the king of Iwo, it‟s now an open secret that if these openly displayed extremes are not checked and a drastic step not taken against Oluwo‟s persistent, unacceptable and sacrilegious actions, Oluwo of Iwo may eventually drag the only existing institution that binds all Yorubas together into opprobrium that Yoruba royal institution might not eventually recover from.
We don‟t want to believe that Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi was forced on the distinguished and peace loving people of Iwo Omo olodo Oba? Neither do we have any intention of blaming the Ifa oracle for chosen Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi as Oluwo of Iwo? It will also be out of place for us to blame the Ifa diviner that announced him as the ideal choice for the stool from the „alales‟ (the ancestral deities) of Iwo Kingdom? We also don‟t want to insinuate that maybe it is a case of „Oba gbe igba ata‟? But we strongly believe that the inglorious open demonstration of lack of temperament of Oluwo of Iwo needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency by all concerned – i.e. state government, law enforcement agency, distinguished Yoruba royal fathers, Iwo kingmakers and Yoruba sons and daughters worldwide!
Among the Yorubas, wherever they can be found all over the world, the Omoluabi philosophy is understood to be the benchmark for good and moral behaviour. It‟s one age-old philosophy that is embedded in Yoruba social, cultural and ethical life. It‟s the philosophy on which the thriving Yoruba communities have been built, on which Yoruba social culture formed, and on which enduring Yoruba institutions have been structured. To now hear that a Yoruba king decided to openly descend on anyone, especially another Yoruba king, and engage such person in a boxing contest as a result of an argument over land issue is a new low in the history of the Yoruba royal institution. If that is not to violate the eternal Yoruba principle of “Ibi a ba pe l‟ori, enikan ki i fi te ile”, we wonder what else it should be called.
Without doubt, it is an action that will be termed distasteful from a ghetto dweller not to talk of from someone that is entrusted with the culture and tradition of our fore-fathers. As a major voice that is championing the advancement of the highly esteemed Yoruba heritage across the world, we are using this avenue to condemn, in strong terms, this uncouth attitude as often depicted in many of his uploaded videos online regarding many of the controversies he has involved himself as Oluwo of Iwo. Your Majesty, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, this is very unlike a king, traditional or a community leader in Yorubaland!
In case we have forgotten, it was the same type of character deficiency and failure of leadership that caused the fell from grace to grass of the former Deji of Akure, Prince Adepoju, who was deposed and banished from the throne by the State government in 2010 for alleged assault of one of his estranged wives. In 2020, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo only took assault a notch higher by beating up another Yoruba king. Now, the big question on people‟s lips is “If a Yoruba Oba can openly behave in such a demeaning manner, as did Oluwo of Iwo, then what judgement will he pass to his people when such case is brought before him?
At this juncture, we will like to ask in order to know the kind of leadership example that Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, is daily setting for all his subjects in Iwo to follow. What type of advice will he be giving to people that are in one form of disagreement or the other in his domain? How on earth is Oluwo going to rightly advise the people of his domain when he is not a good an example of royal behaviour? We sincerely hope that this „royal anomaly‟ won‟t continue beyond this point.
We call on the Osun State government in conjunction with the Osun State Council of Obas constitutes a special committee that will look into all the sacrilegious and ignominious attitude of Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo. This recent uncontrolled anger directed towards another Oba that resulted in an open fist scuffle is capable of ruining the highly referred royal institution of the Yoruba race if jointly condoned without any form of repercussion.
Finally, we‟ll like to express our deep appreciation to all our distinguished royal fathers who are exemplary leaders in our communities and all the administrators that are in charge of the governance who are working tirelessly day and night to making sure that our culture and all our institutions continue to thrive for future generation to benefit from. Our sincere prayer is that peace and prosperity will continuously reign all over Yoruabaland and among the Yorubas world over.
We also pray that “Eku a maa ke bi eku, eye a si maa ke bi eye n‟ile kootu, oojiire bi.” Ase!
The above was co-signed by Prince Adedapo Adesanmi and Prince Adeniyi P. Ogunsola, the Chief Executive Officer and Secretary of Yoruba Advancement Foundation respectively.
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