The palace of the Ooni of Ife on Tuesday berated the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, over his claim that Ile-Ife is not the origin of the Yoruba people.
OSUN DEFENDER reports that Oba Akanbi, stated this during the conferment of a chieftaincy title on one of his subjects.
In a video posted on his Facebook page, the monarch said the ancient Ile-Ife people do not have Yoruba culture, adding that their language was different from the one spoken by the real Yorubas.
Oluwo said, “Ife is not the origin of the Yoruba race. Those don’t speak our language. Their language is different. They referred to God as Eledumare and there is nothing like Eledumare in Yoruba language. What we have is ‘Olodumare’
“Ife people will always say ‘Olofin’, and if you ask them what the meaning is, they will tell you it means the owner of the palace, and what that means in Yoruba is ‘Alaafin’. “Ile-Ife has no Yoruba culture.
“I am the ‘Arole Olodumare’ because I am here to tell you the true history. Iwo is where you can get the real history that was not even documented.
“Whatever I’m telling you now, you must keep it because I may say I will live long and die early. I’m not scared of death because it is inevitable.”
Reacting to the comments, Ooni’s spokesperson, Moses Olafare, dismissed the statement, saying, “No reasonable person will react to Oluwo’s comments.”
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
