On Monday, the Alaafin of Oyo, Abimbola Owoade, demanded that the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, revoke the title of Okanlomo of Yorubaland conferred on businessman Dotun Sanusi within 48 hours.
In a statement by the Alaafin’s Director of Media and Publicity, Bode Durojaiye, the Oyo monarch warned that there would be consequences if his directive was not heeded.
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Alaafin Owoade insisted that the Ooni’s authority is limited to the former Oranmiyan Local Government Area, which has since been divided into Ife Central, Ife North, and Ife South.
Responding on Tuesday, the Ooni’s spokesperson, Moses Olafare, dismissed the ultimatum, saying the monarch would not dignify the Alaafin’s “undignifiable” 48-hour deadline with a response.
He went further, describing the threat as an “empty threat” and concluding the statement with a pointed remark: “48 Hours My Foot!”
Not the First Alaafin–Ooni Clash Over Chieftaincy Titles
While the latest exchange between Alaafin Owoade and Ooni Ogunwusi has provoked widespread public reactions, it is by no means the first time holders of the two stools have fought openly over questions of authority and chieftaincy titles.
In March 1991, their immediate predecessors—the late Ooni of Ife, Okunade Sijuwade, and the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi—clashed bitterly over the conferment of a chieftaincy title on then Chairman of the now-defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), Tom Ikimi.
A Newswatch report from that period, accessed by EKO HOT BLOG via archivi.ng, reveals the depth of rivalry between the two monarchs, centred largely on the issue of precedence in Yorubaland.
The quarrel began when Alaafin Adeyemi petitioned the Military Governor of Oyo State, Abdul Kareem Adisa, arguing that the Ooni had no authority to confer the title of Akinrogun of Yorubaland on Ikimi. He insisted the title was originally a “military title of the Egba nation in pre-colonial days” and therefore outside the Ooni’s jurisdiction.
Ooni Sijuwade, responding during the conferment ceremony, went as far as threatening to dethrone Alaafin Adeyemi to prove that the Ooni’s authority superseded that of Oyo. “The crown on the head of Oyo’s ruler, which qualifies him to be a traditional monarch, was given to him by the Ooni of Ife,” Sijuwade declared. “I can withdraw his crown by evoking the special power conferred on me at the temple of Oduduwa and he will become an ordinary citizen of this country.”
The Alaafin, never one to back down, fired back with equal force. “Certainly, 1,000 Onis put together cannot dethrone the Alaafin,” he retorted in a 10-page statement issued on March 12, 1991.
Before resting his case, Adeyemi took a further swipe, declaring that the Ooni was not even a direct descendant of Oduduwa, the progenitor of the Yoruba people. “If he were, he would not marry the daughter of Oduduwa,” he argued.
A Rivalry That Endures
More than three decades later, the arguments between the stools of Oyo and Ife appear hardly settled. Today, social media is abuzz with debates over which throne holds greater supremacy in Yorubaland: the Ooni’s or the Alaafin’s.
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What remains clear is that beyond the exchange of words, both stools carry immense symbolic weight in Yoruba culture. And while their rivalry is often framed in terms of personal supremacy, at its core it reflects a centuries-old contest between tradition, history, and authority in one of Nigeria’s most influential regions.
Philip Ibitoye is a Special Correspondent with EKO HOT BLOG. Click here to find daily analysis and critical insight on trending issues in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.
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