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Ataoja, Oluwo Clash Over Council Ranking.
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Oluwo dismisses claim, says Ataoja’s crown was politically created.
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Council of Obas meeting disrupted as row over seniority resurfaces.
A supremacy battle is brewing within the Osun State Council of Obas as the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji, and the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, disagree over who rightfully occupies the fourth position in the state’s traditional hierarchy.
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EKO HOT BLOG reports that supporters of the Ataoja argue that Osogbo’s status as the state capital confers higher ranking, insisting the Ataoja’s stool should not be relegated. In contrast, Oluwo’s loyalists maintain that the Iwo throne predates Osogbo and derives its authority directly from Oduduwa, giving it superior ancestral weight.
The latest round of the dispute resurfaced during Oba Oyetunji’s 15th coronation lecture at Osun State University, where he claimed that the fourth seat in the Council of Obas historically belonged to the Ataoja but was wrongly ceded to the Oluwo during the reign of his predecessor. “I am not fighting any monarch, but Ataoja’s stool is number four in Osun State,” he said.
Reacting, Oluwo dismissed the claims through his Chief Press Secretary, Alli Ibraheem, accusing Ataoja of distorting history. He argued that the Ataoja only became a recognised crown monarch in 1976 under a military decree, whereas the Oluwo’s beaded crown is “ageless and authentic.”
The controversy has also played out in Council meetings. Sources revealed that at a recent sitting, Ataoja presided in the absence of senior monarchs, but Oluwo, upon arrival, felt slighted for not being invited to take over, causing a disruption later resolved by the Ooni of Ife.
Amid rising tensions, the Iwo Board of Trustees called on Governor Ademola Adeleke to intervene, while Justice Moshood Adeigbe (retd.), Asiwaju of Osogbo, urged restraint and reconciliation to protect peace in the state.
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