The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi has directed his communication team to ignore the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade.
Social media went agog on Monday evening after the Alaafin gave the Ooni a 48-hour ultimatum to revoke the Okanlomo of Yorubaland chieftaincy title recently conferred on an Ibadan business tycoon, Dotun Sanusi.
But the Ooni’s spokesperson, Moses Olafare explained in a Facebook post on Tuesday that Oba Ogunwusi had particularly directed him to ignore the revered Oyo monarch.
According to him, the Ooni would not dignify what he described as ‘undignifyable’ with an official response, stressing that he had left the matter to be handled in the public court of opinion.
He wrote, ‘My principal has directed me against issuing a press release on the empty threat. I beg to disappoint you, gentlemen of the press.
‘We can not dignify the undignifyable with an official response. We leave the matter to be handled in the public court of opinion, as it is already being treated.
‘Let’s rather focus on narratives that unite us rather than the ones capable of dividing us. No press release, please. 48 hours my foot’!
In a statement on Monday by his Director of Media and Publicity, Bode Durojaiye, the Alaafin described the Ooni’s action as an ‘affront’.
He also said that it was a direct challenge to his authority.
The Alaafin reiterated that he holds the exclusive right to bestow titles that cover the entire Yorubaland.
‘The conferment of a Yoruba-wide chieftaincy title by the Ooni is not only ultra vires but an insult to the Titan of Yorubaland.
‘The Supreme Court itself has ruled that only the Alaafin has such authority. Yet, the Ooni continues to act above the law, trampling on both tradition and the courts’.
The Alaafin warned that if the Ooni fails to withdraw the title within 48 hours, ‘consequences will follow’.
Oba Adeyemi described Oba Sijuade’s action as an outright desecration of the sacred institution, especially when such abuses come from quarters that are expected to protect and embellish such institutions.
The warning emphasised a long-standing rivalry between the two revered Yoruba monarchs over supremacy and traditional jurisdiction.
A similar chieftaincy title discord broke out between the monarchs’ predecessors, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi (now Late Alaafin) and Oba Okunade Sijuwade (now Late Ooni) , during the conferment of Akinrogun of Yorubaland on the then National Chairman of the National Republican Convention (NRC), Chief Tom Ikimi, on 9 February, 1991.
The then Alaafin warned Ikimi against accepting the chieftaincy title of Akinrogun of Yorubaland from the then Ooni.
In a letter addressed to Ikimi, Oba Adeyemi said that the title was spurious and lacked a historical foundation.
The monarch explained that his objection to the conferment and acceptance of the title was not meant to slight the NRC leader, but to prevent Ikimi from being made ‘a laughing stock’.
‘Your responsibility as the leader of a national political party appeared to me very important than being dragged into the murky water of ego-boosting’, Oba Adeyemi stated.
While arguing that the title was meaningless, he stressed that it would be advisable for Ikimi to ‘tread the path of honour’ by refusing to accept the title.
The Alaafin maintained that the Ooni has no historical, traditional, political and military power outside his domain to enable him to fabricate meaningles
