The Living Perfect Master and founder of One Love Family, Satguru Maharaj Ji has described Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi Adewale, as traditional deviant, instead of a harbinger of tradition and cultural norms, saying the king has totally lost touch with reality and Yoruba etiquette.
This followed a pronouncement made by Oba Adewale in an interview with The Nation newspaper with the headline; I named my son Oduduwa to break myth.
Satguru Maharaj Ji in a statement through the One Love Family Minister for Information, Ojo Mogbadewa, said “quite frankly, it was the latest in his string of attention seeking antics.”
Maharaj Ji asserts: “There have been 51 Oonis in Ife. None of them have been so ‘inspired’ as to name their child ‘Oduduwa’. But the Oluwo and his Jamaican wife, on 16 November 2016, welcomed a son and did just that.
“Worth noting that the Oluwo we are talking about, is actually already 50 years old. If at his age, he can be exhibiting this high level of erratic behaviour with no sense of self awareness in this age of social media and instant virality, when does he want to start ‘growing’?
“As for Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo, the kamikaze king, his utterances and actions smark of desecration of Yoruba kingship traditions, rites, and observances. He behaves like a political thug.
“I believe before he became king he was fully aware of the role of a Yoruba king as the chief priest of Yoruba deities. He knew he’s opposed to the deities and would not perform such rites, why did he agree to ascend the throne? What was he thinking about? Enough of his tomfoolery. He’s lucky he still remains on the throne. By now he should be languishing in exile. Iwo people in particular and Yorubas in general, must fight and reject Oluwo’s disrespectful acts and violence against Yoruba symbols, deities, traditions, faith, and the jealously guarded shrines in Yoruba palaces.
“He is synonymous with crisis. Since his ascendancy to the throne of Oluwo of Iwo sometimes in year 2015, the new Oluwo has succeeded in falling from one crisis to another.
“Apart from the way and manner he was enthroned, which is said to be dubious and culturally unethical, the Oluwo has drew more negative news, stories and events to the highly revered throne of his forefathers.
“Unfortunately, the foreign indoctrinated Princes and kings don’t understand and believe in the system they lead. They believe the Whiteman’s system is superior and should rein the monkeys with an Apes Obey call.
Maharaj Ji posited that “Obaship is a choice and nobody is forced against his wishes to become one. However, when you make the choice, it must be with full understanding that Obaship is not only about flamboyancy and access to wealth, but the spiritual, cultural and political leadership of the citystate with Ooni of Ife covering all Yorubas.
“Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi aside his embarrassing posture and attitudes that are unbecoming of a royal father anywhere in the world by several comic dances on tapes and YouTube is also dangerously taking Yoruba land to the era of internal imbroglio of 19th century, by his inflammatory comments and delicate manner in which he distorts history and by implication fanning embers of discord among different ancient towns of Yoruba land.
“The most disgraceful and shameless display
of Oluwo in the recent time was when he left his royal abode and massacred his dignity by going to wait for an Hip-hop Artiste, Olamide at Odo-Oba, an outskirt of Iwo, as if he was awaiting the arrival of a President, and to add more odium to that, Oluwo stood on top of the vehicle with the Artiste, shouting Badoo! Badoo! Badoo!
“To say that Oluwo has lost every royal respect and dignity in parts of Iwo land, State of Osun, and Nigeria at large is an understatement, he has become a serious danger to the continuity and survival of Iwo town and its environs, hence the urgent need to act fast and save the ugly trend before degenerating beyond
control and constitutes a threat to sustaining peace in the state.
“If you take your time to study the Oluwo’s statements and actions since he became the king of this ancient town, you will discover that he is every inch Richard Henry Stone and his mind of same stature which harbours same quantum of hate for Africa’s past.
Oba Akanbi, labeled those ancient objects of worship effeminate, dead and “retrogressive idols.”
“These were the same gods which his forefathers worshipped and which sustained traditional Africa for centuries.
“Islam, with its twin sibling, Christianity in the thinking of the Oluwo, are superior to these “barren worships.” He does not bother to reflect that these religions made forceful incursions into Yorubaland with the aim of snatching the minds and thinking faculty of the African.
“Trado-cultural practices, he also said, bear insignia of barren spiritism and festive celebrations where these Yoruba gods were worshiped deserved to be consigned into the dustbin.
“When traditional institution now parades rulers who are certified fraudsters, social misfits and who know little or nothing about the history of their people; who pervert virtually all the gamut of tradition and standing culture on its head, except for one or two people, we were left with dregs.
“Many of the traditional rulers in Yorubaland today are on the stools for the material things they are able to extract from them – selling traditional lands, using the office to attract personal favours to themselves.
“For traditional rulers to retain the respect and adoration of their people like natural rulers of old, they have to be abreast of the people’s culture and tradition. They should not be rulers who will scamper after material things and make confetti public show of changing wives like chameleon changes colour.
“Oba Akanbi and his fellow Obas of the Christian fold who talk down on the cultures and religions of their forefathers, no matter how they try to ape the Pope, Sheikhs and Khalifas of the east, cannot earn the following and respect of their people. Binis earn the respect of the world today because they do not joke with their tradition and culture and their monarchs earn their respect because they do not abandon the teachings of their forebears.
