Chanel Chin, the estranged wife of the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, has reacted to allegations made by the monarch, stressing that the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, was never involved in her marriage.
In a detailed account of her experience, Chin described her years at the palace as turbulent, claiming she was forced out of the marriage under distressing circumstances. According to her, she and her son were driven away from the palace and denied access to most of their personal belongings.
She alleged that Oba Akanbi frequently excused his actions by relying on his status as a king. “I’ll catch him red-handed. He will say, but I’m a king, I’m allowed. Nobody will say anything because I’m allowed to as a king. So what can I do? It’s just me and my baby. Then when I go and consult with older women in Yoruba culture, they will say, ‘Olori, just put it to God. You don’t leave your husband in Yoruba. You don’t leave your husband’s house.’”
Chin noted that her upbringing made it hard for her to fully grasp Yoruba traditions. “My father is Jamaican. My mother is British. I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. I don’t know anything about juju until I came to Iwo,” she said.
She recalled being given just one hour to pack her belongings before leaving the palace. “For that five months, me and my baby were walking along in Lagos with our luggage. I had 60 minutes to pack four years of my life. He had police standing over me while I wasn’t allowed to take any of my clothes, all my wigs, my makeup, my hair. He said to leave it. It’s for the next Olori. This is our culture.”
Addressing the monarch’s latest claims, Chin clarified that she was introduced to the Oluwo by another respected Lagos traditional ruler, not by the Ooni of Ife. She also accused Oba Akanbi of neglecting their son, Prince Oduduwa, for over five years. “He only resurfaced in August this year in Canada, refused to sign passport papers but dropped $500, the first support Oduduwa ever received from him since we left the palace,” she revealed.
Chin urged the public to disregard false claims against the Ooni of Ife and appealed to the traditional institution to caution the Oluwo. She concluded, “This shall be my final statement on the matter.”
