Former Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties to the late Ondo State Governor, Doyin Odebowale, has criticized the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade, over his confrontation with the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, regarding a chieftaincy title recently bestowed on Ibadan businessman Dotun Sanusi.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Odebowale argued that traditional rulers have authority only within their local government jurisdictions and are constitutionally subordinate to elected officials at that level.
“With respect to most of these rulers now, there is a misapprehension of roles. They want to be addressed as Kabiyesi, but they are not. They are under the local government chairman in their respective localities. So this idea of somebody sitting in Oyo and legislating on what happens in Ile-Ife is a misnomer,” he said.
He suggested that the Alaafin may have been misled into believing there was a jurisdictional dispute with the Ooni, dismissing the controversy as unnecessary. Odebowale also lamented what he called a “permissive decadence” among monarchs, accusing them of abandoning core traditional values for titles and recognition.
“It appears to me that they are in a hurry to discard tradition. They are so happy when they are addressed as Oba, assistant pastor, or Alhaji; that is total abnegation of traditional values,” he added.
Providing historical context, Odebowale noted that colonial authorities had curtailed the powers of monarchs by reducing empires to stools and limiting their influence through chieftaincy laws.
“By government structure, their powers do not go beyond their local government. The Ooni of Ife is in Osun State and has his traditional council. The Alaafin of Oyo is in Oyo State and has his own council. Under Oyo State chieftaincy law, only four Obas are recognised as imperial majesties. The Alaafin cannot act beyond his local government. By law, he is under his local government chairman,” he said.
The comments follow a public dispute in which the Alaafin gave the Ooni a 48-hour ultimatum to revoke Sanusi’s conferment as “Okanlomo of Yorubaland,” claiming exclusive authority over Yoruba chieftaincy titles.
The Ooni’s spokesperson, Moses Olafare, dismissed the ultimatum as an “empty threat,” while the Alaafin’s media aide, Bode Durojaiye, later clarified that the monarch was not seeking supremacy but acting to safeguard Yoruba tradition.
