The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi has revealed that he was chased out when he visited the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, in his palace.
The monarch made this known in a trending video on TikTok on Sunday.
Speaking, the Ooni of Ife said, “When I visited Oluwo, he chased me out like a child, since that incident, I have always maintained myself going close to him. Now that you people (attendees) are imploring that I visit him again, what if he does what he likes to me?
“But I have to contain his excesses as an elder, although I am a young person sitting on the throne of the elders. Oluwo, I greet you.”
Although Ogunwunsi did not speak on any feud between him and Oluwo of Iwo in the viral video as both are respected monarchs in Osun State. it is well known that Oba Akanbi is averse to many Yoruba traditional and activities with the traditionalists who he described as ‘idols worshippers’ as he claims that his domain is for Islam. This claim has often placed him at loggerheads with other Yoruba traditional leaders and culture defenders.
In a viral video, Oba Akanbi advised the people of Iwo to detest traditional practices warning that anybody indulging in it should do so in their respective homes.
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He continued, “My work as a monarch is to stand for God and preach about him alone while challenging those worshipping things other than Him. I don’t do Ogun or any idol festival. Although, I have previously celebrated the Egungun festival with the worshippers but I will never do that again. Except that they don’t call it idol worshipping. I don’t support their activities, that’s why their dealings don’t thrive here.
“And you cannot even perform sacrifices in Iwo here. Anyone who does that will eat it. Better still, litter your house with the sacrifices. Environmental sanitation has been exercised here to curb things like that. What anyone would need to be successful is to challenge the idols and their worshippers. That alone would make you a soldier of God,” he added.
Meanwhile, this incident is part of a long-standing clash between the two monarchs. In 2018, Oba Akanbi had claimed that a bodyguard of the Ooni, allegedly acting on the orders of the Ile-Ife monarch, had pushed him at an event in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State. However, Oba Ogunwusi denied those allegations.
