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The Fight for Alaafin's Supremacy by Some Oyo Jingoists

In age, yes, Alaafin Owoade is like a son to Oba Rashidi Ladoja... but the stool they sit on is equal before the law of Nigeria today. They are both first-class kings in Oyo State... There should be mutual respect between the two. I wrote on this subject early last year at the wake of the installation of Alaafin Owoade and his deliberately orchestrated feud with Oonirisa, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi. There is nothing like Alaafin of Yorubaland, period! It does not exist. It is a fiction of the imagination of people fanning the destruction of Yorubaland... Oyo used to be a great empire... it is no more...Just as the Kano Empire, the Borno Empire, the Dahomey Empire, the Bini Kingdom, etc. Oyo-Ile was located hundreds of kilometers from the present location of Oyo town... They were driven to the present location by the defeat of Oyo in the 19th century... I read many people quoting the mischievous colonial master's document to stamp the supremacy of Alaafin over all other Yoruba monarchs... I expand a couple of facts to these people. 1.) Your claim of supremacy is based on the dubious and divisive document of the Queen of England's representative who places himself, the Governor General, above all Yoruba monarchs and placed Alaafin above other obas paying him more (this is usually done to compensate kings who betray their people to help their subjugation to the colonial master - you all know what that means in Yoruba - we call such odale), but his Prime Minister in England is a subject of the Queen's Kingdom - how confusing... This policy continues today - that is why Governor Makinde is the boss of all Monarchs in Oyo State, including Alaafin - he could remove Alaafin Owoade by just a stroke of the pen. So, I implore those pushing Alaafin Owoade to be careful because they are plotting his downfall and quick transition to exile if he continues to allow them to foment trouble that can destabilize the peace of the state. 2) If Alaafin is the supreme monarch in Yorubaland, let him declare a curfew in Ogbomoso and Ibadan during the next Oro festival and see if he would not be told the story of how they live on a borrowed land at their present location because of defeat at Oyo Ile... This is 2026, Oyo Empire is long gone, and so are its power and reach... Just as many kingdoms in history - Roman, Ottoman, Persian, United Kingdom - the only Kingdom reigning now is the United States - so, its own time too will pass, and maybe it will be the turn of China... The UK cannot exert the power it once used to control... When Donald Trump speaks, the UK Prime Minister quivers..._Power has changed hands. In Yorubaland, the supreme are the governors, no longer the monarchs...*

Now, do we ill-treat and disrespect our monarchs, absolutely not... We should continue to respect them, and they, too, should embrace that respect to foster peace in their domain. Our monarchs should be community builders and lobbyists for their territories. Oonirisa is a classic example of how monarchs should comport themselves. He is respectful of all other monarchs, irrespective of their class, and he is traversing the globe to lobby for growth in his domain and Yorubaland as a whole. We believe Ile-Ife is the cradle of the Yorubas, including the first Alaafin. If there is anyone who should claim supremacy, it is Ooni, not Alaafin. Ooni is the spiritual and ancestral head of all Yorubas. Oyo has its place in Yoruba history – no one can take its history from it. The Yoruba language we speak today is an adaptation of the Oyo tongue. The whole state is named after the town, though Oyo is not the largest city in the state. Our monarchs need to embrace humility and lobby for the development of their communities instead of fighting over supremacy. Our monarchs still carry a lot of IYI (respect); they should leverage it to bring prosperity and growth to their communities. Oonirisa travels the world to lobby companies to come and establish branches in Ile-Ife; what stops Alaafin from doing the same? What stops Alaafin, Oonirisa, and Olubadan from forming a strong pact to bring security, development, and growth to the entire Yorubaland? This is a petty fight that is demeaning our monarchs. It is childish at best, and we, their subjects, expect more. I hope they are listening and reading.

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