A former Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties to the late Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, Doyin Odebowale, has berated the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade, over his demand that the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, revoke a chieftaincy title recently conferred on an Ibadan-based businessman.
Naijaonpoint reports that Odebowale, speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘The Morning Brief’ programme on Wednesday, said the Alaafin must have been misled into believing there was a jurisdictional dispute between his office and that of the Ooni.
He argued that traditional rulers have authority only within their local government jurisdictions and are not constitutionally superior to elected officials at that level.
He said, “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.
“I want to believe that the Alaafin of Oyo must have been misled into believing that there is an extant issue to be resolved between that office and that of the Ooni. I don’t see any justification for this distraction.”
Odebowale attributed the recurring tussles among traditional rulers to “permissive decadence” in the system.
The former aide added that historically, the British colonial administration had downgraded empires into stools, introducing chieftaincy laws that limited the influence of monarchs.
He said, “It is a very pathetic situation in the sense that most of those who parade themselves as traditional rulers do not even know their function. 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.”
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