The palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has dismissed recent comments by the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, in which he claimed that Ile-Ife is not the origin of the Yoruba people.

The Ooni’s spokesperson, Moses Olafare, according to Punch, described Oluwo’s remarks as baseless and undeserving of serious attention.

“No reasonable person will react to Oluwo’s comments,” Olafare said.

Oba Akanbi, in a video posted on his Facebook page during the conferment of a chieftaincy title at his palace, argued that Ile-Ife, traditionally regarded as the cradle of the Yoruba, does not embody Yoruba culture.

Flanked by his chiefs, he claimed that the language spoken in Ile-Ife differed from mainstream Yoruba and dismissed certain expressions as foreign.

He said, “Ife is not the origin of the Yoruba race. Those people don’t speak our language. Their language is different. They refer to God as Eledumare, and there is nothing like Eledumare in the Yoruba language. What we have is Olodumare.

“Ife people will always say Olofin. If you ask them the meaning, they will tell you it means the owner of the palace. But in Yoruba, that is Alaafin. Ile-Ife has no Yoruba culture.

“I am the Arole Olodumare because I am here to tell you the true history. Iwo is where you can get the real history that was not even documented.”

The Oluwo’s latest claims have rekindled long-standing disputes over the origin of the Yoruba people and the authority of monarchs to bestow titles that extend beyond their domains.

Only last month, Naijaonpoint reported a clash between the Ooni of Ife and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, over the title of Okanlomo of Yorubaland, which the Ooni conferred on Ibadan businessman, Dotun Sanusi.

The Alaafin, through his media aide, Bode Durojaiye, had insisted that no traditional ruler other than him had the authority to confer a title covering all of Yorubaland, issuing a 48-hour ultimatum to the Ooni to revoke it.

In response, Olafare dismissed the ultimatum with disdain.

“We cannot dignify the ‘undignifyable’ with an official response. We leave the matter to the public court of opinion. Let’s focus on narratives that unite us rather than those capable of dividing us. No press release, please. Forty-eight hours, my foot!” he wrote on Facebook.