Ooni shuns supremacy battle fuelled by ‎Olugbo, reiterates unity

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has said that he was not interested in engaging any traditional ruler on supremacy battle.

He said this while reacting to a statement credited to Oba Frederick Akinruntan through the Olugbo-in-Council‎ over the role of Moremi Ajasoro.

While Ooni described Moremi as a heroine worthy of worship, Olugbo said she was a traitor and a slave that was captured during a raid.

To show his admiration for ‎the queen, the Ooni recently built the tallest statue in Nigeria to honour Moremi.

The Ooni spoke in a press statement signed by
his director of Media and Public Affairs, Comrade Moses Olafare.

The statement read, “‎The attention of Ile-Oodua has been drawn to a statement credited to Oba Frederick Akinruntan through the Olugbo-in-Council berating the people of ILE-IFE for celebrating Moremi Ajasoro as a heroine and goddess of liberty.

“This outburst of Olugbo  can only be viewed by the well meaning people as a mere royal rascality and a pitiable act of absurdity that doesn’t deserve serious attention by serious minded people.

“How on earth should a Yoruba king refer to Moremi as a traitor just because she used her power of a woman to liberate her people from incessant invasions by some faceless terrorists?

“While we remain very proud of the great queen Moremi Ajasoro, a brave woman who sacrificed her only son Olurogbo  for the victory of her people over the faceless terrorists who used incessantly raid Ife markets, we will not dignify this rascality of royalty with an expected response as we are not ready for any  useless supremacy battle incapable of taking Yoruba to a greater height.

“Most paramount on the mind of His Imperial Majesty Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II with the unflinching support of baba Alaafin, baba Awujale, baba Alake, baba Orangun, baba Deji, babe Ewi, baba Osemawe, baba Olubadan, Oba of Lagos and other relevant peace loving monarchs in Yorubaland and in other parts of the country is and remains the much needed progress of Yoruba nation which can only be catalyzed by peace and unity, this has necessitated his unimaginable barrier-breaking unity visits he has been taking around not only in Yorubaland but also across Nigeria and internationally. his activities in the last one year on throne are enough to attest to his personality as a king of peace.”

The Ooni wondered why Olugbo wanted to disrupt the existing peace between traditional rulers in South-West and Nigeria at large.

The statement added, “‎It is a pity that at this time when everybody is lucidly tired of retrogressive royal discord generally agreed to have colossally hindered our pace of progress as a people of common heritage politically and socio-economically, the Olugbo who claims to be the chairman of Yoruba Obas Committee on Peace and Reconciliation has suddenly without a deep knowledge of Yoruba history woken up to see royal controversy as the only tool for cheap publicity.

“Kabiyesi Ooni is not interested in joining issues with Oba Akinruntan or anyone on any matter that can jeopardize his peace and unity project which is already making impact in so many sectors such as Youth development, women empowerment, cultural tourism, agric revolution, unification of our elders and traditional rulers, to mention but a few.

“We therefore urge every lover of peace and unity in Africa to ignore any reckless statement capable of further dividing us, they should rather see the author of such statement as a person who poses a too armful danger to our peaceful coexistence.
Yoruba must remain united, Nigeria must remain united, Africa must remain united and the entire black worldwide must remain united because we are one before the Almighty God.”