The official mouthpiece of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Mr Moses Olafare, has described the 48-hour ultimatum issued by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade, as a weightless threat from a dead empire.
He was reacting to a threat from the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Owoade, asking the Ooni of Ife to withdraw the chieftaincy title of Okanlomo of Yorubaland conferred on a businessman, Dotun Sanusi, within 48 hours.
Moses Olafare took to his Facebook page to write that the threat emanated from jokers.
The Ooni spokesperson said his principal was busy creating jobs for the youths of Yorubaland, while some persons are fighting a supremacy battle through an expired empire.
He wrote that the royal court of Ile Ife was waiting for “their ultimatum” to lapse.
Olafare also wrote that the Ooni was busy planning for the groundbreaking and launch of Ojaja Smart City in Ibadan, a city he described as the biggest in Africa.
He said the concern of someone somewhere was issuing 48-hour empty threats.
The Ooni spokesman said his principal had no time for ‘supremacy hullabaloo’.
Alaafin, in a statement, his aide Bode Durojaiye, endorsed on Monday, had described the chieftaincy title given to Sanusi as a direct challenge to his exclusive right to confer titles that span the entire Yorubaland.
Owoade claimed that the Ooni’s authority was limited to the Oranmiyan LGA, which has since been balkanised into Ife Central, Ife North, and Ife South.
The Oba asked for urgent revocation of the title within 48 hours, warning that there would be consequences if his directive was not heeded.
