…Insists Every Crown Belongs To God
The Oluwo of Iwoland, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Abdulrosheed Adewale Akanbi, has reiterated that idol worshipping is alien to kingship, insisting that his position on pure monarchy is sancrosanct.
Oba Akanbi posited that the foundation of every crown is God, and therefore questioned the infitration of idolatry into royalty, describing it as mena to subdue the sacred symbol of God on earth.
Daring traditional rulers in Yorubaland and professors of Yoruba to name a deity the founding father of the crown, Oduduwa, worshiped, Oba Akanbi described kings as God’s representatives on earth, whose conducts should model pure monarchy of no secondary means to communicate with God.
Affirming that
idolatry as alien to kingship, the Oluwo noted that crowns are sacred, authoritative, and exclusive property of God.
He described deity’s infraction to kingship as demeaning, calling it an affront on Olodumare, and further appealed to monarchs of conscience to respect God, who they represent on the throne by resigning to His authority alone.
A statement issued by the Oluwo through his Press Secretary, Alli Ibraheem, quoted Oba Akanbi as saying, “God is the king, that means the palace, where the king lives should be the house of God. The only odium and rival of God in that palace is the deities or idols. ‘Oba kii pe meji l’aafin,’ meaning, ‘there cannot be two kings in a palace.’
“Idols must not be in a king’s palace. Go and tell the kings. You married a wife and she brought another man to the house, how would it be? That is what the kings in the Yorubaland are doing to God. Yet, they are looking for God’s blessing.
“Any of our fathers that were monarchs and worshipped deities were wrong. I take a bold step to apologize for their mistakes. The damage deity worshipping by monarchs has caused us is monumental. I will lead the path to right the past mistakes in the Yoruba traditional system. We can celebrate our exceptional fathers, we must not worship them, unless we want our children to worship us too.
“Idol worshipping is a strange religion to kingship. Yoruba even said it that ‘ori l’a ba bo, a ba fi orisha sile.’ This is not about Christianity or Islam. It is a pure dictate of Olodumare, the Creator after creation. Kings as representatives of God, we owe that God prime responsibility of promoting His oneness from worshipping His rivals. Only monarchs bear the same name with God. And the same monarchs are promoting God’s rivals.
“My royalty is synonymous with the one brought by the founding father of Yoruba crown – Oduduwa. Only God is the king. Oduduwa fought deity and won Obatala. The greatest of God’s name is ‘king’. No one else bears that name with him except monarchs. As such, we are just earthly representatives. Expectedly, we must respect His likeness and eschew His don’ts. By doing so, we have a direct access to Him and have unquestionable commandments. But because some kings promote His rivals, deities, they are thus, spiritually castrated by resigning themselves to static gods. I’m sent to enlighten all the monarchs in Yoruba land that they are greater than deities. Oduduwa preceeded most of these deities. When Oduduwa was alive, Ogun and Sango were never born. The only one Oduduwa knew was Obatala. Oduduwa won him and he prostrated. How could he bowed for them?”
The Oluwo extolled Yoruba culture and traditions, saying,
“Yoruba culture and tradition is the best in the world. The best monarchs can do to make it attractive is to denounce idol worshipping.
“I’m committed to promoting unsullied kingship enticing to people of all faiths. Today in Iwo, alfas and pastors are jostling to take chieftaincy titles. In my domain, I will ensure Yoruba tradition and culture is clearly distinguished from traditional religion. I look up to a day when young ones, pastors and alfas will love to wear ‘ofi’ and use beads without any spiritual reasoning/attachment.
“Yoruba tradition is the most ample, respected and prosperous, but littered with infiltration of inhumane treatments, mostly killing of human for rituals. Monarchs are shadows of God. We must see the need to correct the false mistake of associating God’s rival with our sacred, revered stool. I’m sent to kings. The subjects can worship whatever they prefer. That is none of my business. I symbolize an upright monarch. I hear God’s voice and listen to His directives. Only Him is God. We are just His symbolic representation. We must respect His dictates and abstain from His abomination.”
