By Peter Omopo / 19th August 2025
An Abuja-based lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, has dismissed claims that the Supreme Court granted the Alaafin of Oyo supremacy over pan-Yoruba matters, insisting that no legal authority supports such a position.
Olajengbesi’s remarks follow a public dispute between the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade. The feud began after the Ooni conferred the chieftaincy title of Okanlomo of Yorubaland on Ibadan business mogul, Engineer Dotun Sanusi. The Alaafin, who viewed the action as a challenge to his authority, issued a 48-hour ultimatum demanding that the title be withdrawn.
Reacting in a statement posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday, Olajengbesi described the Alaafin’s threat as “gratuitous and constitutionally unsound,” arguing that it undermines the historical and cultural foundations of the Yoruba people.
“The Ooni of Ife acted squarely within his lawful, ancestral, and cultural prerogatives,” the lawyer stated. “These prerogatives are inherent, incapable of usurpation, and derive from the very foundation of Yoruba civilization, not from conquest or temporal power.”
He stressed that history and scholarship consistently affirm Ile-Ife as the cradle of Yoruba civilization and the original seat of legitimacy from which all Yoruba kingdoms, including Oyo, trace their authority.
As a lawyer with experience in chieftaincy litigation, Olajengbesi added that no statute, constitutional provision, or Supreme Court ruling has ever vested pan-Yoruba jurisdiction exclusively in the Alaafin.
“With respect, the oft-cited Supreme Court decision that is being misrepresented must be confined to its facts. No judgment of the Court has ever declared the Alaafin the sole custodian of Yoruba legitimacy. Judicial pronouncements are case-specific, and no statute in any Yoruba-speaking state grants the Alaafin exclusive authority to confer pan-Yoruba titles,” he explained.
He further argued that the title conferred on Sanusi by the Ooni was a cultural honour rather than a political or administrative position.
“The conferment of the Okanlomo of Oodua title on Chief Dotun Sanusi, a respected entrepreneur and philanthropist, is symbolic of fraternity and solidarity. Such honours fall well within the Ooni’s remit as custodian of Yoruba identity,” Olajengbesi added.
The statement has added another dimension to the ongoing supremacy debate between the two foremost Yoruba monarchs.
