The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Aremu Akiolu, recently, humiliated the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi at a public function.
In the 25 seconds video which has gone viral, the Ooni of Ife is seen arriving the venue of the event which had the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu II, sitting beside an unidentified oba.
The Ooni walked over to greet the obas, but as soon as he offered the Oba of Lagos his hands, Oba Akiolu looked away and dismissed him with a wave of the hand.
The embarrassed monarch quietly returned to his seat.
The incident, however, sparked outrage on the social media as many commentators condemned Oba Akiolu, describing his action as unbecoming of a Yoruba monarch.
A Facebook user, Kenny Statesman said, ” No No No!!! This is not worthy of Oba of Lagos, seriously I’m extremely disappointed.”
In another post, Deji Afolayan wrote, “… I see no reason why Oba Akiolu should act like that, I really like the Oba of Lagos but his action here is uncalled for.”
One Kayode Henry wrote, ” This attitude is unbecoming of a king in Yoruba land. The Ooni of Ife no matter his age is a superior Oba to all other obas…”
” If it were to be in the days where culture and tradition still takes its rightful place, all the obas no matter your age should be on their feet whenever the Obaluaye of Ife ( Ooni) comes in . But the respectful king did not even think about that but came to embrace the Oba of Lagos on his seat, but all he could do is this show of shame.”
Abiodun Olojede said, ” What an act of arrogance. It is very unfortunate that the Oba of Lagos disgraced himself, not the highly respected Ooni of Ife…” (SR)
Watch the video:
I share your disappointments all of you that have expressed thoughts. But I don’t get some things…I am Igbo and lived in Lagos; even though I don’t understand all the cultural intricacies of the Yoruba (nor the entire Igbo for that matter),
I don’t see why he (Oba of Lagos) would behave that way…period or full stop. And people are commenting that he should not behave that way towards the “Ooni of Ife.” The fact is that he should not behave that way to anyone in public…period. The Ooni of Ife, definitely a humble man did not take into consideration his status, lowered himself to greet all. That’s what a gentle and a monarch is supposed to be…he demonstrated that. Oba of Lagos on the other hand, has humiliated himself.
Mr. Abiodun Olojede is the only that got it right…it’s an act of arrogance. Unfortunately, that’s Nigeria.
Cash Ezimako