A former Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties to the late Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, Dr. Doyin Odebowale, has faulted the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade, over his demand that the Ooni of Ife revoke a chieftaincy title recently conferred on an Ibadan businessman.

Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Odebowale argued that traditional rulers wield authority only within their local government areas and are not constitutionally superior to elected officials.

“With respect to most of these rulers now, there is a misapprehension of roles. They want to be addressed as Kabiyesi, but they are not. They are under the local government chairman in their respective localities. So, this idea of somebody sitting in Oyo and legislating on what happens in Ile-Ife is a misnomer,” he said.

Odebowale suggested that the Alaafin may have been misled into believing there was a jurisdictional conflict between his office and that of the Ooni.

“I want to believe that the Alaafin of Oyo must have been misled into believing that there is an extant issue to be resolved between that office and that of the Ooni. I don’t see any justification for this distraction,” he noted.

He attributed recurring disputes among monarchs to what he described as “permissive decadence” within the traditional system.

“It is a very pathetic situation in the sense that most of those who parade themselves as traditional rulers do not even know their function. It appears to me that they are in a hurry to discard tradition. They are so happy when they are addressed as Oba, assistant pastor, or Alhaji; that is total abnegation of traditional values,” Odebowale said.

According to him, colonial reforms reduced empires to “stools” through the introduction of chieftaincy laws that curtailed the influence of monarchs.

“By government structure, their powers do not go beyond their local government. The Ooni of Ife is in Osun State, and they have their traditional council. The Alaafin of Oyo is in Oyo State, and they have a traditional council. By the Oyo State chieftaincy law, only four Obas are recognised as imperial majesties. The Alaafin cannot act beyond his local government. By law, he is under his local government chairman,” he stressed.

His comments came amid a growing row between the Alaafin and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, following the conferment of the “Okanlomo of Yorubaland” title on businessman Dotun Sanusi in Ibadan last weekend.

On Monday, the Alaafin had issued a 48-hour ultimatum demanding that the Ooni revoke the title, describing it as an “affront” and insisting that only his throne had the authority to bestow titles covering the entire Yorubaland. He cited a Supreme Court ruling as validation of his position.

But the Ooni’s spokesperson, Moses Olafare, dismissed the threat as baseless. “We cannot dignify the undignifiable with an official response. We leave the matter to be handled in the public court of opinion,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

In a follow-up clarification, the Alaafin’s media aide, Bode Durojaiye, said the monarch was not seeking supremacy over other rulers but only defending the sanctity of Yoruba tradition.