MESSAGE TO THE OONI OF IFE:WHEN YOU ARE TOO AVAILABLE, YOU LOSE RESPECT
By Dr. Bọ́lá Adéwará
I don’t know what you think about the recent disregard some obas now accord the Ooni of Ife in public. I only hope that, sooner than we fear, we don’t witness a moment when an oba, or even someone of lesser standing, drags the Ooni into public ridicule, stripping away the layers of honour, ancient mysticism, and native spirituality that some of us still revere about that sacred stool.
“Familiarity breeds contempt,” said Publius Syrus. And tragically, this Ooni seems to be confirming it. He is gradually demystifying the majesty of the throne. From Sir Adesoji Aderemi to Olubuse II, the Ooni of Ife carried a weight that was not just regal but near-oracular. The present Ooni, however, is found at nearly every gathering, brushing shoulders in ways that erode the reverent distance once observed by all. The Yoruba have a word for this descent, èèyàn yẹpẹrẹ. May this Ooni not become one!
“To be great is to be misunderstood,” said Emerson. But to be too accessible is to be disrespected. Kings must not be commoners. I envision the Ooni’s stature to mirror that of the Oba of Benin, the Sultan of Sokoto, the Obong of Calabar, and perhaps the Obi of Onitsha, figures who embody both fear and admiration, precisely because they do not sell their presence cheaply. A throne that should be shrouded in awe is being reduced to a social platform.
He seems not to understand the gravitas of his office. The Ooni is not merely a regional king; he is the cultural and spiritual head of the entire Yoruba race. But his youthful vibrance, untempered by ancestral gravity, is becoming a burden, not a blessing. It is lowering the spiritual voltage of the stool.
It began with his marriage to an evangelist, which became a downward spiral, unheard of in royal Yoruba history that a woman would walk away from a reigning king. Then came the sequence of social media-flavoured weddings, lacking in royal solemnity. Then the moment Tinubu refused to rise to greet him. The dismissive wave from Oba Akiolu. His media clash with the hemp-smoking Oba of Iwo. And now the cold friction with the newly installed Alaafin.
Just while writing this, I saw a picture of a woman standing before him, arguing openly. In Yoruba culture, we regard it as standing on the Oba. Would such irreverence be tolerated before the Oba of Benin or the Sultan of Sokoto? “Dignity does not consist in possessing honours, but in deserving them,” wrote Aristotle. This Ooni must recover the dignity that comes not from noise but from silence, not from presence but from restraint.
A king lives in the palace, not in event centres. The people who should come to honour him in his palace are the ones he is scampering to carouse with in Owambe parties. No one, no woman dare hugs a spiritual person, how much a king like the Ooni. No Fulani or Hausa dares hug the Sultan or any emir when greeting. The Benin man hails from afar, Oba ghato kpere Ise. Men in power who will not prostrate in the public will bow with respect. Here is Ooni hugging women upandan. What a steady decline of mysteries! What a downward spiral into eccletic majesty! The Ooni should curtail his jaye jaye demeanour.
Custodians of Yoruba culture must not remain silent on this. This is not merely a protocol failure, it is a civilizational concern. They must step in and reorient this Ooni, lest we lose the sanctity of an institution older than many nations. This owambe approach to royalty is dismantling the very architecture of awe that gave the Ooni his ancient majesty.
His forebears kept the crown in splendour by guarding their presence and wielding their mystery. Let him return to the palace and let his silence command what his presence now cheapens. “He who wears the crown must not dance at every drumbeat.” When you are too available, you lose respect.
Kábíyèsí, may you live long!
