Prominent Ifa priest, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon says Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi was being “ignorant” when he advised fellow Yoruba kings and their subjects to stop worshipping idols.
A video that circulated in September showed the controversial king speaking during the Iwo crusade total deliverance at the Prayer Centre Church of God (PCCG).
In the video, Oba Akanbi said that God would punish any king that worships idols.
He also cursed the deities and those that worship them.
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“Who is Sango, Oya, Ogun, Osun and others before God? What is the supreme being that all these deities worshipped.
“Our forefathers who have reigned as king throughout the Yoruba race misled everybody, they were wrong. This position of king doesn’t have any connection with deities. The position should not have any meeting point with deities and idols…,” Oba Akanbi can be heard saying in the video.
The comment generated controversy both on and off social media.
In a reaction, Elebuibon, who is an international scholar-in-residence at San Francisco State University in California, United States, where he teaches African Traditional Religion and Philosophy, said that the Oluwo was saying “rubbish” borne out of ignorance.
“We noticed that his knowledge is not full enough. He lacks orientation as a king. A king that passed through royal processes and observed all the requisite preparation will not behave as he behaves and will not talk as he talks.
“He didn’t have good foundation as a king. There is no king in Yorubaland that will say the oracle is meaningless. It was Ifa that founded each town.
“The town he is presiding over was founded by Obara Otua while Idileke founded Osogbo. No king can say Ifa is meaningless. It is Ifa that prescribes who will be king. How will a king say he is more than Ifa? He is saying rubbish. He’s ignorant; his knowledge is not enough.
“If it is Quran alone that he reads, I advise him to look for one person that will teach him Ifa. He should read about past kings and see how each town was founded. But because of his one-way knowledge, any king that is a real Yoruba and not an illegitimate one, will not rubbish Ifa.
“There is nothing we can do without Ifa in Yorubaland. If we want to select kings, we will consult Ifa, if we want to build markets, it is Ifa, if we want to marry, we will ask Ifa. How will he now place a religion that was brought over the existing religion?
“It is like a tenant telling the landlord to vacate. That is why I said his knowledge is not enough. I advise him to be reading the Bible, the Quran and learn the Ifa Corpus,” Elebuibon told Saturday Sun.