The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Adewale Akanbi, has stated that Ile-Ife should not be regarded as the origin of the Yoruba race.
Oba Akanbi made this known in a video posted on his official
Facebook page on Tuesday.
The video recording was made while he presided over a
chieftaincy conferment ceremony held at his palace in Iwo, Osun State.
Surrounded by his Chiefs, Oba Akanbi declared that Ife was
already inhabited before the arrival of Oduduwa, who he said conquered the town
and later became its ruler.
He argued that the language spoken in ancient Ife was not
the same as the language commonly recognised as Yoruba today.
According to him, the distinction in dialect and cultural
expressions showed that Ile-Ife could not rightly be described as the cradle of
Yoruba civilisation.
“Ife is not the origin of the Yoruba race. Those people
don’t speak our language. Their language is different.
“They refer to God as Eledumare, and there is nothing like
Eledumare in the Yoruba language. What we have is Olodumare,” Oba Akanbi said.
He also noted that Ife natives often used the word Olofin in
reference to their ruler, explaining that in Yoruba interpretation, it meant
Alaafin, which suggested cultural and linguistic divergence.
“Ile-Ife has no Yoruba culture. I am the Arole Olodumare
because I am here to tell you the true history.
“Iwo is where you can get the real history that was not even
documented,” the monarch added.
He insisted on the importance of preserving his statements
for posterity, stressing that history must be correctly told regardless of
opposition.
“Whatever I am telling you now, you must keep it because
death can come anytime. I am not scared of death because it is inevitable,” he
said in the Yoruba language.
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