Obasanjo Loses Chieftaincy Titles Over ‘Korofo’ Stand Up Order To Yoruba Monarchs
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been stripped of all his chieftaincy titles in Yoruba land, including the Balogun of Owu Kingdom, by the Yoruba Council Worldwide, the apex Yoruba group.
The group said it took the decision after Obasanjo failed to apologize for ordering some Yoruba monarchs to stand up for Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, at a ceremony in Iseyin, Oyo State, on September 15, 2023.
The group described Obasanjo’s action as a “total sacrilege” and a “degradation and disparaging” of the Yoruba obaship.
In a statement signed by its president, Aare Oba Oladotun Hassan, and its secretary, Siyanbade Adekanmbi, the group said it had given Obasanjo three days to apologize for his “disrespectful statements” at the commissioning of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Iseyin campus, but he ignored their ultimatum.
The group said it would also sue Obasanjo for defamation and libel and mobilize market women, youths and leaders of thoughts to comply with their declaration.
“We see your disrespectful statements at the commissioning of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Iseyin campus, and had commanded kings from Oyo State to stand up and accord you respect (and subsequent defense in premium times); to the arrays of first class Royal Fathers and other leading Obas like toddlers or a village headmaster or Army General talking profusely at his foot soldiers in a most depressing, disparaging and disrespectful manner,” the statement read.
“We reiterate as the leading vanguard voice for all Yoruba indigenous people globally, we have eternal duty to preserve the aesthetic distinct Omoluabi ethos, Royal stools and ancestral customs and traditions of the Yoruba Obaship, precipitating our earlier demand for immediate apologies within three (3) days which you deliberately ignored blatantly.”
The group said it had “emphatically spoken” and would not tolerate any further insult or disregard for the Yoruba culture and tradition.
