The Oba of Lagos who attracted an out outrage over his contentious
snubbing of the Ooni of Ife during a public event has offered an
explanation.
Oba Rilwan Aremu Akiolu
The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Aremu Akiolu, has defended his controversial reaction to the affectionate greeting of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, at a public event, as seen in a viral video last week.
In
the 25-second recording, the Ooni of Ife is seen arriving at the venue
of the event, which has the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu II, in
attendance, seated among an unidentified monarch.
The
Ooni walks over to embrace the monarchs, but as soon as he approaches
the Oba of Lagos, Oba Akiolu looks away, only acknowledging the Ooni
with the wave of a hand.
The visibly embarrassed
monarch then quietly returns to his seat. The video clip was met with
outrage on social media and among prominent Nigerians, with many
describing Oba Akiolu’s action as disdainful and unbecoming of a Yoruba
monarch.
However, when The PUNCH reached out to
the Oba of Lagos by telephone, the monarch sounded undisturbed by the
controversy surrounding the awkward greeting.
Oba
Akiolu, explaining that he was constrained by tradition from receiving
and returning the Ooni’s greeting, said the widespread belief that he
snubbed the Ooni was “their own thinking.”
He added, “Anybody
can imagine anything. There was nothing. The custom or tradition is
like that in Lagos. We don’t hold each other; we don’t hug.”
Asked
if the wide age gap between both traditional rulers had anything to do
with the way he acknowledged the Ooni, the Oba of Lagos said, “Which age difference? A monarch is a monarch. There is no age difference.”
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