By Lolu Akinwunmi
The recent altercation between the Alaafin and Ooni brought again to the front burner the old dispute between these two reverred stools. Many had hoped with the passage of the last Alaafin and the crowning of a younger, more educated one, closer in age to the current Ooni, the matter would gradually subside and even fade away.
The relationship between the Ooni of Ife and the Alaafin of Oyo has long stirred debate in Yoruba history. At its heart lies the question of whether ritual primacy translates into political supremacy. To answer this, one must separate myth from fact, while recognising that history is not static but continually evolving.
It is true that Oyo was the great imperial power of old. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, the Alaafin’s armies and cavalry projected Yoruba influence far across West Africa, shaping regional geopolitics in profound ways. By contrast, Ile-Ife was not a conquering empire. Its primacy lay in its identity as the cradle of the Yoruba, the custodian of Oduduwa’s shrines, and the symbolic centre of origin. In Yoruba cosmology, orírun (origin) carries as much legitimacy as ogun (conquest). Oyo may have ruled with political might, but without Ife’s sacred sanction, no Yoruba crown could claim legitimacy.
The interplay between these two forms of authority, sacred and temporal, defined Yoruba civilisation. To reduce the Ooni merely to a “custodian of shrines” is to overlook the deeper reality of Yoruba thought, where spiritual legitimacy is as vital as political power. Equally, to insist on the Alaafin’s fealty to the Ooni in antiquity is to distort the truth of Oyo’s imperial independence.
Yet history does not stand still; it is a continuum. In modern times, through colonial arrangements, nationalist politics, and the consolidation of Ife as the cultural nucleus of Yorubaland, the Ooni has emerged as primus inter pares, the first among equals. From the era of Ooni Aderemi’s immense influence on the Egbe Omo Oduduwa to contemporary practice, Yoruba society and political structures have affirmed this position. Today, in ceremonial protocol, governmental recognition, and popular consciousness, the Ooni is widely acknowledged as the symbolic head of Yoruba traditional authority. Fact.
This is why selective historical inventions must be treated with caution. A striking example is the curious claim, promoted by the late Awujale, that the Ijebu people migrated from Sudan. Many see it as another veiled attempt to sideline history and not culturally submit to the primacy of Ife. Neither history, nor archaeology, nor linguistics lend the slightest support to this assertion by the late Awujale. And to date no serious historical or academic studies have sided with his position. No linguistic cognates, material culture, or migratory evidence connect Ijebu to Sudanese origins. It remains at best a romantic fabrication, at worst a distortion of Yoruba ethnogenesis. It is curious that while the Remo trace their history to Ife, their closest relatives, the Ijebu claim a far away Sudan. Many insist that such ungrounded claims, whether about Ijebu origins or about supposed genealogical superiority among Yoruba crowns, serve politics more than history and must be firmly queried and then rejected if we are to preserve the integrity of Yoruba identity.
The conclusion is clear: the Alaafin was the imperial sovereign of the past, while the Ooni has become the symbolic and political figure of the present. One represents historical empire, the other embodies modern primacy. Both roles are valid and honourable, and both enrich the Yoruba heritage. If well managed.
Rather than fuel needless rivalries, it is wiser to embrace this balance: many thrones, one heritage; diverse crowns, one identity. The strength of the Yoruba lies not in hierarchy but in plurality, where each stool carries weight, dignity, and purpose.
Lolu Akinwunmi is the Group CEO, Prima Garnet Africa, Nigeria
