Re: ALAAFIN NOT ARROGANT, BUT CONSIDERATE, VISIONARY - A Response to the Reckless Accusation and Unbecoming Remarks by Prof. Ademola Omobewaji Dasylva

               PRESS RELEASE

Re: ALAAFIN NOT ARROGANT, BUT CONSIDERATE, VISIONARY 

A Response to the Reckless Accusation and Unbecoming Remarks by Prof. Ademola Omobewaji Dasylva

It is with a deep sense of duty to truth, culture, and decorum that this response is offered regarding the unfortunate and reckless remarks credited to Prof. Ademola Omobewaji Dasylva concerning the purported late arrival of the Alaafin of Oyo, and the Titan of Yorubaland, His Imperial Majesty,  Oba Engineer Abimbola Akeem Owoade 1, to the inauguration of the Alaafin’s Institute of Yoruba Studies at Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo.

To reduce a sacred institution, a custodian of Yoruba civilization, and a monarch of global reverence to the object of public ridicule over time is not only intellectually lazy, it is culturally injurious.

The accusation that “Alaafin came  three hours late” betrays a fundamental ignorance of royal protocol and institutional coordination.

For the records, the original schedule proposed by the University indicated 11:00am as the time for His Imperial Majesty’s arrival. However, prior to the commencement of the event, the Director of Administration of the Alaafin’s Palace, who was the official interface between the Palace and the University, formally communicated that the Alaafin would be arriving with other Paramount Obas who were traveling from outside Oyo State. Consequently, it was made unequivocally clear that His Imperial Majesty’s entourage could not arrive earlier than 12:00noon or 1pm.

This communication was not an afterthought. It was made deliberately and in good faith to enable proper planning. To therefore feign surprise and launch into public castigation is either a willful disregard of facts or a deliberate act of provocation.

The Palace does not move in isolation. When the Alaafin moves, he moves with the dignity of Oyo, with the council, and often, in concert with other crowns. To expect an Imperial procession to conform to a timetable designed without full consultation is to misunderstand both monarchy and courtesy.

Prof. Dasylva is not the convener of the event. He was not part of the protocol team. He was not privy to the correspondence between the Palace and the University.  

The honorable and scholarly path, therefore, would have been to inquire from the organizers before rushing to the marketplace of public opinion with insults. 

A Professor of repute is expected to embody circumspection, research, and restraint. To substitute these virtues with uncouth outbursts is to erode the very intellectual authority one claims to wield. 

Accusation without verification is slander. Criticism without context is recklessness. And when such is directed at the throne of Oduduwa, it ceases to be commentary and becomes desecration.

The Alaafin is not a ceremonial Guest. He is the Iku Baba Yeye, the symbolic and spiritual Head of the Yoruba nation. His presence at the inauguration of the Alaafin’s Institute of Yoruba Studies was itself the highest endorsement the Institute could receive. 

To be present at all, despite a demanding Imperial calendar and the logistics of moving with other royal fathers, is a statement of commitment to Yoruba education, culture, and scholarship.

Must we now demand that the Custodian of our heritage abandon royal procedure to satisfy individual impatience? Must we trade 700 years of institutional dignity for a wristwatch?

We acknowledge Prof. Dasylva’s contributions to Yoruba scholarship. But scholarship without humility becomes arrogance. Criticism without facts becomes calumny.

We therefore demand retraction and apology for remarks made without due consultation and in disregard of prior communication from the Palace.

In future,  public commentators must seek clarification from organizers before making pronouncements on matters involving the Crown. Scholars and subjects alike,  owe it a duty to protect the dignity of Yoruba institutions from needless assault.

The Alaafin did not come “late.” He came according to schedule, as duly communicated. To say otherwise is to bear false witness.

Let it be known: The throne is not late. The throne arrives when it arrives, and history adjusts its clock to meet it.

                                                                Signed

                     Bode Durojaiye , Director of Media and Publicity to the Alaafin, Paramount Ruler of Oyo Kingdom, and the Superior Head of Yorubaland.

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