Oba Abdul-Rasheed Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwoland, has revoked the title of Obanla from the Publicity Secretary of the defunct National Party of Nigeria, Chief Abiola Ogundokun.
The monarch had earlier stripped Ogundokun of his traditional and social titles, ranging from Basorun Musulumi of Iwoland, a member of Iwo Board of Trustees, Otun Balogun of Iwoland and other titles that may be accorded to him from Iwo.
But no mention was made of the title of Obanla, which the monarch has just announced its revocation, in addition to the others.
The Iwo monarch said in a statement on Friday that Ogundokun had failed in a screening exercise conducted by the council of chiefs in Iwoland. Akanbi said none of the members of the screening panel recommended Ogundokun after series of cross-examinations.
“And as a responsible monarch that respects his chiefs, I hereby announce the revocation of the proposed title for Ogundokun,” the monarch said in the statement by his press secretary, Alli Ibraheem.
The statement read in part, “The palace of Oluwo and the good people of Iwoland, ably led by Oluwo, hereby revoke the offer of Obanla of Iwo given to you on January 8, 2017, with immediate effect.”
The statement further asked Ogundokun to stop parading himself as Obanla henceforth.
It said, “After the sitting of the honorary chieftaincy committee, it was strongly prescribed that Ogundokun should not be made the Obanla of Iwo for his past public and private actions, inaction and reactions that were inimical to the interest of Iwo, her sons and daughters.”
“I hereby revoke the title of Obanla from Ogundokun today May 19, 2017. We have not installed him yet; we had only written to him to inform him but there had never been any installation and no certificate had been given to him. I was advised by the screening committee to put a hold on the installation and presentation of the certificate. Now, it was strongly recommended that we revoke the proposed title from him. That is our collective compromise and it has to be respected.”
Ogundokun, when contacted, said he remained the Obanla of Iwoland because the Oluwo had begged him to accept the title when the relationship between the two of them was good.
He said the Oluwo had not written to inform him of the new development, saying an official letter was written to him when he was given the title of Obanla.
He said, “He has not written to inform me of his action. He wrote a letter to me before he gave me the title and also begged me to accept it.
“He is doing all these because I advised him against extorting money from those he does not intend to confer with titles.
“Anyway, I have taken him to court and he will soon hear from it. I won’t stop until I liberate Iwoland from the oppressive rule of Oluwo. He is just wasting his time, he will cry at last.”
