Doyin Odebowale, former Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties to the late Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, has stirred controversy after declaring that the authority of traditional rulers in Nigeria does not go beyond their local government boundaries.
Speaking on The Morning Brief programme on Channels Television, Odebowale faulted the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade, for demanding that the Ooni of Ife revoke a chieftaincy title conferred on an Ibadan businessman. He argued that such interference shows a fundamental misunderstanding of roles.
“With respect to most of these rulers now, there is a misapprehension of roles. They want to be addressed as kabiyesi, but they are not. They are under the local government chairman in their respective localities. So this idea of somebody sitting in Oyo and legislating on what happens in Ile-Ife is a misnomer,” he said.
Odebowale further suggested that the Alaafin may have been misled into thinking there was a jurisdictional overlap with the Ooni’s authority. He attributed the persistent tussles among monarchs to what he called “permissive decadence” in the traditional system, where blurred boundaries of influence often lead to power struggles.
