The Living Perfect Master and founder of One Love Family, Satguru Maharaj Ji, has called on the Governor of Osun State, Chief Ademola Jackson Adeleke, to as a matter of urgency dethrone the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi over various infractions, reported in the news.
The Oba Akanbi’s character did not befit a person of his status and calibre as he always moved around with armed thugs, miscreants and hoodlums to harass, intimidate, molest and attack persons whom he perceives as enemies. He should be removed from office.
Maharaj Ji said: “Your Excellency, Oluwo Abdulrasheed Akanbi has been conducting himself in manners which are antithetical to that of a monarch in any clime and very unbecoming of a Yoruba Oba.
“It is therefore disheartening that the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, a Yoruba king who is supposed to be the custodian of Iwo culture and values has been misrepresenting the interest of Iwoland and this is becoming rather shameful.”
“Oba Akanbi is said to be an ex-convict, who served time in United States jail for credit card fraud, drug trafficking among other criminal acts.
“It emerged that indeed Oba Akanbi was deported from the US to Nigeria in 1999 after his conviction for aggravated felony, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or both.
“He was deported after using the name Segun Adewale Adeonigbagbe to enter the United States.
“Oba Akanbi again tried to gain entry into America through Peace Bridge land crossing border from Canada but was arrested on March 11, 2011 after using the name Adewale Akanbi with June 21, 1967 as his date of birth.
“He was subsequently held and committed to prison custody until December 19, 2011 when he was deported to Canada where he has a resident permit.
“On about March 11, 2011, in the Western District of New York, the defendant, Segun Adewale Adeonigbagbe aka Prince Adewale Akanbi, an alien who had previously been deported and removed from the United States on or about May 18, 1999, subsequent to a conviction for commission of an aggravated felony, did enter, attempt to enter and was voluntarily present and found in the United States without having first obtained the express consent of the Attorney-General of the United States or his successor, the Secretary for Homeland Security, to reapply for admission to the United States.
“The Oluwo of Iwoland, Abdulrasheed Akanbi, (48), is a flamboyant youthful randy Oba enmeshed in scandals and controversies. He is arrogant, flashy, corrupt, brash and brutish. He holds nothing traditionally in esteem hence his determined resolve to drag the great Iwo tradition to the mud or gutter by all means possible.
“One does not know how a brute whose past was nothing but fraud and sexual perversion could have suddenly found himself robed in a traditional gown greater than his entire being.
“Earlier this year, Oba Akanbi showed his dexterity in boxing by physically attacking another monarch, Agbowu of Ogbaagbaa, Oba Dhirulahi Akinropo, over a land dispute! The embarrassing incident led to his suspension for six months by the Osun State Council of Traditional Rulers.
“Before his marriage with his erstwhile Jamaica-born wife, Chanel Chin, crashed in December 2019, Oba Akanbi was said to have put a crown on her head, emerging the first Yoruba monarch in recent times to do so! And worse of all, Ms Chin, based in Canada, had disclosed that Oba Akanbi forced her into marrying him after raping her during a visit to Nigeria in February 2016!
“The divorced woman alleged that Oba Akanbi “started sleeping around with a lot of women, from Lagos to Iwo to Osogbo, to Ibadan. He was sleeping with a lot of women and promising them Olori”. A monarch as a rapist? Again the Jamaican beauty equally accused the Oba of telling lies to cover up his philandering lifestyle.
“While we do not know how the traditional process that produced Akanbi as the Oluwo of Iwoland worked leading to his emergence onto the venerated throne, his subjects seem to have had and heard enough of the waywardness of this ‘boy’ hell-bent on desecrating a centuries’ old tradition. So, is it not time to ‘disarm’ him and his gang?
“Whether he came in through the right means or not, he ought to have been dethroned long ago following his monarchical malfeasance. No morally-upright monarch should have anything to do with controversy or scandal for him to be able to inspire confidence in the followers. This chap has been weighed and found wanting in every front. His downfall should follow suit before he commits more ‘harakiri’ or sets the throne ablaze!
“A shameless traditional ruler that throws decorum to the wind by playing Mohammed Ali or replicating the pugilism skill of a Mike Tyson cannot be trusted or entrusted with a great crown. An Oba that raped a foreign woman blackmailing and promising her marriage or ‘Olori’ cannot be respected by his people talk less others outside the kingdom. An Oba that was once convicted of scam and narco peddling in faraway America and deported home should have nothing to do with the traditional ruling institution.
“Alas a retired swindler has found himself occupying a throne that ought to be reserved for great men of Royal Descent with unblemished record. Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwoland, must be shown the way out sooner or later. He would be good, post-Oluwoship, as a playboy, a political tout or a boxer.
“The Governor who approved his Kingship should also be tried and asked to refund any moneys given to him.
“We are not against him but when it comes to the occupant of the throne of Oba in Yoruba land, such a person must be a replication of outright honesty, care, love, decency and must possess all Divine attributes of a Royal Father.
“By his sacrilegious or abominable comportment, he has effortlessly demonstrated that he is unfit to be called ‘His Majesty’. He manifests daily how not to be an Oba. Therefore, the viable option in our reckoning is dethronement!
“Enough of the royal hubris in Iwoland!
