Controversy As Oluwo Denies Soliciting N20m To Marry Kano Princess

*Osun Govt Berates ‘Mischief Makers’

The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, trended on both the social and conventional media during the week, albeit, for romantic reasons. Although he has once again accused his detractors of being behind the latest controversy trailing him, many Nigerians are still skeptical about what to believe.

A letter allegedly written by the palace of the Oluwo of Iwo, and purportedly signed by one of his aides, seeking financial assistance from the Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, in respect of the former’s impending marriage to a princess from the Ado Bayero dynasty in Kano, Kano State, is at the root of the controversy.

The letter dated February 8, 2022, which surfaced on the social media yesterday, was addressed to Governor Oyetola with reference number HIM/TELU 1/14. The letter, which was written on the letter head of the Oluwo of Iwo, was captioned “Notification of Wedding and Request for Financial Support”. It carried the official stamp of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

The letter reads: “I have the instruction of His Imperial Majesty, Oba (Dr.) Abdul-Rasheed Adewale Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo, to notify you of the Oluwo’s decision to marry a Princess from Kano Emirate; to be precise, Ado Bayero dynasty.

“I wish to remind your Excellency that this kind of royal wedding within (sic) two notable traditional institutions in Nigeria will require huge expenses, which necessitate the support of state government financially even logistically. Moreover, the estimated amount for the event is above (N20, 000, 000.00) Twenty Million naira. His Excellency Oba Akanbi relies on you for necessary consideration and approval on this request.”

Hardly had the letter surfaced on social media before commentators started dragging the Iwo monarch over the alleged demand. While most of those who remarked on the matter wondered why Oba Akanbi would descend as low as making what they considered a demeaning request for something that should be his personal project, a few others wondered why the letter was leaked.

“This ought to be a communication between the monarch and the office of the governor. Why would anybody reveal the content to the public in this manner? This is ridiculous,” a commentator said.

Oba Akanbi, however, denied authoring the “fake letter”, saying that mischievous people were behind its circulation. A statement issued by his Press Secretary, Alli Ibraheem, boasted that there is no marriage that can be too big for the Oluwo himself to finance.

The statement reads: “We read with total dismay a letter purportedly said to emanate from the palace of Oluwo of Iwoland seeking financial assistance on his personal affairs, wedding. While we commend the enlightened public for their sense of fair judgement, we want to categorically state that the letter is fake, and did not emanate from the palace of Oluwo. The said letter lacks basic in-house styles of Oluwo’s palace correspondence. Oluwo always appends his signature while writing the government.

“Equally, the font in the letter is not our official style. At the said date on the letter, Oluwo was not in the state up till now. And his secretary has no audacity whatsoever to sign on behalf of His Majesty while communicating with the government. The letter was orchestrated by mischievous people whose mission is to discredit the palace. Marriage is a personal affair. There is no marriage venture too big for Oluwo to finance on his own. Those circulating such should exercise caution. Queen is coming but not in the haste of the public demand.”

Oba Akanbi had divorced his former wife, Chanel Chin, daughter of Jamaican reggae star Ludlow Chin a.k.a. Bobo Zaro in 2019. The monarch had accused the Canadian-born ex-beauty queen of making an attempt on his life, describing their botched union as “four years of a fraudulently arranged relationship”.

The Osun State Government yesterday berated those it described mischief makers over Oluwo’s alleged request of financial assistance from Governor Oyetola for his wedding with the daughter of Ado Bayero.

A statement issued by the state’s Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs Funke Egbemonde, said the state government was aware that the Oluwo had denied writing the letter, and as a government, it is important to stop those making negative insinuations in their tracks.

Egbemode said: “This fresh attempt by mischief makers to bring the governor and the government on a collision course with the citizens did not come as a surprise, especially as the state draws closer to its gubernatorial primaries and election.

“The community of sadists are increasing the tempo of their shameless propaganda machine. However, this is another dead-on-arrival plot.

“For starters, it is a fact that this is a government that has put the welfare of its citizens ahead of personal or group interests. It is also established that Governor Adegboyega Oyetola is a prudent manager of resources, who is focused on the development of Osun and everything that translates to the public good.

“Specifically, the people of Iwoland are happy with this government for looking in their direction after years of neglect and they eloquently expressed their pleasure with the governor when he visited Iwo Federal Constituency last week.

“Of course, we knew the unprecedented crowd that welcomed the governor would give the sadists sleepless nights, but this resort to blackmail is low, even for them.

“These mischief-makers have come up empty again and all their attempts will come to nothing. We will not be disturbed or distracted by the noise of political miscreants whose only job is to grab their phones, get on social media every morning to cause bad blood.

“We implore the good people of Osun to ignore all insinuations targeted at maligning this governor and government.”