Reason Why Oba Of Lagos Snubbed Ooni Of Ife

In Nigeria, greetings are all-important - from the roadside to the boardroom, how you say hello says a lot about you.But at a recent public event a Yoruba leader, known as the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu ,74, refused to properly greet the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi 42.

The video showed the Ooni arrive, greet the monarch seated beside Mr. Akiolu, believed to be the Obi of Onitsha, Alfred Achebe.

As the Ooni leaned over to greet the Oba by shaking his hand, what he got instead was a dismissive wave and what looked like a scowl of disdain.

Report shows that a long rivalry existed between the two thrones even before the colonial era.
The ancestors of the Oba of Lagos were loyal to the powerful Benin kingdom, an area south-east of Lagos rather than the Ooni to the north-east.

But on independence, the country was divided into different political zones. Lagos fell into roughly the same zone as the Ooni of Ife.

The general feeling on social media seems to be that the Oba of Lagos showed disrespect not only for the Ooni of Ife but to Yoruba culture as a whole. Most people are watching to see what happens next.

Source: BBC