The titles of Ọọ̀ni Ilé-Ifè
Ọọ̀nirìsà = Ọọ̀ni òrìsà = Ọọ̀ni = The Human face of our Saint ancestors, representatives of Olódùmarè in the earthly world.
Kábíyèsí Aláṣẹ Igbákejì Òrìsà – The unquestionable supreme authority, next only to the Saintly deities.
Olúayé – The supreme spiritual head of the immortal men on earth.
Àrólé O’dua – The one acting for Odùduwà, the projector of all humanity on earth, Olódùmarè being Olú’ọ̀run [ Olúrun ] the supreme unsearchable head of all universe.
Ẹrùjèjè Ilé-Ifè – The fearsome one sitting on the ancient thrones at the source in Ilé-Ifè.
He sits to superintend over the care of the 201 deities of Yoruba land in Ilé-Ifè. It is said that there is hardly a day when Ilé-Ifè isn’t observing one sacred rituals or the other
He is grand custodian of IFÁ, the totality of Yoruba History, Wisdom, Customs, Powers and Spirituality. He administers this through the Àràbà Àgbáyé, IFÁ Chief Priest world-wide.
You can then imagine or you have an idea what is packed into this ONE MAN, regardless of his age, to make him who he is and what he represents.
Once properly constituted into an ỌỌ̀NI, and indeed for most men who sit on ancient thrones in Yoruba land, he is above all mortal men, regardless of their ages, status, rank or whatever.
He is no ordinary mortal.
Then try and imagine what it means for this man to be seen kneeling or bowing or otherwise genuflecting to any mortal man.
It will be a mighty slap on the individual and collective faces of over the 60m Yoruba people around the world
In those days OBAS such as the Ọọ̀ni cover their faces in beaded veils attached to their crowns so people didnt run the risk of getting eye contact with them and they hardly talked directly to humans too but through one of his Ẹmẹ̀sè.
That is how powerful that throne is.
He is not the kind of man you see any how. Infact in those days, you rarely see him outside his palace and even then, you don’t for your own safety want to be looking at him straight in the face.
He is not the kind of man who will be dancing in church, calling Adeboye “my spiritual father” in public !!!!
Can you imagine the abomination in that statement?
He is not the kind of man to be seen doing Gen-Z clap-palm greetings with a mere boy like Davido.
He is not the kind of man who should be standing up to greet Pete Edozien!!!
For what????
He is not the kind of man who should be seen dancing skelewu with AdeDancer because that one is a Governor.
HE IS AN INSTITUTION, THE MOST SYMBOLIC RALLYING POINT OF THE YORUBA RACE OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
These are things we MUST take very seriously!!!!
ThinkYorubaFirst
© Adedamola Adetayo
02 July 2024
