The Mufti of Iwoland, Sheikh Molaasan, has faulted the Osun State Government’s caution letter to the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, over alleged inflammatory public statements.
In a video circulating on social media, Molaasan described the letter as unacceptable, insisting that Governor Ademola Adeleke has no power to remove the monarch from his throne.
He said, “That letter must be corrected. No state governor can attempt to remove the Oluwo of Iwoland from the throne, and he will remain a governor. If that letter were written before the gubernatorial election, it would have affected his ambition.”
The cleric’s reaction follows a warning issued by the Osun State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, which accused the monarch of making public statements capable of triggering religious confrontation, inter-town conflicts and disrupting communal peace.
On July 1, 2026, the monarch described traditional rites and seclusion associated with the installation of new kings as avenues through which monarchs could be drawn into idolatry.
In another video shared on his Facebook page on October 10, he questioned the significance of ancient Yoruba crowns, arguing that crowns were made by the monarchs who wore them and that new kings should make their own crowns.
He also reportedly declared that palaces without idols were greater than mosques, churches and shrines, while criticising traditional rulers who maintained deities in their palaces.
Meanwhile, the Oluwo had also challenged the government’s authority to remove him, declaring in a video that nobody, including the governor, could remove him from the throne.
The controversy has further heightened the disagreement surrounding the monarch’s comments on traditional religion and the relationship between the traditional institution and the state government.
