BThe Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Olanipekun (Larooye II) has debunked allegations making the rounds that Osun Deity has been removed from its shrine and sold.
Oba Oyetunji who stated this at a media briefing at his palace in Osogbo observed that the Osun deity is a spirit and not a physical object that could be moved around and trade like article of trade.
The monarch noted that it is unthinkable that anybody would falsely accuse an Oba of stealing in Yorubaland.” For Adigun, the son of Iyanda Olayiwola, to have falsely accused me that I sold Osun in collaboration with Abimbola Oyewale for N 15 Million is a very grave offence. It is a taboo to call an Oba a thief in Yorubaland” he stated.
According to the Ataoja, the Osun is a spirit being that his forbears entered into a covenant with centuries ago which resulted in the yearly sacrifices as the Osun groove in Osogbo.
“The sacrifice that Ataojas take to the groove on a yearly basis was as a result of the covenant my forebears had with the Osun goddess who is a spirit being and not an object that you can see physically. So anyone alleging that Osun had been sold needs psychiatric attention urgently. Osun is one of the emissaries of God just as we have Jesus Christ and Mohammed” he explained.
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It would be recalled that Adigun Olayiwola, an Osun devotee told a national newspaper recently that Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Adewale, the Ataoja of Osogbo, in collusion with Abimbola Oyewale, a former votary maid to Osun, sold Osun for N 15 million to antique collectors who could not move the Osun deity to Europe and later called him to express their predicament.
According to him, “I asked them to hand her (Osun) over to me since Osun had refused to go with them. They asked for N15 Million. According to them, the money they allegedly paid … for the acquisition, the cost of transporting Osun from Osogbo to Lagos and to Lome in Togo and the first class tickets already bought for their flight back to Europe”.
Olayiwola claimed that he could not afford to have Osun taken away and that was why he emptied his pockets and borrowed from people to recover Osun that is now safely kept somewhere in Ibadan.
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