To the Sons and Daughters of Ijebuland – The Proud Ijebu Public
My dear brothers and sisters of the ancient and noble Ijebu Kingdom, as the echoes of our late Kabiyesi, Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Kayode Adetona, Ogbagba Agbotewole II, still resonate in our hearts – transitioned to the ancestors on July 13, 2025 – we stand at the sacred crossroads of selecting his successor from the Fusengbuwa Ruling House. This is no ordinary moment; it is a divine interregnum, guided by the unyielding Declaration of 1959, the whispers of Ifa, and the unassailable patrilineal customs that have preserved our throne’s purity for over 1000 years. Yet, in these tense days of December 2025, as the 14-day ultimatum from the Ijebu-Ode Local Government presses upon us, a shadow has lengthened over our unity. It comes in the form of intensified claims by Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde Adewale Olasunkanmi Omogbolahan Anifowoshe – the illustrious Fuji maestro known to the world as KWAM 1, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall – who now boldly asserts his eligibility through a purported paternal grandmother from the Oba Jadiara lineage of the Fusengbuwa House.
We honor KWAM 1’s unparalleled contributions to our cultural symphony, his rhythms that have danced across continents, and his chieftaincy titles bestowed with grace by our late Awujale, including the Otunba Afidipotemole of the Fidipote House in 2023. But as gatekeepers of Ijebu history – those of us versed in the oral archives, family genealogies, and the solemn records of the Odis and Kingmakers – we must pause and probe deeper. For claims to the Awujale stool demand not melody, but meticulous truth. Let us, then, journey back through the mists of time to trace the true threads of this narrative, lest ambition unravel the very fabric of our royal heritage.
The Wanderer’s Arrival: A Story Rooted in 1850
Cast your minds to the year 1850, a pivotal dawn in Ijebuland’s golden age. Our revered Oba Afidipotemole Ademuyewo ascended the throne amid pomp and prophecy, his coronation a blaze of regality that drew admirers from afar. It was then that a troupe of Igunnu dancers – the vibrant traditional performers of the Tapa tribe (the ancient kin of the Nupe people from the Niger heartlands) – graced Ijebu-Ode with their hypnotic steps and thunderous drums. Among them was a young man, spirited and skilled, whose troupe had journeyed southward as entertainers to celebrate the new king’s enthronement.
Oba Afidipotemole, ever the patron of arts and harmony, was enraptured by their artistry. In a gesture of royal benevolence, he granted the young Tapa dancer and his companions a modest shed within the Fidipote quarters – that storied enclave of Ijebu-Ode, named for the Fidipote Ruling House and woven into the very soil where our third rotational lineage thrives. This was no grand palace, but a humble foothold in a foreign land, a nod to cultural exchange rather than blood kinship. Here, the young wanderer planted roots, far from the royal enclosures of the Fusengbuwa branches like Jadiara, Bubiade, or Tunwase.
From this Tapa ancestor’s union sprang a lineage of resilience and rhythm. He begat Ayinde Anifowoshe, a trader of modest means in the bustling markets of Lagos Island’s Agarawu quarters, who in turn fathered Wasiu Ayinde Anifowoshe on March 3, 1957. This is the unvarnished genealogy whispered in family lore and etched in public records: a tale of migration, talent, and toil, not of crowns and coronets. KWAM 1’s mother hails from Ilupeju-Ekiti in Ondo State, adding Ekiti vigor to his Yoruba soul, but his paternal path traces not to the gilded halls of Oba Jadiara (who reigned from 1680 to 1695, over a century and a half before the Tapa arrival), but to the dusty trails of itinerant performers.
The Enigma of the Princess: A Union Defying the Social Citadel
Now, the claim intensifies: that KWAM 1’s paternal grandmother – the wife of that Tapa Igunnu dancer – was a princess of the Oba Jadiara lineage, infusing his veins with Fusengbuwa blood. Ah, but herein lies the chasm between fancy and fact, my people. In the rigid social order of 19th-century Ijebuland, where caste lines were drawn sharper than a blacksmith’s blade, such a union was not merely improbable – it was a seismic rupture, akin to the sun wedding the moon without Olodumare’s decree.
Consider the era: Ijebu royalty, especially from the Jadiara branch – Fusengbuwa, custodians of the throne’s light – guarded their blood with the ferocity of ancestral oaths. Princesses were not bartered like market wares; their marriages were statecraft, sealed by the Awujale’s council, Ifa divinations, and rites that echoed through generations. A commoner, let alone a foreign dancer from the Tapa lands (viewed then as exotic outsiders, their customs a curious veil over our Ijebu sanctity), wedding a royal daughter? This would have demanded extraordinary interventions: public proclamations from the Osugbo secret society, bride-wealth in cowries or pandoro, gold, and kola nuts equivalent to a chieftain’s ransom, and rituals of purification – scarifications on the groom’s chest bearing the Jadiara emblem, a communal feast under the king’s gaze, and heirlooms like beaded crowns or ivory tusks passed as eternal witnesses.
These were no fleeting ceremonies; they left indelible marks – physical, spiritual, and communal – visible in family compounds for descendants to revere. Where, then, are these talismans in the Anifowoshe line?(Besides, Aside KWAM 1 and his immediate knits, who else bears Anifowoshe in the Ijebu Royal bloodlines?)
No oral historian of Fidipote recalls such a spectacle; no genealogical scroll in the Oba Adesunbo Tunwase Memorial Museum whispers of a Tapa prince consort. The gatekeepers of Ijebu history – elders of the Lenuwa and Pampa classes – affirm: no such princess strayed to the Igunnu shed. This claim, born perhaps of recent desperation amid the throne’s vacancy, smells of the spurious, amplified by political whispers and the allure of celebrity. Certain custodians, swayed by KWAM 1’s fame or the gleam of political favors, have elevated him with titles like Otunba Afidipotemole and Olori Omo-Oba Akile Ijebu (2023), blurring the line between honor and heritage. Yet, even these adornments tether him to Fidipote – the third house in rotation, not our current Fusengbuwa turn.
KWAM 1 has indeed had a good run, his melodies masking these inconsistencies. But the Awujale stool is no stage for improvisation; it is the heartbeat of Ijebuland, pulsing with verified patrilineal purity.
The Gravest Dangers: Fractures in the Royal Edifice and the Throne’s Shadowed Race
Oh, the perils of such unmoored claims! They are not mere footnotes in a bard’s song; they are termites gnawing at the pillars of our kingdom. To the royal lineage, they sow seeds of dilution – eroding the sacred patrilineal covenant that ensures only thoroughbred princes, like those of Bubiade, Jadiara, Fusengbuwa or Tunwase, ascend without contest. What becomes of the Jadiara blood if every entertainer’s tale claims its drop? Our history, preserved through the Gbedu drum’s solemn beats and the Ojude Oba’s unified splendor, risks becoming a bazaar of fables, where truth yields to charisma.
For the Ijebu Kingdom writ large, the dangers multiply: division festers among the Ruling Houses, reigniting the bickerings that plagued Fusengbuwa for months until our Olori-Ebis, Otunba Abdul-Lateef Adedayo Owoyemi and Otunba Dokun Ajidagba forged unity in 2025. Litigation looms like storm clouds – as seen in past nullifications by the Supreme Court – delaying the enthronement beyond Governor Dapo Abiodun’s ultimatum, stalling investments in our agriculture, youth empowerment, and the Ijebu State agitation. Our diaspora, drawn home by Oba Adetona’s 65-year legacy of progress, may turn away in disillusionment, seeing our throne as tainted spectacle rather than sovereign trust.
And to the race for the new Awujale? This anomaly poisons the well. As nominees from true Fusengbuwa branches – men of unbroken male descent, like the disciplined sons of Bubiade, Fusengbuwa, Jadiara and Tunwase– present themselves for the Odis’ scrutiny, such distractions invite “strangers to the throne,” fracturing the family’s resolve just as the Kingmakers convene. It undermines the oracle’s guidance, mocks the late Awujale’s decree for merit and humility, and risks enthroning not a unifier, but a divider. In a kingdom where poverty recedes through royal vision and culture shines as our global beacon, we cannot afford this gamble.
A Call to Ancestral Vigilance
Fellow Ijebu, let us not dim the light our forebears kindled. Urge the Olori-Ebi and Kingmakers to demand forensic audits of all declarations – genealogies etched in blood and ledger, not lyrics. To KWAM 1, we extend respect for his artistry, but implore retraction in the spirit of Ojude Oba’s harmony: true nobility needs no embellishment. And to our youth and elders: Stand as sentinels. Share this tale in compounds and social gatherings, that history may triumph over haste.
May Olodumare illumine our path, the ancestors fortify our bonds, and the next Awujale rise as a colossus of integrity. The throne awaits its rightful heir – pure, proven, and proud.
In the Service of Ijebuland’s Eternal Glory,
A Devoted Gatekeeper of History
December 7, 2025
Prince Adegboyega Ademuyewo
