The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, last week, cracked an expensive joke, when he said he would love to be addressed as an Emir by the Muslim community. The monarch of the largely Moslem town in Osun State, who has always hopped from one controversy to the other in recent time, immediately came under stringent attacks especially that such allusion was deemed disrespectful to the Yoruba culture and tradition.
Smart, he quickly came out to say he was misunderstood and denied ever saying he would rather he was an emir. The Oba, who went further to affirm his love for the Yoruba tradition and his position, also enjoined some media practitioners to avoid causing crisis by quoting people out of context.
At least, he has cleared the air of the misunderstanding that could have snowballed into a serious crisis for him. More importantly, it would have been expected that the Oluwo at his level would know when to draw the lines of jokes in certain matters. Such a disposition undermines his personality and position, and hopefully, he would be more circumspect next time.
