The former wife of the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, has hit back at the monarch, calling him a “deadbeat father” after he accused the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, of conspiring with her to tarnish his reputation.
In a statement posted on Instagram on Friday, Queen Chanel Chin, who hails from Canada and is the daughter of Jamaican reggae artiste Ludlow “Bobo Zaro” Chin, dismissed the Oluwo’s claims as “false, misleading, and damaging to the sacred Yoruba traditional institution.”
The controversy began after the Oluwo released a video alleging that the Ooni “packaged” Chanel for marriage in a plot to bring him down.
“He (Ooni) was looking for my downfall, and the next thing, they packaged a woman for me. I don’t know her from Canada, but it was packaged for me. It was a setup,” the Iwo monarch claimed.
Oba Akanbi further alleged that Chanel tried to poison him twice and gave birth to a child whose paternity he now questions. “She had a child, which I don’t even know if it’s mine. I have to confirm that through DNA,” he added, accusing the Ooni of accommodating his ex-wife and having an affair with her.
However, Queen Chanel, in her response, said she was never introduced to the Oluwo by the Ooni of Ife but by a respected Lagos monarch, whom she still regards as a “Royal Father.”
“I was introduced to Mr. Akanbi by a respected Lagos monarch, not by the Ooni of Ife. During my time as Olori Oluwo, I regarded this Lagos monarch as my Royal Father and still do with respect,” she said.
Chanel went on to accuse Oba Akanbi of abandoning their son, Prince Oduduwa, for over five years.
“Mr. Akanbi has been absent from Prince Oduduwa’s life for over five years. He only resurfaced in August this year in Canada, refused to sign passport papers, but dropped $500 — the first support Oduduwa ever received from him since we left the palace,” she claimed.
She urged the public to disregard the monarch’s accusations and appealed to Yoruba traditional leaders to caution him.
“This shall be my final statement on the matter. Prince Oduduwa remains my beloved son, and I hold the Yoruba people in deep love and respect,” she concluded.
The former couple met at a party in Lagos in 2015 and married shortly after, but their union ended in December 2019 following what the Oluwo described as “irreconcilable differences.”
Efforts to obtain comments from the Ooni’s spokesperson, Moses Olafare, were unsuccessful as of press time.