The monarch said the association of Yoruba culture and tradition with deity worshipping sends a wrong signal to the people who usually find such a practice hostile to their daily living.

Contrary to popular belief, the Oluwo noted that Yorubas are not deity worshippers but traditionalists who practise their arts and culture.

The Oluwo said these in a recent interview with The Vanguard, where he talked about the factors alienating Yoruba people from their culture, including the confusion of traditionalists to deity worshippers.

“If people are running away from the king’s palace, what are they running away from? They’re running away from culture. They are running away from a rotten culture, but our culture and tradition are beautiful, and we should showcase them to the bigger world.

“People are running away from everything hostile to their daily living, and this is not what makes us a Yoruba people,” the monarch said.

The fashion-conscious king also explained that his choice of dressing is the true reflection of the ancient Yoruba culture practised by the forebears, as against the unkempt ways portrayed by deities.

“You will see the way I dress now, today, believe me, the way I react, I display with so much splendour is the reality of our culture. The culture is not to threaten or curse or use deities to scare people.

“These are the old, cultural ways of our fathers. We are not dirty people as portrayed by the deities in the past. They want us to be dirty people. This is how I want to impact the Yoruba and black people,” Oluwo stated.

He also condemned the lumping of the concept of traditionalists and deity worshipping together, insisting that he doesn’t praise deities but worships Eledumare (God Almighty).

“People want to define traditionalists as people who worship deities. We are not deity worshipers. We are the Yoruba people who worship Olodumare. Odu is all the codes of life. It is the Yoruba word. It is not any deity’s word. It is not Ifa word. It encompasses everything. If you call someone “Olo’du”, it means he does everything.

“So, the owner of the “odu” who knows where it will end “ibi ti o maa re” is the Olodumare which the English call the “Alpha and Omega” – Ipilese ati Opin. We must understand these people calling themselves traditionalists are idol worshipers but that is not the correct thing because they want to deceive people into their thinking, to take over the kingship institution. No idol is called kabiyesi,” the monarch explained further.