By Henry Obetta

The Olorisa Parapo Agbaye in the Badagry Division, Lagos State, has dismissed assertions that Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour is a non-Yoruba and cannot be conferred with the title of Obalefun.

The traditional council urged Lagosians to jettison such information, saying Rhodes-Vivour was of a Yoruba extraction from one of the IBILE divisions of Lagos Island in the Oke Popo area.

According to them, if Rhodes-Vivour was not a Yoruba, he would have been overwhelmed by the title.

They said: “if Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour had not been a true Yoruba blood, the crown of Obalefun he wears would since have become overburden on him.”

Recall that the governorship candidate of Lagos Party, LP, during the 2023 election in Lagos State, Rhodes-Vivour, was crowned the Obalefun of Ijo Olorisa Parapo, because of the certainty of knowledge that he was a Yoruba son.

The main reason for the decision of the core deciders of the customs and traditions in the Ijo Olorisa Parapo to crown the “brilliant and very highly professional architectural expert, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour”, with the Obalefun title and Peace Ambassador of the Isese establishment was rooted in his belief and support for Yoruba culture and traditional practice.

They said the crown was not an all-commer affair except for verified true blood of Yoruba, who also dedicates all his life on the course of Yoruba progress.