Why I Named My Son Oduduwa-Oluwo of Iwo

The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdul Rasheed Adewale Akanbi Telu 1, is currently in an ecstatic mood over the birth of his son, Oduduwa. In a chat with Saturday Beats, the monarch said he was not surprised about the birth of his son because God had already told him the day his wife was conceived.

“God always converses with me and I have a personal relationship with Him. The day my wife conceived, I told her that she was pregnant and I told her she would give birth to a boy whose name would be Oduduwa,” he said.

The monarch told Saturday Beats that he named his child, Oduduwa, after the progenitor of the Yoruba race, because it was an instruction from God.

He said, “We named the child Oduduwa because God is trying to tell the people that if Oduduwa was alive today, he would serve only one God. Oduduwa only served one God and that is the reason  God told me to give my child that name. There are a lot of ways God converses with me and He was the one that told me that I would become a king no matter what and that came to pass. If God told me to name my son Oduduwa what else would I do? That name is our name.

“Every name has a meaning and Oduduwa is no different; it simply means, ‘he came out black’. We should not be ashamed to name our kids after our great progenitors. The name should even be on the ground a lot but nobody is bearing the name because people believe it is a fetish name. Oduduwa never worshipped any idol. All the idols in Yoruba land came after Oduduwa so there is strong evidence that Oduduwa never worshipped any other God.”

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