Meet Late Oba Adefunmi, First "Oyinbo" Man To Be Crowned Oba Of A Yoruba Village. He Has 22 Children

Yoruba people are an ethnic group found in western Africa which includes Nigeria, Benin, Togo and some part of Ghana, they constitute around 47 milliion people worldwide and majority of this population is from Nigeria, where the Yoruba make up 15.5% of the country's population making them one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa.

The Yoruba word "Oba" means ruler in the Yoruba language and It can also mean King in Yoruba land. People who hold this title are held in high regardless as they're believed to be chosen by the gods. In this article you'd get to meet the first "Oyinbo" man to be crowned Oba of a Yoruba village.


Late Oba Efuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi born was born on the 5th of October 1928 as Walter Eugene King.


Late Walter King was born in Detroit, Michigan, in the Unites States Of America. At a very tender age King left the Baptist faith that he had been baptized into at the age of 12 and decided to pursue his own dream. He grew up with an interest in African culture and began African studies at the age of 16.


At the age of 20 late King traveled to Haiti in 1954 to study the Haitian culture and Haitian Vodou and in 1955 travelled to Europe and North Africa, often as a part of the Katherine Dunham Dance Company.

On the 26th of August 1959 at the age of 31, late Walter King became the first African born in America to become fully initiated into the Orisa-Vodun African priesthood by African Cubans in Matanzas, Cuba.

After that he went ahead to initiate thousands of priests into the ministries of Orisa-Vodun and in so doing restored the ancient sacred priesthoods of the Yoruba deities Esu, Orunmila, Obatala, Osun, Yemoja, Ogun, Oya, Sango and Olokun to the African American community outside nigeria.

In the fall of 1970, late Walter formed the Yoruba Village of Oyotunji in Beaufort County South Carolina, UsA, and began the careful reorganization of the Orisa-Vodu Priesthood along traditional Nigerian lines.

When he finally did visit Ogun State Nigeria He was initiated to the Ifa priesthood by the Oluwa of Ijeun at Abeokuta, Nigeria, in August of 1972.

After that late Walter King was proclaimed Alase (Oba-King) of the Yoruba of North America at Oyotunji Village in 1972. In 1981, his Divine Royal Majesty King, Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II who was the “Ooni” of the ancient Yoruba city of Ile Ife.




The Ooni ordered the Ife Chiefs to perform coronation rites on Walter King transforming his name to Oba Efuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I. Efuntola means the whiteness (of Obatala) is as good as wealth or honor while Adefunmi means the crown has given me this child.

Late Oba Adefumi then became the first in a line of new world Yoruba Kings consecrated at the palace of the Ooni of Ife.

Late Oba Adefunmi married several times and fathered six princes and sixteen princesses making 22 children according to the Oyotunji website. Attempts to procure pictures of his wives proved or children abortive at the time of writing this article as they're are not available online. However, we would the bring the information to you in it surfaces.

Late Oba Adefunmi also facilitated the establishment of Yoruba Temples and Shrines in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Indiana, Georgia, North Carolina, Connecticut, Ohio, Florida, Maryland, DC, VI, Panama and England thereby enabling the restoration of the rites of Gelede, Egungun and Ancestor worship and making it accessible to Yoruba's living abroad.

He died on the 11th of February 2005 as a great man. Since Adefunmi's death in 2005, the Oyotunji village he built has been led by his son, Oba Adejuyigbe Adefunmi II.



The village was constructed just like the villages of the traditional Yoruba city-states here in Nigeria and is a place where the Yoruba culture is upheld and togetherness encouraged.

Here are photos of the village.

Although he is dead, He legacy lives on.


With his efforts many parents and children have a place they can go to and feel at home in the US without coming back to Nigeria.

That's very great of him.