OBA Adejuyigbe Adefunmi II of Oyotunji African village in Beaufort County, Southern Carolina, United States of America (USA) has been stabbed dead by his sister, Akiba Kasale Meredith, during a heated argument.
The deceased was stabbed on Monday, 29 July 2024.
According to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, the BCSO communications centre received a report of a stabbing around 2:45 p.m. at the village, which is located on Bryant Lane.
The victim, identified as a 47-year-old man, was taken to a nearby hospital where he died from his wounds.
The suspect was identified as Akiba Kasale Meredith, 53, who had left the area on foot.
Meredith was found a short time later. She was charged with murder and taken to the Beaufort County Detention Center.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Punch in 2017, the deceased revealed that he has seven wives.
“My wives are in Canada, Oyotunji, Virginia and different places,” he said.
What you should know
Oyotunji Village was founded in 1970 by Walter Eugene King as a religious and cultural community for African American practitioners of the West African Yoruba faith.
Its name means “Oyo rises again,” referring to the West African Yoruba kingdom of Oyo, now rising in a new form near the South Carolina seashore.
King, influenced by Afro-Haitian traditions, the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe, and his initiation into the Orisha priesthood in Cuba in 1959, initially established the Yoruba Temple in Harlem in 1960. Motivated by Black nationalism, King created Oyotunji Village to preserve and institutionalize African traditions.
The village’s early years saw a community of around two hundred, but now it hosts fewer than ten families, governed by an Oba and a council.
The community upholds Yoruba traditions through rituals, chants, music, and ceremonies. Since 2005, Adejuyigbe Adefunmi II has been the Oba.
Over forty years old, Oyotunji continues to celebrate and educate about Yoruba culture through festivals, a bazaar, and various media, supported by the African Theological Archministry and its network.
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