Palace chiefs debunk reports of Ooni’s death, say monarch hale, hearty

The Royal Traditional Secretary of Ooni’s Palace, Ile-Ife, Osun State, High Chief Adetoye Odewole, on Wednesday, debunked media reports claiming the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, was dead.
Odewole, who addressed a press conference at the Ooni’s palace on behalf of other chiefs, said that the reported death of the monarch was based on ‘mere rumour’.
He expressed regrets that the same rumour was spread in 2002, 2004 and 2013, adding that the Ooni was hale and hearty.
Similarly, the Lowa Adimula of Ife, Chief Joseph Ijaodola, said the Ooni was alive, claiming that the monarch spoke with him from London an hour before the press conference.
“ I spoke with the Royal Father an hour ago from London. Even if it (death) happens, only the Council of Oduduwa has the right to pronounce it. The enemies of Ife are the ones carrying the rumour,” he said.
Following the media reports on Wednesday morning, sympathisers had trooped to the palace for confirmation.
The sympathisers began arriving the palace as early as 6:30 a.m. to ascertain the veracity of the reports from palace chiefs who initially declined to speak.
They were also turned back at the entrance of the palace by the guards while the gate was shut.
Many of the sympathisers, however, gathered in groups a few metres from the palace gate discussing the development in hushed tones.
When the Private Secretary to the Ooni, Mr Saka Awojoodu, was approached to react to the development, he simply said: “I have nothing to disclose.’’
Mr Bisi Oduyemi, one of those who was at the palace, said he came to find out whether the news of the monarch’s passing on was true.
“ I am here to find out whether the story of the Ooni’s death was true. I heard the news on radio during the newspaper review this morning but I am here to confirm this from the palace chiefs and unfortunately, they are not forthcoming,’’ Oduyemi said .
Another resident, Mrs Idayat Akinrolu, said she abandoned her house chores to find out the authenticity of the story from the palace.
Meanwhile, the state government and the Osun Council of Traditional Rulers have yet to react to the development.
Both the state government and the traditional council were waiting for official announcement by the palace chiefs .
Sijuwade was born on January 1, 1930 in Ile-Ife to the Ogboru Ruling House and was the grandson of Ooni Sijuwade Adelekan Olubuse I.
He studied at Abeokuta Grammar School and Oduduwa College in Ile-Ife.
Sijuwade worked for three years in his father’s business, then two years with the Nigerian Tribune, before attending Northampton College in the UK to study business management.
By the age of 30, he was already a manager in Leventis, a Greek-Nigerian conglomerate.
In 1963, he became Sales Director of National Motor in Lagos.
After a 1964 visit to the Soviet Union, he formed a company to distribute Soviet-built vehicles and equipment in Nigeria and this became the nucleus of his business empire.
He also invested in real estate in his home town of Ile Ife and became the Ooni on December 6, 1980.