Ife impatient as new Ooni arrives

The ancient city of Ile-Ife is agog in anticipation of the arrival of the new Ooni-designate Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi in his family house according to tradition, from where he would move to where traditional rites would be administered on   him for the next three months before final installation.

The arrival of the new Ooni of Ife was confirmed by the head of Isoro cult, who is Obadio of Ife.

Most of the residents were seen going about in a festive mood in anticipation of the arrival of the new Ooni as the city wears a carnival look. Security personnel were seen at strategic points, ostensibly to maintain peace and order.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has congratulated the people of Ile-Ife, especially, the Yoruba nation, in particular, and the good people of Osun, in general, for the official announcement of a new Ooni of Ife, to succeed the departed monarch, Oba Okunade Sijuwade.

The congratulatory message was contained in a statement by the party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy issued in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

The party said with the state government finally announcing the name of Adeyeye Ogunwusi as a successor to Oba Okunade Sijuwade, a new era has begun in the change paradigm that should incorporate the paramount Yoruba traditional institution into the dynamic renewal that is currently sweeping across the country.

The party declared that ‘the spectacular antecedent of the new Ooni in the corporate community of Nigeria’s business institution, the Yoruba nation and, indeed, Nigeria as a whole expect the new Ooni to take off from where the late Oba Sijuwade ended his glorious reign.

“We expect the Ooni-designate to drive the traditional institution with similar, if not stronger zest and panache that Oba Sijuwade deployed to promote culture, especially that of the Yoruba nation throughout the world.

“We have no doubt in our mind that the choice of Ogunwusi as the new Ooni must have been based on his pedigree and antecedent and exalted achievements he has attained that would be of significant value to his reign as the paramount ruler in Yorubaland.

“It is, therefore, with great expectation that we all look forward to the eventful reign of the new Ooni, His Royal Majesty, Oba Babatunde Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ojaja II,” the party said.

Also, the senator representing Osun East in the Senate of the Federal Republic and Chairman Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Babajide Omoworare, has congratulated Prince Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi on his nomination as the next Ooni of Ile-Ife.

In a statement made available in Abuja by his media aide, Mr. Tunde Dairo, Senator Omoworare prayed to God for good health and long life for Prince Ogunwusi.

He also prayed for a peaceful, thriving and prosperous reign for the people of Ile-Ife.

Congratulatory messages have also come from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, wishing the indigenes and the people of Ile-Ife well on the emergence of the new Ooni of Ife.

A release by the Public Relations Officer of the University, Abiodun Olarewaju, stated that the Vice-Chancellor, who expressed happiness at the emergence of the new Ooni, urged the new monarch to use his wealth of experience in the business world across the globe to further uplift the ancient city of Ile-Ife industrially, so that the teeming youths in Ifeland would be gainfully employed.

Professor Bamitale Omole, who wrote on behalf of the Governing Council, Senate, Staff, Students and the entire community of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, to heartily felicitate with the new king, who is the 51st Ooni of the ancient city of Ile-Ife, charged every resident of Ife to rally round him to make Ife a reference point of the international world both culturally and traditionally.

The Vice-Chancellor said: “No doubt, your track records of unprecedented achievements in the business world, your humility, candour, level-headedness and your avowed commitment to better the lot of the less privileged in the society are a great pointer that your reign would bring unparalleled socio-economic developments to all the nooks and crannies of the entire Ife-land”.

The statement reads: “Your majesty, I hereby pledge that the authorities of the Obafemi Awolowo University would give you the needed support in all areas so that the cordiality between the Town and Gown would be further strengthened, and by this, we both would take Ile-Ife, the cradle of the Yoruba to much greater heights.”

He, therefore, urged the new Ooni not to hesitate in informing the university management on the role to play in making his coronation a grandiloquent success.

The Vice-Chancellor prayed that the Almighty God would grant the new king more wisdom, knowledge, understanding and sound health to further project the cultural and traditional image of Ile-Ife and the entire Yoruba race to the whole world.

Professor Omole urged the new monarch to continue the good works left by his immediate predecessor, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, who took the cultural heritage of the Yoruba to the outside world in highly decent and flamboyant manner.