HOW NATURE CONQUERED ONI OF IFE INTO POLYGAMY

By Razaq Adedeji Jimoh

FILLED with inciting quest to make a difference from the past, the Ooni of Ife, HRM Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, would probably have thought his forebears did not get it right with their cultural art of polygamy that was never even exclusive to the royal family, but stood out as one inevitable peculiarity of the royal palace. He could not have been a stranger to the king’s exclusive right to the Yoruba eulogy in salutation – Esin Oba a je’ko pe – but his Majesty would seem to lack the depth of its etymology. He therefore found the legacy of Alarede – the Western creed of monogamy – a superior culture beneath which the tradition of his regal birth must be trodden. Thus so at incipient of his coronation, he threw his hat into the ring and set to wrestle with nature, since nature makes the ambience of culture and tradition.

The battle began to manifest in the eventual controversy that ceaselessly built up around his marital life until his culture conquered to make him embrace the tradition of polygamy. To every luscious woman he found worthy to confess his love, he got paid back with ludicrous riddle demystifying the sanctity of his blue blood. The embarrassment may have gotten to the peak for him with the case of Prophetess Naomi Silekunola that brought the Cathedral into a direct conflict with the hallow sacred of his ancestral tradition.

When Silekunola wedded the Kabiyesi in a celebrated style of the royal classy, one significant touch of tradition that manifested was the claim of the Palace that the marriage was 'ordained by the gods' because the new Olori Naomi was the choice made by Ifa Oracle for Oba Ogunwusi.

But going by the controversy of a prospective divorce claims by the Olori through her Instagram page, which surfaced on Thursday December 23, 2021, questions were being raised in some quarters whether the gods are not to blame for Matching the Mismatch? But Olarotim had answered that question way back in the the mid 1990s - The Gods Are Not to Blame, he so entitled his satire of the convention of man to attempt shifting the blames of his fallible on gods.

But the question would yet seem germane to ask again when viewed against the backdrop of Olori Naomi's claim that her monarch husband lives a dual life. “His majesty has a picture he would love the world to see and perceive him as, and another one which is his true self”, she alleged. However, the denial of any knowledge of a divorce from the Queen by the Palace changed the narrative to another controversy in the marital life of the Onirisa since he ascended the throne.

The whole story was a shocking news to herald the year 2021 Christmas when she took to her Instagram page to declare that she was dropping the official royal title of the Queen of Ile-Ife as she would no longer be referred to as the wife of Ooni of Ife. She also said it was a decision she had to take to end a relationship that did not seem to be working for her romantic preference in spite of efforts to make it a success. She said it had always been a smile through an ordeal of marital difficulties for her. One would think a lack of “romantic experience" in the life of an alarede woman should suggest the extreme lust – a strong assurances of threat to fidelity which should not be found particularly in ambience of royalhood.

The posting read: “I bless the lord almighty for his faithfulness in the last three years of my marriage. In life's journey, it isn't how far. Still, how well; indeed though satan should buffet if trials should come. I have this blessed assurance controlling all situations and saying to me it is well with my soul. Certainly, it is well. I made my journey into the ancient throne of Ife with faith in my heart and love for the keeper of it.

“I did my best to endure and make it work; many times, I smiled through the struggle; but I have finally realised I had just one assignment, my son and when God is done. He is done. He chose Saul to be king and when He was done He told the Prophet Samuel I have moved on. Religion was never an issue between us; please refer to my interview on News Central TV. Instead, His Majesty has a picture he would love the world to see and perceive him as and another one which is his true self.

“Today I announce the beginning of a new dawn and the close of a chapter. Today I am a mother to God’s unique gift. I am no longer a slave to my thoughts of perfection”, the Queen posted.

Indeed, the Oba Ogunwusi would go down in history as monarch of contemporary Yoruba race beset with controversial marital life. He would not be the only one with the cases of royal Queen quitting the Palace of a royal spouse in divorce contempt. The celebrated young royal Queen of Octogenarian Alaafin of Oyo was once a case to make a precedence in the last them years. This was followed by the Oluwo of Iwo's recent experience.

An Akure monarch, who could not stand the thoughtful humiliation such divorce portends – only in the human imaginations anyway – once allegedly took the hard but ugly way of assaulting the estranged wife with chemical substance that destroyed her skin. The monarch had since been dethroned and is facing charges of grievous assault in court today.

The Ooni of Ife's could be deemed a controversial marital life because it has been a serial case. The longest of his marriage was his first with Olori (Queen) Adebukola Bombata consummated in 2008. It lasted eight years to crash in 2016, soon after he was crowned as the King of Ile-Ife.

Olori Wuraola Otiti from Benin Kingdom in Edo State turned out to be his next suitor to fill the marital vacuum immediately. Indeed, many had thought the Otiti's marriage to Oba Ogunwusi was a perfect match, given the historical familyhood of Ife and Benin through the ancient Oranmiyan exploit. But they were to be disappointed as the marriage barely lasted a year. It crashed in 2017 under a controversial plaint of infidelity Otiti made for her reason to quit the Palace. She likened her experience to being a root cause of domestic violence many women encounter in marriage. she literally said she was accused of being unfaithful to the monarch despite showing love all the way and time.

She said: “what I can confirm is that the Ooni and I are no more, I inhale love and exhale gratitude. My journey continues as a humanitarian aiding women and victims of domestic violence and abuse with the United Nations. “No matter how much time you've invested; no matter the use of media to silence and manipulate; no matter the circumstance, slander, embarrassment, threats and lies. Get out and seek immediate help. We have got to stop this culture of shaming and vilifying women with false stories of infidelity and nefarious behavior. The spreading of false information through sources afraid to be identified is the mark of cowards and a cover up for the guilty parties to justify their horrific actions. There is absolutely no truth to the media circulated lies of infidelity and infertility on my end”.

It was the Otiti's end that ushered in the Queen Silekunola era, which also eventually headed for and ultimately hit the rock. The Palace debunked the purported divorce claim at first, insisting that the relationship was yet cozy, romantic and passion-filled. In fact, in a release credited to the Ooni's Director of Media and Public Affairs, Moses Olafara, the Ooni had just presented a Christmas gift of brand new car to the Queen just before the social media divorce went viral.

Olafara said: “A night before yesterday (December 22, 2021) when everyone went to bed, there was no indication to warrant the reported separation of the marriage. In fact, that previous day was when Kabiyesi bought a brand new car to serve as a Christmas gift to the Queen. If you are planning to separate with your wife tomorrow, why will you buy a car for her today?”

But it came to past and Onirisa decided to bow to nature with women of assorted brands of intellectual and business holdings for the testimony that God never made mistakes in pegging the life span of fertility in women at an average age of 45 and potentiality of conception at once in a month while the potential striking of man for conception stands at 90 at a modest 3 “rounds” per day for 30days and for the span of his healthy life time. That is the reason f'aso ko - when married man maintains concubines for the pleasure of nature - seems to be on the rampant. Indeed, nature is great.