With all that has happened in the life of the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, these past few weeks, it won’t be out of place to tag this period, ‘Ooni of Ife’s busiest season’.
From replacing Naomi Silekunola, the mother of his heir apparent, with Mariam Anako, an executive with Nestoil Limited, in a simple ceremony, to marrying three other women in quick succession, it is indeed the season of the Ooni. Shortly after marying Anako, his marriage to Dr Opeoluwa Elizabeth, a Scotland returnee and an IT executive, quietly took place at her parents’ Magodo, Lagos residence. Two days after, he married a former beauty queen and fashion designer, Tobi Philips, a lady who once berated single ladies for dating married men, on October 9.
Then he married Princess Ashley Afolashade Folakemi Adegoke, a single mother of one who had thought that she would be the first among equals, on October 14. Whatever the position she holds now among the Ooni’s wives, she is happy to have at least made the cut after many years of scheming to be an Olori. Marrying the traditional ruler is a dream come true for
Ashley Afolashade who is a UK- based entrepreneur and owns a coffee franchise. She is also a philanthropist with a foundation named in memory of her late father, Prince Adegoke. On Tuesday October 11th, the Ooni took time off expanding his harem to receive a national award conferred on him by President Muhammadu Buhari. He was conferred with the Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. His 48th birthday party, which will take place on October 17, will be grand as the newly acquired wives will expectedly fall over themselves in a bid to prove how worthy he is to them via their individual styles of celebrating him. None is expected to be caught napping.
The birthday celebration is scheduled to take place in the ancient palace in Ile Ife. After the birthday celebration, the monarch will return to acquiring more wives. THEWILL reliably gathered that the Ooni plans to add two more women to his expanding harem; Ronke Ademiluyi, his longtime associate and the founder of Africa Fashion Week London (AFWL) and Africa Fashion Week Nigeria (AFWN). Ooni’s closeness to Ronke is such that he trusts the mother of one so much he put her in charge of the Queen Moremi Initiative and also made her the global ambassador of Adire Odua which she founded.
After he is done with the marital rites with Ronke, he plans to add a highly cerebral lady, in the person of Temitope Adesegun, a former personal assistant to the late Princess Aderenle Adeniran-Ogunsanya, to his harem.
Temitope is said to hold degrees from prestigious institutions like Oxford University, Cambridge University, INSEAD Fontainebleau and Harvard University. To round up the celebrations, there is reportedly a grand wedding reception being planned in honour of Olori Mariam Ogunwusi nee Anako, perhaps to send a message and formally recognise her as the ‘official Olori’.
The Ooni plans to take a breather from acquiring Oloris until such a time that he feels the need to once more expand his harem. Whoever says it isn’t the Ooni’s season clearly has to think again.
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