BEVERLY HILLS, July 28, (THEWILL) – The Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade is dead, THEWILL can report.
THEWILL got a confirmation of the death of the 85-year old monarch through one of his sons, who spoke to our source anonymously, because his demise can only be formally announced by the throne.
The source said the Oba, who was billed to witness the wedding of one of his sons this weekend, died in London Tuesday evening after a brief illness.
Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuwade, born January 1, 1930, became the fiftieth Ooni of Ife on December 6, 1980, taking the name Olubuse II.
According to Wikipedia, Sijuwade was born in Ile-Ife to the Ogboru ruling house, grandson of the Ooni Sijuwade Adelekan Olubuse I. He studied at Abeokuta Grammar School and Oduduwa College in Ile-Ife. He worked for three years in his father’s business, then for two years with the Nigerian Tribune, before attending Northampton College in the United Kingdom to study business management. By the age of 30 he was a manager in Leventis, a Greek-Nigerian conglomerate. In 1963 he became Sales Director of the state-owned National Motor in Lagos. After spotting a business opportunity during a 1964 visit to the Soviet Union, he formed a company to distribute Soviet-built vehicles and equipment in Nigeria, which became the nucleus of a widespread business empire. He also invested in real estate in his hometown of Ile Ife. By the time Sijuade was crowned Ooni in 1980 he had become a wealthy man.
Sijuwade was a Christian. In November 2009 he attended the annual general meeting of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria accompanied by 17 other traditional rulers. He declared that he a was full member of the church, and said all the monarchs who accompanied him would now become members. At his birthday celebration two months later, the Primate of the Anglican Communion described Sijuade as “a humble monarch, who has the fear of God at heart”.
When Sijuwade became Ooni of Ife in December 1980 he inherited an ongoing dispute over supremacy between the obas of Yorubaland. In 1967 a crisis had been resolved when Chief Obafemi Awolowo was chosen as the leader of the Yoruba. In 1976 the Governor of Oyo State, General David Jemibewon, had decreed that the Ooni of Ife would be the permanent chairman of the State Council of Obas and Chiefs. Other Obas led by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi said the position should rotate. The dispute calmed down when Osun State was carved out of Oyo State in August 1991, but ill will persisted. In January 2009 Sijuwade was quoted as saying that Oba Adeyemi was ruling a dead empire (the Oyo Empire, which collapsed in 1793). Adeyemi responded by citing “absurdities” in Sijuwade’s statements and saying the Ooni “is not in tune with his own history”. Adeyemi, Permanent Chairman of the Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs, was conspicuously absent from a meeting of Yoruba leaders in April 2010.
Towards the end of 2009 a more local dispute between the Ooni, the Awujale of Ijebuland and the Alake of Egbaland was finally resolved. Sijuwade traced the dispute back to a falling out between Obafemi Awolowo and Ladoke Akintola during the Nigerian First Republic, which had led to a division between the traditional rulers. He noted that the traditional rulers were an important unifying force in the country during the illness of President Umaru Yar’Adua.
In February 2009, Sijuwade helped mediate in a dispute over land ownership between the communities of Ife and Modakeke, resolved in part through the elevation of the Ogunsua of Modakeke as an Oba. The new Oba, Francis Adedoyin, would be under the headship of Sijuwade.
In July 2009 Sijuwade said he was concerned that Yoruba socio-cultural groups such as Afenifere and the Yoruba Council of Elders were taking partisan positions in politics. In January 2010 he attended a meeting of the Atayese pan-Yoruba group, which issued a call for a truly federal constitution in which the different nationalities in Nigeria would have greater independence in managing their affairs. ”
