The race to produce the successor to the departed Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II, got hotter last week, with the official announcement of his demise by the palace.
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With the final burial rites for the traditional ruler concluded on Friday, the tussle for the occupation of the stool has assumed a new dimension, with seven top contenders emerging.
In 1980, when the late monarch was crowned, the contest was hot and the battle very fierce. He too weathered the storm and played the politics of succession very well.
This time around, the race to the revered stool has begun, with every contender trying to ‘outsmart’ the other clandestinely. The stool of the Ooni is so sacred that whoever emerges at the end of the day becomes the Arole Oduduwa.
He becomes the leader of the deities and the overall spiritual head of the entire Yoruba, both at home and in the Diaspora. History of succession Tradition seems to have paved way for modernism. With Wednesday’s official announcement of Sijuwade’s transition, the race to Enuwa palace, where the throne of the monarch resides, has since become a heated one, with several ruling houses laying claim to the coveted throne of Ooni.
The four ruling houses in Ile-Ife are Lafodigo, Giesi, Ogboru and Osinkola.
It seems that the council of Ife traditional chiefs might have narrowed down their choice of the new Ooni of Ife to the Lafodigo and Giesi ruling houses.
With this development, about six members of the Lafodigo family have shown interest to become the Ooni of Ife.
According to reliable family sources, those agitating and scheming to occupy the stool of Ooni are Prince Ademola Ademiluyi, an octogenarian, lawyer and astute businessman; a septuagenarian, Prince Adeyinka Ademiluyi; Prince Adegboyega Ademiluyi,an oil magnate in has late sixties; Prince Adebambo Ademiluyi; Prince Kanmi Ademiluyi; and Prince Adetayo Oladele.
Ademiluyis and Oladele are from the Lafodigo ruling house while the departed monarch was from the Ogboru ruling house. .
Out of these six contenders, it has been reliably gathered that Prince Kanmi Ademiluyi, who is asid to be a close confidant of the All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and close friend of Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, is highly favoured.
Prince Kanmi Ademiluyi, who was once an editor of a national newspaper, has age on his side as he is said to be in his 50s. But, if money would count in the selection of the next Ooni, Princes Ademola Ademiluyi; Yinka Ademiluyi and Gboyega Ademiluyi and Oladele may have to break the bank to impress the kingmakers.
For instance, Prince Ademola Ademiluyi, though an octogenarian, is very wealthy and close to many Nigerian billionaires.
The same thing goes for Gboyega Ademiluyi who is into oil and gas. Prince Ademola Ademiluyi was once the legal Secretary of the defunct National Electric Power Authority and is a member of the Yoruba Tennis Club, the Island Club and the Evergreen Board Members.
Historically, he could lay claim to both Lagosian/Ghanaian descent maternally. For Prince Yinka Ademiluyi, he is a septuagenarian, a Lagos socialite, a product of the famous Ibadan Grammar School and a prominent member of the Island Club.
For Prince Gboyega Ademiluyi, he is in his late 60s, an ex-Gregorian, a highly successful businessman, ex-executive of major oil companies and a member of the Yoruba Tennis Club. Prince Adebambo Ademiluyi is also in his mid 60s and he attended Kings College, Lagos. He is also a member of the Yoruba Tennis Club, while Prince Kanmi – who is approaching 60 – is also an ex-Gregorian and a maternal scion of the Lagos Peregrino family as well as a journalistic icon in the country. As a social and public analyst, he is indeed and undoubtedly a fanatical supporter of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu.
Also, Prince Rasheed Adetayo Oladele hails from Adagba Compound of Lafogido Ruling House of Ile-Ife. Prince Adetayo was born on March 3, 1963. He attended Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife, and The Polytechnic, Ibadan, where he bagged his HND in Marketing with Upper Credit Division in 1989. He worked as an accounts clerk at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital from 1980-84 and as a Sales Executive at Daily Times from 1990-96.
He emigrated to the United States in 1996 with his family. He is currently an entrepreneur playing in the U.S real estate market. He is also a licensed real estate broker operating under his firm, Royal Executive Realty LLC in Columbus, Ohio. The Ife prince is the current president of Ife Descendants Union, Columbus, Ohio branch.
His father, Prince Kasali Adegbowore Oladele, was Sooko until his death in 2007. (Sooko is the title given to distinguished princes in the ruling houses. They represent the ruling houses on traditional official matters and operate like minor kings in their domains).
Also from Giesi’s family is a former commissioner for Commerce in Osun State under the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Prince Sikiru Ayedun.
The former commissioner is easy going and an encyclopaedic thinker who knows his onions when it comes to administration and organisation. He is an experienced business mogul who believes in humanity and their welfare. He is known in the town and loved by all and sundry.
Among the youths and elders of the town, he is recognised and admired. Apart from this, he is well known to Tinubu and Aregbesola, who are his political godfathers. Infact, while serving under Aregbesola as a commissioner, he was once described by the governor as a committed disciple who had contributed positively to his political dream to make the state a pacesetter. With this, he is one of the contenders likely to be favoured in the selection for the throne.
Information also has it that a prominent business mogul, proprietor of both Oodua University and The Polytechnic, Ile-Ife. Abdulraheem Adedoyin, is also keen on succeeding Sijuwade.
He is also from the ruling house. He is extremely wealthy and has what it takes to become the next Ooni of Ife.
However, there are speculations in some quarters that it is his mother who hails from the ruling house and not his father. If confirmed, this could hinder his ambition. With all this, the real competition for the throne seems to be between the Lafogido and Giesi ruling houses as investigations revealed that, the two other ruling houses produced the immediate late Oba Sijuwade, and his predecessor, Oba Adesoji Aderemi.
The Tinubu/APC Factor The chances of the rumoured contenders are bright but only one of them will be chosen. There cannot be two kings in a palace. Speculations have begun to circulate the view on social media that since Aregbesola is a close associate of Prince Kanmi Ademiluyi, he may want to throw his weight behind him.
Also considering his closeness to Tinubu, Prince Kanmi Ademiluyi has both the federal and state might working for him; but one cannot be too sure of this assertion. How deft the kingmakers are in the course of their screening will be seen in the days ahead, accoding to observers. Lagos Factor Without doubt, all the rumoured contenders have some affiliation with Lagos State.
They have business and social interests in Nigeria’s melting pot just like the late Sijuwade. Other Deciding Factors These days, the choice of a king in Nigeria has gone beyond mere picking or selection.
The factors to be considered have been so modernised that not just a farmer or a prominent hunter is picked. Tradition not withstanding, education is now a key factor in the selection of any king in Yorubaland, especially first-class ones. Though, there are some towns where tradition is not considered and is quite inconsequential, those around such kings must be elites. Infact, the next Ooni must be lettered.
Another factor that the Ife kingmakers may likely consider is financial status. The late Ooni became a millionaire before 30, though this is debatable.
But history had it that he was never a pauper and he was born with a silver spoon. Sijuwade was an international businessman with a solid financial base. If not for kingship, he was a celebrated globetrotter and a first-class socialite.
In the world of billionaires, the late Sijuwade had a good position. Another factor is that whoever becomes the Ooni must not have strayed from ‘only- God-knows-where.’ He must be a member of the prominent ruling houses and of course, an embodiment of Ife tradition. He may not be based in Ife but his roots must be traceable to the town. His social life will be weighed too.
His connections here and there really matter and perhaps, he must have affiliation with the decision makers in Nigeria. Simply put, the next Ooni must have a social web of note, to show that he is not a green horn when it comes to social life because his predecessors had set the pace. The late Oba Sijuwade brought fame and opulence to the ancestral Ife dynasty.
It is not the culture of the Yoruba to aspire to the throne and as such it is unfortunate that some persons have already been on air to assign, claim and indicate interest in being the next Ooni of Ife. All this even before any formal announcements were made and proper rites observed. Despite this, the ruling houses of Ife remain united as the children of Oduduwa.
There are four ruling houses in Ile-Ife and the next Ooni will emerge from the Giesi ruling house. The last Ooni from the Giesi ruling house was Ooni Derin Ologbenla (1880-1894)
1894-1910 Ooni Adelekan Olubuse I (Ogboru)
1910-1930 Ooni Ademuluyi Ajagu (Lafogido)
1930-1980 Ooni Adesoji Aderemi (Oshikola)
1980-2015 Ooni Okunade Sijuwade (Ogboru)
The members of Giesi Ruling house met on Saturday 15th August at Akodi Agbedegbede (family house) in Ile-Ife. The meeting was well attended by hundreds of princes, princesses and elders of the royal lineage. The meeting, called only after the formal announcements by the Ife chiefs, was in respect to the laws and tradition of the royal families. Tributes were paid to the long and happy reign of Oba Alayeluwa Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II and prayers were said for the repose of his soul with his fore fathers.
At this meeting, the elders of Giesi ruling house announced and affirmed that the time is now for the process of filling the gap created in the Kingship of Ile-Ife to commence.
The legal process and content of the law that guides the selection of the Ooni was publicly presented to all the princes and princesses present.
First it was established that Giesi ruling house is set and in-turn to produce the next Ooni of Ile-Ife. Secondly, it was communicated as stated in the law, that 14 days from when the vacancy occurred, the ruling house is obliged to make a presentation of candidate(s) to the local government. Thereafter it was communicated that the basis of the selection will be from male children who are offspring of both male and female children of Giesi ruling house.
An invitation was given to all interested princes of Giesi ruling house to obtain and complete the prescribed form, return the form to the family within the next couple of days after which they will be screened. Elders then screen and select as many as they feel comfortable with. Post screening, the names will be submitted to the Kingmakers within a period of 14 days from the vacancy of the stool. The Kingmakers make consultations with the oracle before forwarding their approved list to the local government. The emergence of the Ooni will depend on how quickly the oracle selects the appropriate occupier to be of the throne of Ife.
This is the correct process and procedure and nobody is precluded.
One of the prominent persons to look out for in this race is the great grand son of Ooni Derin Ologbenla, Oba Bankole Adewale Ojutalayo, the Laroka of Wankin, who over the last 5 years has worked judiciously in Ile-Ife to maintain peace, develop townships and was instrumental in the installation of a number of Obas within the Ife kingdom. Oba Bankole Adewale Ojutalayo was prominent in the council of Sookos contributing to the progress and development of that council.