Who becomes the new Ooni of Ife?

Barely 24 hours after the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade was buried, the battle for the vacant stool has started.

One of the ruling houses in Ile-Ife, the Giesi Ruling House, which claimed to be next to produce the Ooni, at the family hall, yesterday, held a meeting that lasted several hours. It was attended by sons and daughters of the family from different walks of life.



Sources close to the meeting told newsmen that the ruling house had thrown the contest open to any of its children interested in the stool to start collecting forms of intent.

One of the sources added that the family also resolved that a letter should be written immediately to Ife East Local Government Area, informing the council about the stool that became vacant following the demise of Sijuwade and the interest of the royal family to occupy it.

At the meeting, it was also unanimously agreed that the legal practitioners among the family members should advise it on all the legal issues that may work against the interest of the family on the matter.

It was learnt that the meeting warned any member of the family who may want to work against the common interest of the family by working with other external forces that may jeopadise the dream of the family.

“This time around, we are not leaving anything for chance in our quest to ensure that we mount the throne. Infact, this time around we are presenting a common front”, the source added.

Shedding more light on the meeting, a member of the ruling house, Prince Adeyemi Aderibigbe, the Ooni Ologbenla, recalled that the family had twice in the past lost the chance to produce the Ooni through alleged manipulation.

Going memory lane, Aderibigbe, a retired professor of economics at Obafemi Awolowo University,OAU, Ile-Ife, said the house, in 1957, lost the chance to occupy the stool to the late Adesoji Aderemi.

The Adesoji’s declaration of 1957, he stated, should be used in selecting the new Ooni, adding that any declaration other than that one would not be accepted.

“The 1957 declaration listed Osikola Ruling House, which was on the throne then, as number one, then Giesi Ruling House, followed by Ogboru and lastly Lafigodo Ruling House. But this declaration was not followed when Oba Aderemi passed on,”he said.