Princess Folashade Ogunwusi-Fadairo, the elder sister of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has revealed why her brother married six women within two months in 2022. According to Folashade, it is compulsory for the monarch to take in more than a woman to live with him in the palace.
“Yes. As kabiyesi, he just has to take more than one wife,” she said in an interview with the PUNCH.
She went further, “My opinion is that what you have to do, you just have to do it. Meanwhile, that’s his personal life, I can’t meddle in it. What I can say is that I don’t know if you were there during his wedding anniversary or so, if you heard the speech he made, it was very touching and it was something that personally he didn’t like but he had no choice, he had to do it. Where the Yoruba are coming from, polygamy is expected. And being the progenitor of the Yoruba race, inu e ni won bi wa si (we were born in it). For instance, my grandfather had eight wives, that’s paternal and my maternal grandfather had about seven or eight wives too. So, it’s something he had to do, although, I think he avoided it.”
Recall the Ooni, in September 2022, welcomed Queen Mariam nee Anako, into the palace amidst pomp. Then, Olori Elizabeth Opeoluwa Ogunwusi nee Akinmuda was also betrothed to the king a few days later in Magodo, Lagos. On October 9, 2022, he married Queen Tobi Phillips as his third wife. Queen Ashley became his queen on October 16, while Queen Ronke Ademiluyi wedded him on October 20, 2022. He married princess Temitope Adesegun on October 24, 2022.
On how he works with the dictates of tradition, Folashade dislcosed, “It is what God wants him to do and that is what he is doing. He was chosen for it. If I’m chosen for it, I will know what to do. He is called for it, he will do it. If it is my calling, I will know what to do but that’s his own life and he knows what to do. I believe you get what I’m saying. The Yoruba will say, “Ibi ori da ni si la n gbe,”(where fate leads one to, that’s the path one takes). Ibi t’ori da si, Ibe l’oun gbe yen (he’s on the path that fate chose for him). What God purposed for him to come to do in this life is what he is doing and there is nothing anybody can do about it.”
You mentioned that you came from a strict Christian background. But recently, the Ooni, being the king, had the honour of taking more than one wife. What’s your opinion about that?
My opinion is that what you have to do, you just have to do it. Meanwhile, that’s his personal life, I can’t meddle in it. What I can say is that I don’t know if you were there during his wedding anniversary or so, if you heard the speech he made, it was very touching and it was something that personally he didn’t like but he had no choice, he had to do it. Where the Yoruba are coming from, polygamy is expected. And being the progenitor of the Yoruba race, inu e ni won bi wa si (we were born in it). For instance, my grandfather had eight wives, that’s paternal and my maternal grandfather had about seven or eight wives too. So, it’s something he had to do, although, I think he avoided it.
Yes. As kabiyesi, he just has to take more than one wife.