For Princess Ashley Afolashade Adegoke, this is a dream come.
Though she had been one of the king’s concubines for some years and watched him get married to ladies who came after her, October 14, 2022 would remain indelible in her memory.
Today, she ceases to be addressed as a princess but as a queen. Currently, the marriage rites have kicked off in Ile Ife and she is preparing to meet with her groom—the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi—would be prayed for and declared a queen.
With the king’s family members also moving to the late Prince Adebiyi Adegoke’s family house situated on Olubuse Street, along Ede road, the ancient city of Ile Ife would be agog with fanfare today.
By the time you are reading this, she would have become Queen Ashley Afolashade Ogunwusi and the fourth wife of the Ojaja II.
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.
His fourth, Queen Ashley, is a chartered accountant, whose passion for servicing less privileged kids and widows through the Ashley Adegoke Foundation can’t be ignored.
Armed with a degree in Accounting coupled with Masters in Accounting and Finance from the University of Greenwich, she runs her businesses in the United Kingdom, where she is the head honcho at RisenCrown Ltd.
Queen Ashley sprang from the Lafogido royal house and her late father—Jacob Adebiyi Adegoke— was a Prince of Ile Ife.
Meet The Next Two Incoming Queens
First, they aren’t new in the life of the Ooni of Ife. These two ladies have been his concubines even before he married Queens Wuraola Otiti and Silekunola.
Princess Ronke Ademiluyi
Even before the monarch ascended the throne in 2015 Princess Ronke Ademiluyi was his lover. The London trained lawyer is a very well known entrepreneur who shuttled between the UK and Nigeria. Ronke is the founder of the popular fashion showcase platforms, the AFWN & AFWL franchises. As a prince then, the now Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi’s company, was one of the major sponsors of the ‘Africa Fashion Week Nigeria’ the fashion showcase platform founded by Princess Ronke Ademiluyi, who is a single mother of one. As a princess in Ile Ife, Ronke’s great-grandfather was Ooni Ademiluyi Ajagun.
Moreover, she is in charge of the Queen Moremi Initiative; a global ambassador and founder of the Adire Odua. Her wedding to the Ooni comes up three days after his 48th birthday on October 17.
Princess Temitope Adesegun
The very beautiful princess Temitope Adesegun has an intimidating resume; counting Oxford, Cambridge, INSEAD, Harvard as some of her alma maters.
Describe her as an achiever and you wouldn’t be wrong. She worked as the Personal Assistant to the late Secretary to the State Government, Princess Aderenle Adeniran-Ogunsanya during the Babatunde Raji Fashola-led administration.
Adesegun was once married but divorced. She is actually based in Lagos and a director of Hope Alive Initiative Poverty Alleviation Advocacy that is powered by the House of Odua inspired by the Ooni.
Her marriage to the Ooni comes up a few days after Ronke Ademiluyi’s.
Meanwhile, before being coronated king, the Ooni was previously married to Adebukola Bombata in 2008 but the marriage failed. Again, the monarch married Edo-born Zaynab-Otiti Obanor in 2016 but the union lasted for 17 months before their separation.
He later married Silekunola in 2018 and the marriage produced a son before she announced her divorce from royalty in December 2021.
But the monarch had a daughter with Omolara Olatubosun as a teenager. Olatubosun gave birth to Princess Adeola Ogunwusi.