The prince is here!
The news was heralded with much rejoicing especially on all social media platforms:
“To God be the glory great things he has done.
Hearty congratulations to the entire House of Oduduwa and Olori Silekunola who today birthed a Prince to the Royal throne of Oduduwa.
Mother and child are doing well to the glory of God Almighty.”
With the Ancient Ile-Ife palace announcing the birth of the newborn prince on Wednesday, November 18, 2020, two years after the Arole Oduduwa and Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II married Queen Silekunola Naomi, the wait is definitely over on when the Royal couple would become parents again.
Though the highly revered monarch has a daughter who is in her 20s and studying abroad, his first marriage to Adebisi Adebukola nee Bombata didn’t produce any children. They were married for eight years before the marriage crashed.
His second to Queen Wuraola Otiti, which crashed after 17 months also didn’t produce any either.
With two failed marriages which didn’t produce any heir, the whole of Ile Ife is on a high tempo of rejoicing now that the new queen has made the gods happy.
But the King would not see his prince so soon.
Already named after late Sir Adesoji Tadenikawo Aderemi, who was the 49th Ooni of Ife during his lifetime, by the elated new father as a mark of appreciation to Aderemi for his good works, little Prince Aderemi will wait for almost six months before it will see Daddy.
“That’s the tradition in Ile Ife,” revealed palace sources exclusively to Kemi Ashefon.
“An Ooni must not see a newborn baby and the mother until the hair of the newborn is cut, which could be in six months time. Then, some rites would have been performed and he would now be brought to the palace amidst pomp and pageantry. No Ooni sees newborn babies, they are given birth to outside the palace.”
This must have triggered the exit of Queen Silekunola from the palace.
Recall, a few months before the birth of the Prince, rumours were rife that she had packed out of the palace.
Naysayers further alleged that the beautiful union between the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi and Queen Naomi Silekunola had crashed, hence the continuous absence of the queen from the Ile Ife palace.
But before the rumours could fill blogsphere, the young queen took to her Instagram account to debunk any negativity about her almost two-year-old marriage.
She wrote amidst other reasons that she was “busy with ministry off the social media space.”
She also explained that the Coronavirus pandemic and attendant lockdown period wasn’t “a time for social media presence but a time that calls for solemnity.”
“Hence my break from what people now call normal. Finally, as duty will have me do, I have been in and out of the palace doing Gods bidding,” she stated.
Well, a few weeks after, she was rumoured to have been delivered of a baby boy but since there was no official statement from the palace, the news died naturally.
But the king raised eyebrows while speaking at the 40th remembrance programme some months ago. The event was organised by the late Aderemi’s princes, princesses and grandchildren in Ile Ife to celebrate the Ooni who reigned between 1930 to 1980.
At the event which held at his Ile Oduduwa palace, Ooni Ogunwusi described his predecessor as a great icon who would forever be remembered for his immeasurable contributions to the independence, stabilization and growth of Nigeria.
Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi said, “I wish to implore our politicians across the country to look deep into the life, time and accomplishments of Sir Aderemi and learn great lessons of servant leadership. He was selflessly committed to the development of the country.
“Among several tangible virtues to be emulated from the good life of Sir Aderemi is the good name he left behind which still speaks volume till date. Houses, cars and other material gains of life will surely fade away while one’s name remains in the book of history forever.”
With a promise to name his unborn prince after the late Oba Aderemi, he must have hinted at the fact that Queen Naomi was pregnant.
Kemiashefonlovehaven later learnt that as a result of the pregnancy, the queen was later relocated from the palace to a place where her mum was present to help with the new development.
“The whole of Ife is happy now and a royal delegation has been sent to the Queen and newborn prince to deliver blessings and prayers from the Ooni. The queen gave birth this morning (Wednesday) and she is hale and hearty,” palace sources revealed.
Congratulations to the royal couple.