Published 23rd Dec, 2021

By Tola Owoyele

On Thursday, Queen Naomi Silekunola, wife of Eniitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife, announced her divorce from the first-class king.

In an Instagram post, the queen said she would no longer be regarded as the wife of the Ooni of Ife. “His Majesty has a picture he would love the world to see and perceive him as and another one which is his true self,” Naomi revealed in the statement, and then announced her separation from the king.

“I, at this moment, announce that I shall no longer be referred to as wife to the Ooni of Ife or as queen of Ile-Ife, but as the queen of the people and mother of my adorable prince.”

Thus, the three-year marriage that produced Tadenikawo, the first and only son of the Ooni, fell apart. But it was not Ogunwusi’s first marriage. He was married to Adebukola Bambata, and then Zaynab Wuraola Otiti before Silekunola.

MARRIAGE TO BOMBATA

Ogunwusi’s matrimonial journey began in 2008 when he married Adebukola Bombata, seven years ahead of his coronation as Ooni of Ife and successor of Oduduwa, the common ancestor of the entire Yoruba race.

However, the marriage was reportedly rocked by Bombata’s inability to give Ogunwusi a son and her fallout with Princess Adeola, Ogunwusi’s daughter from a teenage romance.

Also, Bombata was said to have resented Ogunwusi’s decision to ascend the throne because she never wanted to be in the limelight. Shortly after the prince became king in 2015, the couple parted ways, and Bombata relocated to the United Kingdom.

MARRIAGE TO OTITI

In March 2016, Ooni Ogunwusi got married a second time to Zaynab Otiti Obanor, popularly referred to as Olori Wuraola. Otiti was born and raised in Benin, the Edo State capital.

However, the marriage ended with the queen’s application for divorce in August 2017. While the reason for the divorce was never made public, there was a suggestion that she was a victim of domestic violence.

MARRIAGE TO SILEKUNOLA

One year later, Ogunwusi married Naomi Silekunola, a 25-year-old prophetess and founder of En-Heralds Ministry, an inter-denominational ministry based in Akure, Ondo State.

Naomi was said to have started her ministry when she was 18. Her life as a gospel preacher made many wonder if she would cope with the traditional responsibilities of the wife of the Ooni, who is regarded as the defender of the Yoruba cultures and traditions.

On November 18, 2020, she gave birth to Tadenikawo, after two years of waiting. “I had never been pregnant all my life before Tadenikawo; my son is my first ever pregnancy with medical reports to back it up. The girl who is said to be my daughter is my niece,” Silekunola noted in her divorce statement.

TEENAGE ROMANCE WITH OMOLARA OLATUBOSUN

The Ooni, Omolara Olatubosun and Princess Adeola

In the early ’90s, the Ooni, then a teenager, was in an intimate relationship with Omolara Olatubosun, also a teenager in Ibadan, Oyo State. In May 1994, the relationship resulted in the birth of Adeola Ogunwusi, a female.

Even though Adeola was born, the relationship did not lead to marriage. In November, Olatubosun came out to issue a statement, accusing the Ooni of being absent while she single-handedly raised Adeola from childhood until she turned 10. Just like the response to the latest marital crash, the Ooni denied Olatubosun’s claims. FIJ, though, can confirm everything Olatubosun said was nothing but the truth.

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