Princess Folashade Ogunwusi-Fadairo, the first girl and elder sister of Ooni Ogunwusi has said the Ooni of Ife was not prepared for the throne.
In an interview, published on Saturday, Princess Folashade while revealing how her childhood with the present king of Ile-Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi had been, told The Punch, that the king was not prepared for the throne at childhood as they were trained like normal children.
“We knew we are from a royal lineage but we didn’t bother about what was happening at the palace in Ife. My brother (Oba Adeyeye) wasn’t groomed or prepared for the throne at childhood. We just grew up like every other children. Our parents sent us to school like every other normal children. It wasn’t even in our head that we are royalties.”
According to her, they never fantasized about royalties even though they knew they were from a royal lineage. She said, but when the prediction came stating one of the three boys of their father was going to be king, her father, being a Christian with religious backgrounds from Anglican, Deeper Life Bible Church, and The Redeemed Christian Church of God simply gathered them together to pray for whoever it was going to be among the boys.
“I called my sister aside and said to her: “Do they know when the present one (king) would die? Nobody knows; so, what kind of prediction is that?” But then we joined our father in the prayers, believing that one day, it might happen and it happened eventually.”
Amongst other childhood reminiscence she shared about the Ooni is that the king was “intelligent”, “jovial”, “dancer”, “creative”, and “stubborn, who learned a lot by himself”. She cited an example of how the Ooni started driving at the tender age of 11.
“For example, he started driving at the age of 11 or so, without anyone guiding him. He just took the (car) key, started the car and that was how he started driving.”
Speaking about her opinion on the King’s quick succession in taking other women as wives, she stated that even though it is Ooni’s personal life in which she would not like to interfere, it is cultural for the king to take many wives hence he must do so.
“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, but if you heard the speech he made, it was very touching and it was something that 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 that in 2022, the king married six women; Mariam Anako, Elizabeth Akinmudai, Tobiloba Philips, Ashley Adegoke, Ronke Ademiluyi, and his sixth wife, Temitope Adesegun.
Folashade Ogunwusi-Fadairo is an Ile-Ife princess who shares the same parents as the present Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi.
She, asides from consulting for the king, also represents the King in other Yoruba-speaking countries of the world like Cuba, and The Gambia, on cultural grounds.
The Princess is married to a Prince who hails from a royal family in Ogun state.
Author
