Son of highly revered the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi, Prince Aderonmu Ishola Aderemi, has explained that the Ife tradition seriously forbids the disclosure of the death of any holder of the stool of the Ooni, because ‘Ooni never dies’.
Prince Aderemi said the Ooni from time immemorial was likened to Oduduwa, being the first son of father of the Yoruba, explaining that among the over 200 orisa’s in Yorubaland, Ooni remained the first, a reason the stool was considered sacred and most revered till date.
He said although the social media ‘falsely’ broke the news of the death of Oba Okunade Sijuwade, the fact remained that the Ooni never dies.
Aderemi recalled that when the Oba Adesoji Aderemi joined his ancestors in 1980, the news of his death was concealed for weeks without anyone having a hint of what had happened until his death was formally announced.
He said the tradition of keeping the death of Ooni from public knowledge was so strong that even when the former Premier of Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, wanted to see the remains of Oba Aderemi shortly before burial, he was denied access.
He said: “When my father, Oba Adesoji Aderemi died in 1980, what we did was to quickly take him out of Ife to Ibadan where we did the embalmment and kept him in a safe place. No body knew of it until few days to the burial after the formal announcement was made
“I still remember that the former Premier, Chief Awolowo came and wanted to see him. He was very close to my father because they were both strong promoters of progressive politics in the old western region. Even with such kind of closeness, he was not allowed to see the Ooni.”
Prince Aderemi lamented that the breaking of the news of the death of Oba Sijuwade by the social media and later by some Nigerian newspapers had slightly assailed the tradition of Ife on royalty.
He said the custodians of the Ife tradition, which he described as a means of preserving the aura of reverence around the Ooni, were scandalized and jolted, a reason the rebuttal they published thereafter was a necessity.
His words: “I was one of the first to know that Oba Sijuwade passed on because they called me from London almost immediately. However, it was because they took him to London that the information leaked and began to spread.
“Some few hours after I received the call from London, I could observe that the news was all over the place and I started wondering how fast such information could spread. If he had not been taken to London, we would have prevented the news from leaking out.”
Prince Aderemi described the late Sijuwade as a good symbol of royalty not only to Ife, but also to the entire Yorubaland, recalling how the late Oba brought finesse and touch of glamour to the Obaship of Ifeland.
He recalled how close he was to Oba Sijuwade, expressing delight that he enjoyed some favourable moments from his closeness to the late Oba.
He said: “Given the significance of the stool of Ooni to Yorubaland and even the outside world on matters of tradition and royalty, I expect that the good elders of Ife will take time to bring on the throne an able, experienced and well vast candidate to step into the throne.”