Yoruba Elders ask Ooni Ogunwusi to Defend ‘Ewi’ Allegations

Frontline Yoruba socio-cultural association comprising elders and leaders of thought in the Yoruba land, Yoruba Elders’ Consultative Forum has called on the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi-Ojaja II to defend all the allegations raised against him in the recently released Yoruba traditional poetry (Ewi) record titled ‘Oba Awakusa’ which has been generating so much controversy of late.

In a release jointly signed by the President and the Secretary of the forum, Chief Ogunsola Adetula and Prince Dotun Eluyide, the forum noted that the issues raised in the rendition are too sensitive and controversial to be ignored and that the Ooni should once and for all come out and clear his name as silence on his side may connote an admission of guilt.

Among the many alleged offences of the Ooni Ogunwusi which were raised in thecontroversial Ewi rendition which according to the poet makes Ogunwusi unsuitable and unfit for the exalted position of a foremost Yoruba Oba are:

1. Illegal grabbing of land belonging to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and sale of the same land to unsuspecting members of the public through his company.
2. Illegal grabbing of Ido- land and subsequent suspension of Olojudo of Ido when he resisted and also lands belonging to some royal families and private individuals.
3. Visa racketeering and duping many youths of millions of naira with failed promises of taking them abroad as part of his entourage.
4. Desecration and sale of the revered Aare crown which is a symbol of authority for all Oonis
5. Separation and divorce from his wife after a fruitless marriage, which is unheard of in the history and indeed traditional rulers in Yoruba land.
6. Various allegations of forgery, alteration of documents and Advance Fee Fraud (419) involving him and his companies, many of which are still subject of litigation in courts.
7. Collaborating with illegal miners of gold and other precious minerals in Ife land thereby putting the lives and properties of Ife inhabitants in danger of earthquake as a result of environmental degradation
8. Recent public insult, disdain and humiliation by the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu who is possibly aware of his antecedents.

The forum noted that it could no longer keep mute over such a grave matter in view of the frontline position of the Ooni in the comity of traditional rulers not only in Yoruba land but in Nigeria as a whole.

It would be recalled that Ife community has been enmeshed in a furore as a result of the titled ‘Oba Awakusa’ in which the Ooni of release of a Yoruba traditional poetry (Ewi) titled ‘Oba Awakusa’ in which the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi was alleged of many wrongdoings which make him unfit for the royal stool.

Meanwhile, various community leaders and leaders of thoughts across Yoruba land have been calling on the Ooni to come out to clear himself of the allegations leveled against him many of which according to them has been hanging like an albatross even before he ascended the throne.

The call by the Yoruba Elders’ Consultative Forum is the latest of such calls.