According to Punch, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, reportedly passed on, on Tuesday, at 85 years and seven months. He was born on January 1, 1930. Unconfirmed sources said the monarch, who was said to have been flown out of the country since last Friday, died in the United Kingdom.
Most top Ife indigenes and Osun State government officials contacted by The PUNCH late on Tuesday kept sealed lips but some traditional rulers in the state confirmed that Sijuwade had died.
The spokesperson for the Ooni, Chief Funmilola Olorunnisola, told one of our correspondents that, “I don’t have anything to tell you immediately.”
One Osun traditional ruler, who asked not to be quoted, confided in one of our correspondents on the phone last night that the Ife monarch had died. He said, “The Ooni is dead. It is true. He died about two hours ago in the UK. His two oloris (wives) – Olori Moni and Olori Odun – were with him in the UK.
“He travelled out for treatment anytime he fell ill but he couldn’t make it this time. It is sad but I believe it is God’s time. There was nothing anyone could do to stop it.
“Tokunbo, his eldest child, will probably leave for the UK this evening. There is nothing we can do but we take solace in the fact that he lived well. The proper announcement will be done later,”
The traditional ruler’s account was corroborated by another monarch, who explained that the Ooni was indeed flown out of the country five days ago in an air ambulance after he slumped. A call to the line of the monarch was not answered.
There had been fears over the health of the first class monarch since 2013 when he was taken out of the country for medical attention for over a month.
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