Contrary to media report, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, is hale and hearty.
This was made known by the Assistant Press Secretary to the Royal Court of Ife, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Supo Awodoyin, in a press release, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune, on Thursday.
The statement reads:
“The Royal Court of Ife is highly astonished with today’s (Thursday), story which is headlined “anxiety in Osun over Ooni’s health in The Sun newspaper.
“The seemingly malicious publication which obviously contained a lot of fallacies, appeared on page 13 of the paper.
“For instance, the paper reported that there was “anxiety in most parts of Osun State and Ile-Ife, in particular, yesterday (Wednesday) over the state of health of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade.”
“It was also claimed in the report that the Ooni “was flown abroad about a month ago (as if he was incapacitated) due to health related issues” and that he had not been attending all public functions in the recent past.
“It is certainly not correct that the first class traditional ruler was flown abroad about a month ago as claimed by the newspaper.
“For the avoidance of doubt, His Majesty, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, (CFR, D.litt) who is presently holidaying in the United Kingdom, which is known to be his second home, travelled to that part of the world less than three weeks ago.
“It must be put on record that the foreign trip of the Ooni is officially known to the government of Osun State.
“It is also not true that Kabiyesi’s last public outing before he travelled out was the launch of “Opon Imo”, which took place in Ilesa.
“The truth is that after the Ilesa event, another public function which involved children from all Yoruba states was personally attended by Oba Sijuwade. It was christened “OODUA DAY.”
“Perhaps it is necessary to educate our people that our sacred tradition does not allow the Ooni to personally attend all functions, either public or private. This is the reason His Majesty has always sent representatives to those functions that he cannot be physically present.
“For instance, three high ranking royal fathers represented the Ooni at the commissioning of the Omoluwabi Garment Factory which took place in Osogbo last week as reported by The Sun newspaper.
“The Royal Court is particularly not happy over the way a section of the press appears to be going about the business of the fourth estate of the realm.
“A number of reporters, who are resident in Osun State actually contacted us at the Royal Court on the baseless rumour over the health of Kabiyesi and were convinced. The Sun reporter, Bamigbola Gbolagunte, who unfortunately is said to be the secretary of Osun State NUJ, went ahead to publish without contacting us at the Palace.
“At this juncture, it is necessary to counsel our colleagues in the media to always ensure that whatever they publish about our revered institutions is not laced with malice while the impression should not be given that they are being sponsored by disgruntled elements in the society.”
President of Ife Development Board, Professor Muibi Opeloye, has also debunked the rumour of the ill-health of the Ooni of Ife.
Professor Opeloye, in a statement signed on Thursday, said that Oba Sijuwade, was hale and hearty.
According to him, Oba Sijuwade was not sick as reported by section of the media.
Reacting to the publication, Professor Opeloye advised the media to cross check their facts before publishing.
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