The Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi has shunned his estranged wife Queen Naomi Silekunola as she celebrates her 29th birthday today.
The Ooni’s failure to put up a social media page to celebrate queen Naomi might be related to the decision of the traditional council to cleanse the former queen from the palace over her failure to return after a public statement announcing the end of her marriage.
This practice, which is likened to that of ‘Oro’ is a spiritual cleansing of the palace of unwanted persons and spirits which means Naomi’s flame will never rise again in the Giesi royal lineage and she is merely the mother of Ooni of Ife’s Prince, never a queen.
Amidst the social media celebration, a check on Ooni’s Instagram page shows that the monarch did not put up any birthday posts to celebrate the queen.
Kemi Filani recalls that Queen Naomi, had announced on December 23, 2021, that she was no longer the wife of the Ooni. This, she disclosed via a statement posted on her verified Instagram handle.
Queen Silekunola gave many reasons for the crash of her marriage to the Ooni despite her acclaimed ‘enduring attempts’ to save the union.
Naomi left the palace as a result of the brouhaha in the palace, and she was conspicuously absent during the sixth coronation anniversary celebration. She even refused to put up a congratulatory message for the Ooni on social media unlike other wives and chiefs.
“The former queen and her family didn’t like one of the Ayabas, Princess Ashley. There was a time they were rude to her but the intervention of the Ooni put a stop to that,” a palace source disclosed exclusively to Kemi Ashefon.
Naomi’s family threatened to beat up Princess Ashley, who is well loved by the monarch. A princess in Ile Ife, Ashley who shuttles UK and Nigeria remains one of the women in Ooni’s life. Though she cannot be Yeyeluwa because she had a child outside wedlock, Princess Ashley and some other women (Ronke Ademiluyi, Princesses Temitope Adesegun, Oloori Lola, Oloori Kemi B. Fadojutimi, Oloori Peju) aren’t making a U-turn on their decisions to be stuck to the Ooni forever.
