Her Majesty, Queen Silekunola Naomi, has announced her
separation from the Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II.
In a statement posted on her verified Instagram handle and
Facebook page on Thursday, she announced an end to the three-year marriage.
According to her, she tried to make the union work but said
the monarch’s public identity is at variance with “his true self”.
The fair-skinned ex-queen wrote, “I did my best to endure
and make it work; many times, I smiled through the struggle, but I have finally
realised I had just one assignment, my son, and when God is done, He is done.
He chose Saul to be king, and when He was done, He told the prophet Samuel I
have moved on. Religion was never an issue between us; please refer to my
interview on News Central TV. Instead, His Majesty has a picture he would love
the world to see and perceive him as and another one which is his true self.”
The evangelist then declared, “Today I announce the
beginning of a new dawn and the close of a chapter. Today, I am a mother to
God’s unique gift. I am no longer a slave to my thoughts of perfection. I, at
this moment, announce that I shall no longer be referred to as wife to the Ooni
of Ife or as Queen of Ile-Ife but as the Queen of the people and mother of my
adorable Prince.”
Responding to some allegations, Silekunola said that her
“decision to move on did not come because his majesty is married to another
queen”.
She further explained, “As many would love to assume,
throughout our life as a couple, I was the only married wife to him. There were
side attractions, but it was never an issue.
“I never approached him with any revelation of any sort, as
many believed he contacted me first and made his proposal known several months
later.
“The marriage was not an arranged one, as many have
misconstrued. I never knew the prophetess said to have introduced me to him.
Instead, he introduced her to me after I agreed to marry him. I was only being
polite out of respect for him.
“I have never been pregnant all my life before Tadenikawo;
my son is my first ever pregnancy with medical reports to back it up. The girl
who is said to be my daughter is my niece.”
The Ooni previously suffered a marital breakdown in 2017
when he split from Edo-born Zaynab-Otiti Obanor, whom he married as a monarch
on March 16, 2016. Obanor’s marriage to the king lasted for 17 months before
the separation.
He later married Silekunola in 2018 and the marriage
produced a son, Tadenikawo.
The 47-year-old monarch also had a daughter with Omolara
Olatubosun as a teenager. Olatubosun gave birth to Princess Adeola Ogunwusi but
of recent, there have been counter-claims between the Ooni and Olatubosun over
who was responsible for the upbringing of their daughter.
- Punch