In Yorubaland, it is believed that kings do not die but ascend to heaven to meet God thus final resting places of Yoruba kings used to be shrouded in secrecy. On a visit to Ife in September, we gathered that out of the 50 Oonis of Ife that have passed on, only the burial sites of four are known. And we got the rare opportunity to see and capture in photos the final resting places of these four past Ooni of Ife.
Check them out:
1. Ooni Adelekan Sijuwade Olubuse 1
He is the first Ooni to reign in Ile Ife after the end of the Ekiti Parapo war. He reigned from 1894-1910. He was the first Ooni to have travelled out of his Ife domain to Lagos and this made all Yoruba obas, on his way to Lagos, vacate their stool as he passed through their towns. While in Lagos even the colonial masters dared not look him in the eye.
. 2. Ooni Adekola Ajagunlawarika
He was the 47th Ooni of Ife and from the Akui ruling house. He was an Ooni-elect for only two months, June-July 1910. 3. Ooni Adesoji Aderemi
He became the Ooni of Ife in 1930. He was crowned on September 25, 1930 and ruled for 50 years, till 1980). Ooni Adesoji Aderemi was the 49th Ooni and the first literate one. He made modernist policies for the growth and development of Ife Land and the Yoruba Nation.
He was a minister in the Nigerian government from 1951 to 1955 and the first indigenous governor of Western Nigeria. He died on June 24, 1930.
4. Ooni Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II
Ooni Okunade ascended the throne of the Ooni of Ile-Ife on December 6, 1980 and was on the throne of this great royal institution for an uninterrupted period of 35 years. He was the great grandson of Ooni Adelekan Sijuwade Olubuse I. He died on July, 28 2015. He is succeeded by Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi.
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