Chief Yemi Elebuibon, an Ifa priest and iconic writer, has said women who divorce the Ooni of Ife cannot just remarry because they are no longer ordinary.
On Thursday, Olori Silekunola Naomi, the wife of the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi detached herself from the monarch.
The queen took to her Instagram handle to make the declaration, “I shall no longer be referred to as wife to the Ooni of Ife or as Queen of Ile-Ife” as she described herself as the Queen of the people and mother of her son.
Naomi further alleged the hypocrisy of the monarch, stating that Ooni’s public perception is different from his true character.
Speaking with SaharaReporters on Thursday, Elebuibon said women who divorce the Ooni have to undergo some rituals to strip them off the Yeyeluwa title they have taken on while they were getting married to the king.
This would be Ooni of Ife’s third divorce.
He was previously married to Adebukola Bombata and Zaynab Otiti (now Zaynab Otiti Obanor). His marriage to Bombata was over before he ascended to the throne.
However, on the issue of whether the divorce trend has implications for the throne, Elebuibon noted that it had no serious consequences, but stated that it will set tongues wagging as outsiders cannot understand what is going on.
He further explained that there is no ritual to perform to put a stop to the divorce trend, stressing that the universal principle of marriage, which includes courage, endurance and perseverance holds even in the palace. He stated that no matter the prayers offered if these principles are not adhered to, the women might leave.
Speaking with SaharaReporters on Thursday, the Ifa Priest, Elebuibon stated, “A woman who leaves the Ooni cannot just remarry like that; before she can marry another person, she will need to wipe off all the… Because all her life, all her body belongs to the royal palace of Ooni of Ife. Before she can remarry, she will need to come back to her former self, before she can take any other man.
”She has to become an ordinary woman, she will no longer be Yeyeluwa, Olori, all that ritual and title need to be removed, then she can go ahead. It requires a rite, if she wants to do the right thing.
”Traditionally, it is forbidden for another person to woo or have sex with a queen while she’s still married to the king, it is forbidden, it is a taboo. She has to remove all that before she can go ahead with a new life.”
On whether Ooni’s hat trick of divorces will have a serious implication for the throne, he stated, “It’s not going to dent the image of the palace but at the same time, if you look at it from another dimension, Yorubas have a saying that, ‘ara ile lo mo ni amodi, were lara ode ma an pe’, which means that people in the house know it is a sickness but outsiders will refer to it as sickness, that’s why it needs to be cautioned. Something needs to be done to arrest situations like that.
“There are two dimensions to that. Traditionally, there is no marriage anyone will wish should be broken early, all the prayers people say is for their marriages to last long, but circumstances can lead to break up, no one knows.
“From both sides, they might be trying to make the marriage successful but they may not be able to bear further.
“But traditionally, the Yoruba culture does not allow divorce, it encourages both sides to endure the situation, take more courage. Whatever the situation is, continue to stay in the marriage and try to make it work. That is what tradition says but at the same time, it can become unbearable, maybe that’s what made her make such a decision. We may not know what is the problem but tradition does not support broken marriage.“
Speak further, the Ifa Priest said that, ”When you take a new wife, there are lots of rituals a woman has to undertake, the most important aspect of the marriage is for the couple to understand each other, take courage and endure; that’s what makes a marriage last long, apart from the prayer, ritual and everything.
“No matter how you do the ritual, if you don’t have the courage or understand each other, if there are constant disputes…traditionally, our fathers in the olden days used to have 10 wives, 20 wives in the same house for 20, 30 years but life is different now from that time but no matter what, we still have to do whatever it takes to make the marriage last long.”
Meanwhile, the Palace of the Ooni of Ife, has reacted to Olori Naomi’s statement that she was ending her marriage to the monarch. The palace said it would investigate if her Instagram account was hacked.
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‘Divorced Wife of Ooni Must Undergo Rituals to Return to Ordinary Human and Remarry’ – Ifa Priest