Ooni’s third marriage crumbles as Queen Silekunola announces divorce

• Queen alleges Ooni has two pictures,  one for the world, another of his true self
• We saw divorce notice on social media, Ooni’s palace
• Ex-queen cannot marry without necessary ritual cleansing, says  Ifa priest

It appears a sad end of an era and perhaps a new dawn for Queen Silekunola Naomi, now estranged wife of Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, as she announced an end to her three-year -old marriage to the monarch.
 
In a statement posted on her verified Instagram handle and Facebook page, yesterday, the queen said Ogunwusi has a picture he projects to the world and another one, which is his true self, adding that she had endured struggle in the marriage but could no longer bear it.
 
This is the third time Ooni’s marriage will crumble. Oba Ogunwusi’s first marriage with Adebukola Bombata in 2008 lasted for about eight years before it wound up. The influential monarch moved to the ancient Benin Kingdom, where he married a lady, Zainab Otiti Obanor, in March 2016. The marriage hit the rock in less than a year, after Zainab filed and got a divorce in 2017.

MEANWHILE, reacting, yesterday, the Director of Media and Public Affairs to Ooni, Moses Olafare, said he would find out from his principal the true situation of things.
 
Olafare, who spoke to The Guardian on the telephone, said: “I also woke up this morning to see the story reported on the social media, but I have to find out from the Kabiesi, what is happening. I will find out and get back to you.”

ALSO, prominent Ifa priest, Chief Yemi Elebuibon, has warned that the estranged wife of the Ooni of Ife, Silekunola Naomi, can only remarry after going through some cleaning rituals. He warned that any man who sleeps with the former queen without necessary rites would be risking his life.
  
The Ifa devotee said the cleansing process is necessary to enable the mother of one to regain a normal life.
Elebuibon, while reacting to the collapse of the three-year marriage of Ooni Enitan Ogunwusi and Silekunola on a telephone interview yesterday, revealed that lack of understanding and endurance on the part of the royal family was responsible for their travails.
 
The Araba Awo of Osogbo said, “This issue has to do with lack of understanding and endurance. There is nothing wrong with Kabiyesi Ooni, you know the issue of marriage, it’s only God that knows what happens in secret.

“If a marriage wants to bring pain to any partner, it’s better to separate. But marriage needs endurance for it to last.”
  
On whether the ex Oba’s wife could remarry, he said :”It is left to her to decide to remarry or remain single. But, no one dares settle down with an Oba’s ex-wife; they have to first remove the touch of royalty from such a queen through some rituals.  
 
She will go through a spiritual bath, carry out some rituals before she can remarry, else, it’s dangerous for her to have an intimate relationship with any man. An Oba is not a man who can just have an intimate relationship with his woman, either married or divorced.
 
“Any man who wants to marry her (Silekunola) should be patient because she still has royalty in her and she needs to be returned to an ordinary person before she could remarry.”