Ooni’s wife outburst: A sacrilege too many
By Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo
The Yorùbá are a highly evolved race. Our culture and tradition cultivated over thousands of years, making us one of the finest in terms of ethics and morality.
Particularly in the sphere of traditional marriage contracting, the Yoruba stand out as responsible fathers and mothers.
In all, the epitome of our tradition lies in the sacredness of our traditional institution of The Ọba, The King.
Ọba tó ba lórí oun gbogbo — The king, who sits atop all matters.
If Christ is not risen, Wherefore lies the fate and sacredness of the Christian faith!?
If the Ọba is not supreme and enjoys a certain measure of the Leader’s prerogative, wherein lies the authority of the Ọba, Aláṣẹ èkejì-òrìṣà!??
The Ọba is the companion of the gods, as so deserves a high measure of respect.
Marriages are contracted, Daily and so are separation and divorces extracted, Daily. It is usually a private affair, even more private when it occurs among Royals.
There is a recent trend however in which wives of our Royal Ọbas rush to social media platforms to announce their separation from our revered Ọbas. This hitherto unknown trend is not only condemable but also despicable.
Women in Yoruba culture are the custodians of the secrets of the homestead. They also are the sacred threads holding the moral fibre of the home front, providing the shield to ward off embarrassments coming the way of their husbands and children.
The Queens in the palaces certainly bear more in their roles as the curator, protector of the secrets in the sacred places.
Queens are natural emmisaries of the gods, superintendents of the rituals and the General Overseers of the wellbeing of the monarchy, not the weakest links, not the leaking valves.
It is in the light of these facts that we condemn in the strongest terms, the recent venture of Queen Naomi Ṣílẹ̀kùnọlà in rushing to her page on Facebook and on Instagram to announce her separation from the Ọọ̀ni Ilé-Ifẹ̀, a foremost Ọba and the spiritual head of the Yorùbá. It is regrettable.
Would she have rushed to press if she married a commoner — the question that truly depicts how despicably she has behaved!
We are not going to deny her the right to express her grievance{s}, No. We are simply calling her attention to the realities of her position and situation. Ọbas are by their offices and prerogatives, polygamous. We have also noted that Queen Ṣílẹ̀kùnọlá attested to the fact that she was The only Wife and Queen to The Ọọ̀ni. The Yorùbá are blessed with the embedded mechanisms, innately functional to which we generous resort to help resolve marital conflicts — Has the Queen explored all avenues available within and without the Palace arena in solving whatever issues plagued her marital matters
… Maybe she did. However we believe outside of the Palace the world is indifferent, perhaps unfeeling, best to invoke the natural mechanisms in an elaborate and well established tradition of our fathers that made The Ọọ̀ni Tadenikawo Adesoji Aderemi manage his 13 wives successfully for over a fifty-five year period. Ọọ̀ni Okunade Sijuade also had up to 7 wives and managed all, successfully.
To therefore resort to the social media, is tantamount to denigrating, degrading the stool of Odùduwà a slight and a blight on all of us cognitive Yorùbá, who hold our traditional monarchy, to be a most sacred institution.
I once read the submission of a non-Yoruba who laid emphasis on the ability of the Yorùbá traditional institutional Ọbas in providing the most needed leadership, galvanisimg the Yorùbá Race to ward off the existential threat that troubled the whole of Yorùbáland, the fierce invading armies that sought to occupy out lands in the 1800s…. And here we are, facing perhaps a more dangerous but systematic existencial threat yet again, and dirty linen of the Palace kind are be washed and unashamedly so, at these dangerous times!???