Ooni has Never been Quizzed by EFCC, Say Ife Royal Families

EFCC officials

Families of the late Ooni Okunade Sijuwade and Adeyeye Ogunwusi have debunked alleged N400 million forgery against the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, saying the new monarch had never been invited or quizzed by anti-graft agency as alleged by a group in Osun State.

The two families in a statement jointly signed by Prince Adetokunbo Sijuwade and Prince Adesina Ogunwusi, described the online report as "false" and aimed to damage the reputation of the highly revered monarch.

"We were shocked to read a statement on an online medium by one Sulaiman Alimi Adeniyi who claimed to be representing a group he referred to as Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice in which he lied to have been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) to defend a petition earlier sent by his group to the anti-graft body against His Imperial Majesty, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ojaja II) that the authority of the anti-graft body in Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) had begun the investigation of the revered monarch and his company named Metropole Interproject Limited over an alleged N400 million forgery which involved the immediate past Ooni if Ife, late Oba Okunade Sijuwade(Olubuse ll) business empire Sijuwade Holdings Ltd.

The families described the allegation as an attempt by some enemies of progress to cause an unwarranted disharmony not only between the two royal families of Sijuwade and Ogunwusi but also to disrupt the peace that Ile-Ife has enjoyed.

They urged the public to ignore the report, describing it as a "sponsored campaign of calumny.

"We advised the promoter of this sacrilegious statement to desist from such an attempt only capable of embarrassing a well-respected royalty and causing needless acrimony between two royal families which may take the generations unborn to resolve.

"The relationship between the late Great personalities Ooni Okunade Sijuwade and the Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi then a prince was a father and son relationship which translated to a business relationship through their companies.

“It is pertinent to say that the cordiality that existed between the late Ooni Okunade sijuwade (Olubuse II) and Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ojaja II) has rather gone better subsequent to Ooni Ogunwusi’s coronation as Kabiyesi almost on daily basis communicates with members of Sijuwade family led by Prince Tokunbo, who is in charge of the business empire left behind by the late Ooni Sijuwade".

"We thus remain unruffled as the flaccid hoax of 400 million naira fraud is incapable of bringing the much valuable hard-earned name to a targeted disrepute before the general public by the so-called Comrade Alimi Sulaiman known to have been hobnobbing with a politician in the town who has refused to accept the unchangeable reality of the destined enthronement of Ooni Ogunwusi against his unpopular choice.

"The relationship between the two Ife royal families remains unshakable and unbreakable as they are together in the train of peace and progress”