Ooni Of Ife Dies At 85

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, reportedly passed on, on Tuesday, at 85 years and seven months. He was born on January 1, 1930.

Unconfirmed sources said the monarch, who was said to have been flown out of the country since last Friday, died in the United Kingdom.

Most top Ife indigenes and Osun State government officials contacted by The Punch late on Tuesday kept sealed lips but some traditional rulers in the state confirmed that Sijuwade had died.

The spokesperson for the Ooni, Chief Funmilola Olorunnisola, told one of our correspondents that, “I don’t have anything to tell you immediately.”

One Osun traditional ruler, who asked not to be quoted, confided in one of our correspondents on the phone last night that the Ife monarch had died.