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Queen Naomi Announces Divorce from Ooni of Ife, Gives Reasons
Her Majesty, Queen Silekunola Naomi, has announced her separation from the Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II.
In a statement posted on her verified Instagram handle and Facebook page on Thursday, she announced an end to the three-year marriage.
According to her, she tried to make the union work but said the monarch’s public identity is at variance with “his true self”.
The fair-skinned ex-queen wrote, “I did my best to endure and make it work; many times, I smiled through the struggle, but I have finally realised I had just one assignment, my son, and when God is done, He is done. He chose Saul to be king, and when He was done, He told the prophet Samuel I have moved on. Religion was never an issue between us; please refer to my interview on News Central TV. Instead, His Majesty has a picture he would love the world to see and perceive him as and another one which is his true self.”
The evangelist then declared, “Today I announce the beginning of a new dawn and the close of a chapter. Today, I am a mother to God’s unique gift. I am no longer a slave to my thoughts of perfection. I, at this moment, announce that I shall no longer be referred to as wife to the Ooni of Ife or as Queen of Ile-Ife but as the Queen of the people and mother of my adorable Prince.”
Responding to some allegations, Silekunola said that her “decision to move on did not come because his majesty is married to another queen”.
She further explained, “As many would love to assume, throughout our life as a couple, I was the only married wife to him. There were side attractions, but it was never an issue.
“I never approached him with any revelation of any sort, as many believed he contacted me first and made his proposal known several months later.
“The marriage was not an arranged one, as many have misconstrued. I never knew the prophetess said to have introduced me to him. Instead, he introduced her to me after I agreed to marry him. I was only being polite out of respect for him.
“I have never been pregnant all my life before Tadenikawo; my son is my first ever pregnancy with medical reports to back it up. The girl who is said to be my daughter is my niece.”
The Ooni previously suffered a marital breakdown in 2017 when he split from Edo-born Zaynab-Otiti Obanor, whom he married as a monarch on March 16, 2016. Obanor’s marriage to the king lasted for 17 months before the separation.
He later married Silekunola in 2018 and the marriage produced a son, Tadenikawo.
The 47-year-old monarch also had a daughter with Omolara Olatubosun as a teenager. Olatubosun gave birth to Princess Adeola Ogunwusi but of recent, there have been counter-claims between the Ooni and Olatubosun over who was responsible for the upbringing of their daughter.
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
