Ooni of Ife, Oba Ogunwusi and Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111

Ooni Ogubwusi left and Oba Adeyemi

Alaafin Adeyemi, backing the camera, and Ooni of Ife, Oba Ogunwusi embrace

Ooni and Alaafin attended thanksgiving service together at Methodist Church, Apaara, Oyo

Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife, on Sunday, visited the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi. It was a goodwill trip to mark Alaafin’s 45th coronation anniversary.

According to historians, it was the first time since 1937, that an Ooni would visit the Alaafin.
It was actually a great departure from the conflict that characterised the relationship of the former Ooni, Oba Okunade Sijuade, and Alaafin Adeyemi.

While the Alaafin and others saw Oyo as the political capital of the Yoruba, the former Ooni and other historians regarded Ile Ife, where Oduduwa, father of the Yoruba, ruled, as the spiritual capital of the Yoruba. So between the spiritual and political, the arguments became two parallel lines!

However, the new Ooni- young, cosmopolitan and debonair- has shown that a new monarch is in town.

Here are photographs, the last being the end of the Church service at Methodist Apaara, Oyo. Credit: Oba Adeyemi 111’s Facebook wall