Yes…
He has gone.
Tragedy?
A pity?
A calamity beyond redress?
Yes — but who are we to fight God?
For Almighty God, the Owner of the universe, the One who moulds kings from clay, the One who crowns from heaven, the One who enthrones without asking Ife Elders for permission, the One who lifts a man from obscurity into divinity — He alone decides.
So who are we—mere mortals with fragile bones and evaporating breath—to query what He has done with His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, Ooni of Ife, Arole Oodua, Olori Alade Gbogbo?
Yes, it is sad.
Sad because we cannot reverse it.
Sad because even those who tried… failed.
Some of his family members tried.
Some chiefs tried.
Some people in Ife ran helter-skelter.
Even some neighbouring Obas went to search for medicine stronger than destiny.
But they found nothing — because no sacrifice can stop what God Himself has propelled forward.
For the Lord blesses whom He chooses, He elevates whom He favours, He enthrones the improbable, He decorates the unlikely, He turns the ordinary into the extraordinary, and He makes kings that no one can unmake.
So it is irreversibly true that there is nothing anybody can do to stop the Ooni of Ife — for the man has gone.
Yes…
He has gone far.
And that is the tragedy some people cannot swallow.
Despite all the obstacles mounted, despite all the jealous arrows planted along the road, despite all the spiritual potholes dug to trap him, nobody — not kings, not chiefs, not imperial warlords — was able to stop the Ooni from going forward.
Nobody could truncate his celestial trajectory from being Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, a mere mortal of Ile-Ife birth, to His Imperial Majesty, Ooni of Ife, the Arole of Oduduwa, the spiritual emblem of the entire Yoruba race.
He has gone.
Yes… the Ooni has gone.
Gone beyond the old template of a “native, palace-confined monarch.”
Gone beyond the narrow expectations of traditional royalty.
Gone and transformed himself into a cosmopolitan, pan-African, global monarch of grace, vision, courage and spiritual refinement.
The Ooni has gone — gone far.
Gone ahead.
Gone beyond borders.
Gone into the realm where none of his peers can catch him even if given a 20-year head start.
Look around: others are only running after him, panting, sweating, gasping for breath, struggling to match a pace that destiny itself designed.
But they have forgotten the ancient Ife proverb:
“Láti ọjọ́ tí relúwẹ̀ ti ń rìn, ẹkùn ìwájú ló ń kí ilé.”
Since the day the train started moving, only the coach in front greets the station first.
And the Ooni — ah! The Ooni — is that coach in front.
Search Ife, search Osun State, search Nigeria, search Africa, search the Black World… you will see his footprints everywhere.
Co-President, National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria.
Champion of Yoruba cultural renaissance.
Monarch of peace diplomacy.
Royal ambassador of global Black identity.
Builder of bridges between nations.
Reviver of heritage, custodian of legacy, awakener of consciousness.
The most visited, most recognised, most referenced Yoruba monarch in the modern era.
No Oba has cultivated global respect and regard for himself and Yorubaland the way he has. None.
He has gone.
Gone far ahead.
Gone into realms where only destiny-carriers can operate.
Gone beyond human limitation.
Gone beyond ordinary royalty.
He has gone into greatness — and that is the only “death” some people cannot endure.
So, if you see tears, let them flow.
If you hear lamentations, let them echo.
If you sense panic, let it rise — because what has gone is not his body… but his limit.
Ooni of Ife has gone beyond limit.
Káre o, Bàámì.
Jìgbìnì bí atè akín.
Ẹní bá ní ó kú la kú.
Ẹ san fún ẹ̀sàn.
Ẹni bá ní ọ̀run la rùn.
Jàyé orí ẹ.
Long may your destiny run ahead of your enemies.
Long may your crown outrun their imagination.
Long may the world marvel at the pace of the king who has gone — gone forward, gone higher, gone beyond.
Happy 10th Anniversary
Baami
Don’t mind them
You will celebrate 100 years on the throne
A SE oju mi ..
Signed
Barrister Wale Ojo-Lanre
