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Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar have felicitated with the the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja III, on the occasion of his fifth year anniversary on the throne.
At an event held on Friday at the Premier Hotel, Ibadan, the monarchs called for unity among Yoruba kings.
Oba Adeyemi, who commended the Sultan for his courage to speak truth to the authority, stressed that he agreed totally with Abubakar that North is a very difficult place to live in the country.
“You spoke truth to the authority that the worst place that is difficult to live in Nigeria is the North. I commend your courage for saying that to the authority. Just after you said that, a traditional ruler was killed,” Alaafin said.
Alaafin prayed earnestly for Oba Ogunwusi that as the Awujale of Ijebuland clocked 65 years on the throne and he(Alaafin) will clock 50 years on the throne come January, God will give the celebrant longer years than them.
“My present prayer is that the Almighty God will endow you with strength and benevolence which some of us enjoyed and are still enjoying. I will only appeal to Kabiyesi(Ooni) to be unrelenting in his efforts,” Oba Adeyemi said.
Speaking, Sultan Abubakar said that anyone in leadership position that failed to do the needful will be accountable to Almighty Allah.
Eulogising Oba Ogunwusi, the Sultan said: “What you don’t know is that we have a lot of things in common. I have spent 14 years on the throne, he became king five years ago and he has visited me in Sokoto five times.
“He came with so much energy at such an age that some people thought it might be difficult for him to handle the enormity of the throne, but God helped him. So far, my friend has been doing right.”
He called on all traditional, religious and cultural leaders to close ranks and avoid being misled by “vanity of the world.”
In his remarks, the Olubadan of Ibadan land, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Saliu Adetunji, who spoke through his Personal Assistant, Mr Adeola Oloko encouraged Ooni to continue promoting unity among Yoruba monarchs and redouble his efforts at making peace.
While thanking all the traditional rulers and guests who attended the ceremony, Oba Ogunwusi prayed that God should give him the kind of strength that Alaafin has, that after 50 years on the throne, he is still be very agile.
The Ooni, who noted that within five years on the throne he has experienced a lot, said prior to his installation as Ooni, he had planned to strengthen the cord of unity between him and Alaafin.
“Many wonder why we came to Ibadan to celebrate this when Ile-Ife is there, I told them Yoruba land belongs to all of us. We started the celebration from Ibadan because Premier Hotel is our common heritage,” Oba Ogunwusi said.
Those in attendance at the ceremony include His Imperial Majesty, Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi; Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar; Chief (Mrs) Alaba Lawson, Iyalode of Egbaland; Oba Gbolahan Lawal, Oniru of Iruland; His Royal Majesty, Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi, Elegushi of Ikate; Chief (Mrs) Abiodun Duro-Ladipo, wife of late Chief Duro Ladipo popularly called Sango; Mr Gbenga Adefaye, Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard Newspapers; former Minister of Communication, Barrister Adebayo Shittu; Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun and Oloye Lekan Alabi, Ekefa Olubadan of Ibadanland who was the guest speaker at the event.