Ifa To Select The Next Ooni Of Ife

The kingmakers, have over time, been guided in the process of selecting the Ooni of Ife in the past. Guided by Ifa, the king-makers in Ile-Ife are expected not to go against the dictates of the divinity.

The Ifá divination rites provide an avenue of communication to the spiritual realm and often times, the king-makers consult Ifa before it makes any pronouncement on who occupies the Ooni throne.

Failure by the king-makers to consult with Ifa often results in the untimely death of the occupant of the throne. Remarkably, Ifá is practised throughout the Americas, West Africa, and the Canary Islands, Azores, and Madeira, in the form of a complex religious system, and plays a critical role in the traditions of Santería, Candomblé, Palo, Umbanda, Vodoo, and other Afro-American faiths, as well as in some traditional African religions.

THE exit of Oba Okunade Sijuwade as Ooni of Ife has created a vacuum which would be filled by a worthy successor. The late Sijuwade emerged the 50th Ooni of Ife in December, 1980 and ruled the ancient city of Ile-Ife for 35 years.

He died at the St. Mary’s Royal Hospital in Paddington, London, after a brief illness in July, 2015. There are five ruling houses where the Ooni of Ife could emerge. They are: Osinkola, Ogboru, Giesi, Abewela and Lafogido but the odds seem to be in favour of the Giesi house. Already, the Giesi Ruling House, in line with standing rotational arrangement of the 1957 Chieftaincy Declaration after the demise of Oba Sijuwade, has set in motion plans to present qualified persons to the king-makers.

Members of the ruling house have met at the family compound at Agbedegbede Lane in Ile-Ife to receive the report of its selection screening committee. The committee, it was gathered, submitted its report to the head of the family, Prince Modupe Fadehan. But interestingly, the likely successor will emerge after the king-makers must have sought the divine guidance of Ifa oracle.

In addition, the Ifa oracle would be consulted on the choice before the final ratification by the chief priest. Before now, the king-makers were advised to guard against manipulating the emergence of the next Ooni of Ife. A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Bode George, who is the Atona Oodua of the Source, recently, appealed to them not to allow politicians use their influence to choose the next Ooni.
 

Meanwhile, Ifa worshippers have called on government at all levels to set aside a day for celebration of the traditional festival, as it obtains in the Islamic and Christian religions.