The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has denied allegations that he was involved in a romance scam with a female doctor based in the United States named Mrs. Fagbule.
KanyiDaily recalls that an anonymous journalist on Twitter (now X) known as @PidomNigeria claimed that the monarch swindled the US doctor of $180,000.
The allegation suggested that Mrs. Fagbule intended to invest in hospital projects in some Southwest states of Nigeria, but the Ooni allegedly cut ties with her when the investment didn’t materialize as agreed.
In response to these claims, the Director of Media And Public Affairs of the Ooni’s Palace, Otunba Moses Olafare, issued a statement on Wednesday dismissing the report as false.
Olafare clarified that the Ooni does not have a personal social media account for such communications. He urged Mrs. Fagbule to seek legal recourse through the Police or the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) rather than addressing the issue on social media.
The statement emphasized that the allegations posted by the journalist “99% OPPRESSED” were unfounded and aimed at tarnishing Ooni’s reputation for personal gain.
Olafare emphasized that Mrs. Fagbule was not known to the Ooni personally, and any purported relationship or marriage proposal was fabricated.
The Palace also pointed out discrepancies in the alleged letter of proposal, indicating it did not match the Ooni’s official correspondence style or letterhead.
The Palace spokesman denounced the accusations as baseless and reiterated its commitment to operating with integrity and transparency in all official matters.
The statement read, “The Palace of the Ooni of Ife is not unaware of a trending fake news about one Ms Fagbule purportedly swindled of 180,000 dollars allegedly by our father; Arole Oduduwa Olofin Adimula, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, CFR, Ojaja II, The Ooni of Ife. It is worrisome the level at which ladies have been making themselves victims of marriage frauds on internet despite our several warnings to the general public particularly ladies whose ultimate ambition were to become queens of the Ooni by all means to beware of the internet marriage proposal scammers who could only capitalize on their gullibility driven desperation.
“Even though it is not in our tradition to respond to fake news like this posted and promoted by a criminal faceless source through a Twitter (Now X) account, it has become so imperative this time around to make this response for necessary clarifications in order to calm the inundation of the genuine concerns expressed by subjects, friends and lovers of the Ooni globally on this matter.
“The following assertions are hereby made for necessary clarifications: That the news as posted by a Twitter (now X) handle called “99% OPPRESSED” is fake, untrue and absolutely an unfounded allegation only adopted as a nugatory character assassination tactic aimed at achieving a cheap popularity with a view to drawing huge followers/traffic for avaricious monetization from Twitter (X).
“That the so called Mrs Fagbule was and is never known to the Ooni of Ife for any interpersonal communication or relationship whatsoever, talk less of being so promised with a marriage proposal. That Ooni Adeyeye does not operate any Facebook account personally. He runs the palace as an institutional organisation with a functional media directorate which has a section that operates his social media handles; Instagram, Facebook etc.
“That If truly the lady so mentioned as Ms Fagbule is from Osun State or Ile-Ife in particular, why didn’t she come to the palace to meet Ooni in person throughout their co called relationship? That, rather than taking her matter to the appropriate agencies like EFCC and the Police for professional investigation which could have adequately helped her, she chose to make it a social media brouhaha.
That, if, for whatever reason she had preferred social media and human rights platforms to the Police and EFCC who are so professionally trained, shouldn’t she have engaged a credible mainstream media organisation; Print and Electronic, or consulted credible Human Right crusaders like CDHR, Femi Falana Chambers and their likes in the country who undoubtedly pocess qualities of a tested capacity and passion for applying principles of justice and fairness in their efforts of thorough investigation in any matter of injustice against the oppressed. She rather chose an unscrupulous faceless Twitter (X) handler who is not identified beyond “99% OPPRESSED”.
“That the said letter of marriage proposal so paraded on the Twitter (X) handle of the so called “99% OPPRESSED” alleged to have emanated from the Ooni is a fabrication of lies from the pit of hell, as the Letterhead used for the letter does not reflect the originality of our official letterhead used at the palace for official correspondences. And that the body of the letter does not grammatically reflect Ooni’s personally signed letters in any way.”
KanyiDaily recalls that the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, recently played host to the cast of the renowned reality show, Real Housewives of Lagos, in a recent gathering at his palace.
