Exposed: Ooni Of Ife’s Past Actions That Made Tinubu Give Him ‘’Disrespectful Greeting’’?

In reaction to Moses Olafare’s narration of the circumstances surrounding Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s widely condemned disrespectful greetings to the Ooni of Ife, a passionate lover of Culture and a huge fan of the revered monarch who operates by the Facebook name – Otunba Temitope Kolawole narrates the actions that he believes culminated in Tinubu’s conduct.

Tinubu, widely acknowledged as the most influential politician in Southwest Nigeria on Sunday, September 6 2020 exchange greetings with the Ooni seated while the latter remained standing at the coronation of the new Oniru of Iland, Lagos – Oba Gbolahan Lawal.

A picture of the moment – and video later released – continue to earn Tinubu massive clash.

The write-up by Otuba Temitope Kolawole tagged ‘’WHAT OONI HAS DONE WRONGLY: A Rejoinder to Yera Olafare’s Poser.’’ And posted under Olafare’s original post reads…

As to your poser: what has Ooni done wrongly? Here is my humble response: I hope it will find its way to the Palace for better management of Ooni’s affairs.

It is not wrong to be humble. Humility as we all know is a virtue, and I give it to Ooni Ogunwusi on this. I have watched him display this virtue of humility in the public not once or twice. I sincerely respect Ooni for this. May God help Kabiyesi to remain humble still.

He has done nothing wrong either by going to greet Asiwaju Bola Ahmmed Tinubu who was already on seat when Ooni came in to the coronation ceremony.

It was only unfortunate that unlike other dignitaries on the high table, Asiwaju Bola Ahmmed Tinubu could not reciprocate Ooni’s humility for a reason best known to him.

However, from the scenario I watched in the video, Ooni’s handlers need to pass this message to him: that lateness to meetings, social functions or important occasions is NOT a virtue but a vice!

In primary and secondary schools, we were thoroughly beaten by our teachers sometimes at the assembly line for coming late to school. The essence of this capital punishment meted out to us then was to inculcate the virtue of punctuality in us which was supposed to to be part of our character later in life, in our respective vocations and callings. I am sure Ooni Ogunwusi must have experienced same in his days at school.

Truth be told, Ooni Ogunwusi is fast becoming a symbol of lateness to meetings and social events! I have never seen/watched him arrive at any event punctualy since he ascended the throne of Ooni. The consequential effect of his lateness to events as a very important personality (VIP) in the society is the frequent interruption of the orderliness of such programs or events!

When a smooth running program that has enjoyed rapt attention of the audience has to be paused or interrupted in order to usher in a VIP late-comer, it attracts anger rather than celebration from the enraptured audience!

Mr. Olafare, let me quickly inform you that I am an Ife man just as you are. We both have stake in the reputation of Ooni’s throne as the father of Yoruba nation hence, our interest does not work at cross purposes at all. We simply want the dignity of Ooni’s throne to be preserved!

From the short video I watched, it became very clear to me that Asiwaju Bola Ahmmed Tinubu didn’t want to add to the disruption/interruption caused by Ooni’s lateness to the occasion. Perhaps the picture could have been different if Ooni had arrived to time.

Ooni needed to be told that his perpetual habit of lateness to events is removing so much from his public image.

On two different occasions, Ooni Ogunwusi has disrupted convocation ceremony of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, his domain, and where I work, by reason of his lateness to the occasions.

His first appearance at Oduduwa in Amphitheatre: venue of the event in 2015 was barely tolerated by the crowd as the then Minister of Education from Abuja was already on the podium delivering the Visitor’s (President of Nigeria) speech. The distractions was just carefully managed. This is what I see played out again in the present circumstance.

When Ooni repeated his lateness the second time, at OAU Convocation Ceremony in 2016, the then Vice-Chancellor could almost turned him back if he had his way. Ooni was finally allowed entry into the theatre but not until he had be delayed for up to fifteen minutes outside! As an Ife man, I couldn’t hide my shame at that occasion as Ooni’s retinue of Emese were treated with ignominy.

History repeated itself the third time when the students of the Faculty of Arts invited Ooni Ogunwusi to grace a Faculty Lecture where Alaafin of Oyo was the Guests Speaker. It was a great embarrassment to many participants at the event when the person that was to declare the event opened did not show up one hour after Alaafin: The Guest Lecturer had arrived. Infact, Alaafin had to start his lecture after 30 minutes of futile waiting for Ooni: The Guest of honour at the event. At last, when Ooni came, the distractions caused by Ooni’s entourage did not go down well with Alaafin who had to deviate from his Paper Presentation lampooning the entourage. The embarrassment that consequently greeted the event could only be imagined! No thanks to the pressmen who circulated the news with immediate alacrity.

Ooni Ogunwusi has attracted more frown from people because of his habitual lateness to events than appreciation. The earlier he changed the better!

In conclusion, what Ooni Ogunwusi has done wrongly was not his display of humility by greeting Tinubu but his habitual lateness to important ceremonies which always resulted into distractions.

Tinubu is however not excusable for his disdain for the throne of Ooni. Other dignitaries stood up to welcome Ooni why would Tinubu display a larger than life attitude to the glare of the public? “Bi a ko ba tori isu je epo, aa tori epo je isu.” This simple Yoruba philosophy could have prevented the hullabaloo that is currently tending on almost all social media landscape.