The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye, on Wednesday, denied collecting a sum of $180,000 from a woman who showed interest in becoming a queen in his palace. An X user had claimed that the Ooni obtained the sum from one Oladoyin Fagbule after promising her marriage. Ooni, in a statement, described the trending report as fake news......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
Speaking through his Director of Media And Public Affairs, Moses Olafare, the monarch said, “it is worrisome the level at which ladies have been making themselves victims of marriage frauds on the internet despite several warnings to the general public particularly ladies whose ultimate ambition were to become queens of the Ooni by all means.”
Olafare added, “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).
“The so-called 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.
“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.”
Olafare wondered, “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 so-called relationship?”
Ooni continued, “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.
“She rather chose an unscrupulous faceless Twitter (X) handler who is not identified beyond 99% OPPRESSED.
“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.”
“Contrary to the fake letter being dangled as evidence in the media, the Palace’s letterhead is unique and familiar to corporate bodies, personalities, other recipients and prospective recipients alike, with the Ooni’s signature as the Arole Oduduwa Olofin Adimula.”