A HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPH: WHEN THE OONI OF IFE HOSTED TINUBU AND ATIKU
A HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPH: WHEN THE OONI OF IFE HOSTED TINUBU AND ATIKU
This photograph was taken on 1 February 2003 at the palace of the Ooni of Ife in Ile-Ife.
On that day, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, the 50th Ooni of Ife, received two of Nigeria’s most prominent political figures.
Standing with him were Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, then Governor of Lagos State, and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, then Vice President of Nigeria under President Olusegun Obasanjo.
More than two decades later, the photograph has become a remarkable piece of Nigerian political history — capturing three powerful figures at a much earlier stage of their public lives.
A LITTLE ABOUT THE OONI
Oba Okunade Sijuwade was born on 1 January 1930 in Ile-Ife into the Ogboru ruling house. He was a grandson of Ooni Adelekan Olubuse I.
He became the 50th Ooni of Ife and was crowned on 6 December 1980, taking the royal name Olubuse II.
He remained on the throne for approximately 35 years, until his death on 28 July 2015, aged 85. He di€d in London, and was later buried in Ile-Ife.
From 1980 to 2015, Olubuse II witnessed some of the most important political and social changes in modern Nigeria.
And this photograph captures one small but fascinating moment from that long reign.
