By Wale Ojo Lanre
I asked a simple question.
There is no crime in asking questions.
There is no harm in curiosity.
So why the anger?
Why the squeezed faces?
Why the sudden defensiveness?
You are not the Ooni.
So why are you offended on his behalf?
I ask again—calmly, deliberately:
Why is the Ooni so stupid?
Yes.
For by every foolish metric of power,
by every shallow definition of royalty,
by every ancient expectation of arrogance and thunder—
the Ooni of Ife must truly be stupid.
Yes.
Stupid.
With all his riches.
With all his clout.
With all his global networks.
With a pedigree that never queued for survival visas,
never washed plates for foreign pity,
never mopped floors to eat dignity.
Born into power.
Raised in privilege.
Prepared by destiny.
A man with every justification to be arrogant,
every excuse to be loud,
every opportunity to flex agbara de!
Yet
when he ascended the throne of his forefathers,
he refused to perform power.
He was not cantankerous.
He was not aggressive.
He did not rush to stadiums to jump and announce dominance.
He did not insult elders to prove youth.
He did not weaponise history.
He did not inherit enemies he did not create.
Instead—
in what can only be described as royal stupidity—
he embraced peace.
He wore white,
not red.
He chose calm,
not thunder.
He draped himself in clarity,
not confused colour codes.
He applied restraint
where others deploy rage.
He ignored provocation
where lesser crowns seek attention.
If that is not stupidity,
what is?
In January 2016, history blinked.
Uninvited.
Unannounced.
Unafraid.
Oba Adeyeye Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi, Ojaja II,
walked into Oyo.
Not with soldiers.
Not with threats.
Not with ego.
But with over one hundred monarchs—
for unity.
He attended the 45th Coronation Anniversary
of the late Alaafin of Oyo,
Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Atanda Adeyemi III.
Seventy-nine years of royal distance.
Seventy-nine years of inherited silence.
Seventy-nine years of historical cold war—
collapsed in one foolish act of peace.
At the Methodist Church, Apaara, Oyo,
around January 18, 2016,
the impossible happened.
An Ooni went to Oyo.
Not for conquest.
Not for superiority.
But for harmony.
Only a stupid king would do that.
And as if that was not enough,
history repeated itself.
In the same spirit of restraint, wisdom, and deliberate humility,
the Ooni of Ife once again led over fifty distinguished Obas
to the coronation ceremony of the present Alaafin of Oyo.
Not as a rival.
Not as a spectator.
But as a bridge.
He did not arrive alone to protect ego.
He arrived with kings to proclaim unity.
That singular presence—
backed by a procession of crowns—
added inestimable value to the coronation.
It elevated the event from ritual to renaissance.
It transformed a royal installation into a pan-Yoruba statement.
It declared, without speeches or slogans,
that Yoruba royalty is strongest when it is united.
Only a foolish monarch would reduce personal prominence
so that another throne might rise in splendour.
And in that moment,
the throne of Oyo was not diminished—
it was magnified.
Because when the Ooni walks,
history stands.
Since his ascension,
the Ooni of Ife has demonstrated something rare in African royalty:
emotional intelligence anchored in spiritual discipline.
He sustained peace with Modakeke—
not as subjects, but as kin.
He maintained cordiality with the late Owa of Ikesha,
Oba Aromolaran.
He nurtured an affectionate and respectful relationship
with the late Alaafin of Oyo,
Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Atanda Adeyemi III—
a relationship rooted in dignity, not rivalry.
Search the records.
Search the gossip.
Search history.
Not once—
not once—
has the Ooni been reported to have had an altercation
with any Oba.
Not by deed.
Not by posture.
Not by behaviour.
Why?
Because he is peace personified.
The symbol of harmony.
The paragon of cordiality.
The most dangerous thing about him is his heart.
Too large for vendetta.
Too secure for insecurity.
Too refined for pettiness.
He has shown the world that kings are men—
men with blue blood, yes—
but men nonetheless.
That royalty does not require slaves.
That power does not require humiliation.
That history does not require vengeance.
He absorbed indignities without retaliation.
He endured provocations without response.
He allowed no intransigence from lesser kings
to stain his unstained royal carriage.
In ancient times, this would be called weakness.
In enlightened times,
it is called greatness.
There are kings who rule royally—
and kings who still swim in the ocean of ancestral savagery,
dragging the crimes of their grandfathers into the present.
The Ooni chose evolution.
He is not an antediluvian monarch.
He is not a museum relic of old grudges.
He is a thinker.
A philosopher.
A modern royal soul.
He does not seek attention—
attention seeks him.
He is not in competition—
he is the completion.
He is not seeking relevance—
he is relevance.
So yes—the Ooni is stupid.
Stupid enough to choose peace
when war would trend.
Stupid enough to be calm
when arrogance would sell.
Stupid enough to lead kings
instead of intimidating them.
Stupid enough to add value
to royalty itself.
And history—
honest, unbending history—
will record that this “stupidity”
lifted the throne of Odùduwà
above noise, above rage, above time.
Long live
His Imperial Majesty
Oba Adeyeye Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi, Ojaja II,
The Ooni of Ife
the foolish king
who was wise enough
to choose peace.
Agbo ma bi won
Ari ma wobe
Oori Alade Gbogbo
Kabiyesi ooo
Signed
Wale Ojo-Lanre Esq
USI Ekiti
