Background
Sijuwade was born on 1 January 1930 in Ile-Ife to the Ogboru ruling house, and he is the grandson of the Ooni Sijuwade Adelekan Olubuse I.
Sijuwade was born on 1 January 1930 in Ile-Ife to the Ogboru ruling house, and he is the grandson of the Ooni Sijuwade Adelekan Olubuse I.
Sijuwade had his primary and secondary education at Abeokuta Grammar School and Oduduwa College in Ile-Ife. Upon completing his early education, he worked for a period of three years in his father's business, then for two years with the Nigerian Tribune, before proceeding to Northampton College in the United Kingdom where he studied business management.
Before he was crowned the Ooni of Ife, he had a flourishing career in business, becoming a manager at Leventis when he was barely 30 and was sales director at National Motor in Lagos at 33. He later set up a company to distribute Soviet-built vehicles and equipment in Nigeria. His business boomed and expanded. He was into real estate and construction and enjoyed unlimited favours from virtually every successive government in Nigeria. By the time Sijuwade was crowned Ooni in 1980 he had become a wealthy man.
As a crowned King, Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuwade inherited an ongoing dispute over supremacy between the Obas of Yoruba land. In 1967 a crisis had been resolved when Chief Obafemi Awolowo was chosen as the leader of the Yoruba. In 1976 the Governor of Oyo State, General David Jemibewon, had decreed that the Ooni of Ife would be the permanent chairman of the State Council of Obas and Chiefs. Other Obas led by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi said the position should rotate. The dispute calmed down when Osun State was carved out of Oyo State in August 1991, but ill will persisted. In January 2009 Sijuwade was quoted as saying that Oba Adeyemi was ruling a dead empire (the Oyo Empire, which collapsed in 1793). Adeyemi responded by citing "absurdities" in Sijuwade's statements and saying the Ooni "is not in tune with his own history". Adeyemi, Permanent Chairman of the Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs, was conspicuously absent from a meeting of Yoruba leaders in April 2010.
Towards the end of 2009 a more local dispute between the Ooni, the Awujale of Ijebuland and the Alake of Egbaland was finally resolved. Sijuwade traced the dispute back to a falling out between Obafemi Awolowo and Ladoke Akintola during the Nigerian First Republic, which had led to a division between the traditional rulers. He noted that the traditional rulers were an important unifying force in the country during the illness of President Umaru Yar'Adua.
Okunade Sijuwade died on July 28, 2015 at the age of 85 in a London, England hospital, after a brief illness.
Sijuwade played a key role in February 2009 by mediating in a dispute over land ownership between the communities of Ife and Modakeke, resolved in part through the elevation of the Ogunsua of Modakeke as an Oba. The new Oba, Francis Adedoyin, would be under the headship of Sijuwade.
Also, In August 2010 he mediated in the ownership dispute between Oyo and Osun states concerning Ladoke Akintola University, calling a meeting attended by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, governor of Osun State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, governor of Oyo State and the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education which resulted in an action plan.
In November 2009 he attended the annual general meeting of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria accompanied by 17 other traditional rulers. He declared that he a was full member of the church, and said all the monarchs who accompanied him would now become members. At his birthday celebration two months later, the Primate of the Anglican Communion described Sijuwade as "a humble monarch, who has the fear of God at heart"
Although he was not attached to any party, the Ooni of Ife had a great say in the political activities of Osun State where his Kingdom is located. The last few years of Sijuwade were defined largely by his politics and he never really overcame many of his controversies. In 1984, when Major General Muhammadu Buhari was military head of state, the Ooni travelled to Israel — then a pariah to Nigeria — with his bosom friend, Ado Bayero, the emir of Kano who died in 2014. Buhari slammed a travel ban on the duo for their politically insensitive trip, and this was considered a humiliation of the highest order.
Some 30 years later, Buhari sought to come back to power, this time as an elected president. It was not difficult for Sijuwade to pitch his tent with Buhari’s opponent, former President Goodluck Jonathan, in the 2015 presidential race. What would he be doing with a man who “humiliated” him three decades ago? He openly romanced and endorsed Jonathan and was not afraid to be seen as a pro-PDP monarch. His chiefs prayed in front of the cameras for Jonathan, who knelt down in their midst. But the prayers hardly worked as Buhari defeated Jonathan, who fondly called Ooni his “father”, in the March 28 poll.
In July 2009, Oba Sijuwade said he was concerned that Yoruba socio-cultural groups such as Afenifere and the Yoruba Council of Elders were taking partisan positions in politics and warned about the harm this might cause the Yoruba nation. Towards the end of 2009, a more local dispute between the Ooni, the Awujale of Ijebuland and the Alake of Egbaland was finally resolved. Oba Sijuwade traced the dispute back to a falling out between Obafemi Awolowo and Ladoke Akintola during Nigeria’s First Republic, which had led to a division between the traditional rulers. He noted that the traditional rulers were an important unifying force in the country during the illness of President Umaru Yar’Adua Furthermore, in January 2010, Oba Okunade Sijuwade showed the world his commitment to Nigerian unity by conferring Nigerians from different tribes titles, which to many historians and writers has been describe as one of the reasons fostering unity in the country, little wonder the affable General Gowon described the Ooni as a bridge builder and a detribalized Nigerian, who has worked for the peace and unity of Nigeria.
He is described as a humble monarch, who had the fear of God at heart.
He had four wives, several children and grandchildren.
