Oladapo Olatunbosun, the father of Omolara Olatubosun, who is the babymama of the Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has countered the recent allegations made by his daughter against the monarch.
Omolara, who had a daughter for the Ooni when she was 19 years old, had recently accused the Ooni of not being honest about raising their daughter Princess Adeola. She claimed the Ooni was not present in the child’s life in the first 10 years.
Omolara’s outburst followed a statement made by the Ooni on social media during Adeola’s 28th birthday on October 18.
“I equally realised that being a single parent to a daughter in an unfamiliar footprint can be a major shift in human experience and a daunting journey as you need to help your child to navigate day to day social situations, complex feelings, and developmental changes that life prescribes,” he had said.
According to Omolara, Oba Ogunwusi was not present in the child’s life, especially in the first 10 years. She mentioned that the only time the monarch saw their child after her birth was at a wedding and that she received no monetary support from him or anyone to take care of their child.
The statement read;
“My name is Omolara, and I am Adeola Ogunwusi’s mother. She was born in Akobo, Ibadan, in May 1994 as a result of a teenage relationship I had with Adeyeye Ogunwusi, now the Ooni of Ife, who was then also a teenager, neighbor, and family friend. The relationship was short and uneventful, but certain matters of late have forced me to break a silence. I have held since 2015 when, shortly before his coronation, Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi concocted a self-serving tale about his role in our daughter’s life.
“A couple of weeks ago, on his Instagram and Facebook pages, he once again wrote that he was a `single father` to my daughter — a mendacious claim that has no basis in fact, but has gone on for too long. I want to put it on the record now in public that there’s not an iota of truth to that claim, and I challenge him to prove me wrong.
Yeye Ogunwusi was never present in Adeola’s life for the first ten years of her growing up which makes the `single father` narrative shocking, annoying and disrespectful to hear by all who know the truth of the story. I, Omolara, took care of my daughter physically, financially and emotionally, with the moral support of my mother and my siblings.
I was a pregnant teen, but he was nowhere to be found, and I bore the responsibilities for our child and paid the physical and social cost of raising her alone in my mom’s house. Yeye Ogunwusi saw Adeola for only five minutes at the hospital when she was born. The next time he saw her was when she was already four years old and ten years old respectively.
I got NO monetary or material support from him or ANYONE while raising my child. I could not have, because he was also just finding his way in the world.
Adeola started spending holidays with Yeye Ogunwusi and his then wife (Bukola Bombata) in Lagos when she was thirteen in 2007, and started living with them when she was fifteen in 2009. This was when he began any financial and personal involvement in her life at all.
All these years, I have kept quiet in the belief that all is well that ends well. I decided to be an adult in this situation for the sake of my daughter. I have also kept quiet since the first time he made this outrageous claim because I hate unnecessary publicity, and I wanted to keep my private life out of public glare.
However, it appears that Yeye Ogunwusi has taken my silence for stupidity.
In spite of every private outreach to him to stop repeating the lie that he ‘raised my daughter as a single parent since she was born’, he has continued to say so. It is not true, and no amount of repeating it will make it so. I was the single parent. He was, until our daughter was old enough, an absentee father. Unfortunately, a lie goes a long way around the world before the truth gets a chance to tie its shoes. So, this is my attempt at correcting the record.
If Yeye Ogunwusi has any photos of him and our daughter, or the receipt of any expense he bore on her, before the age of ten, let him present them to the public right now. I refuse to let someone else define me or tell my story. It is a story of triumph over fear, over shame, and over doubt. It is a success story, but with several bumps and obstacles along the way. But it is mine, and no one else’s to tell.
If Yeye Ogunwusi is proud of the daughter we have raised, he can say so without any attempt to minimize or denigrate the very foundation on which he’s now attempting to build, and from which he cowardly fled when the going was tough. For our daughter’s sake, enough is enough. For the sake of truth and justice, enough is enough.
I will not allow ANYONE to disrespect a lifetime of hard work that I put into raising my child no matter how powerful, famous or seemingly influential they claim to be.
I am also making this public to put on notice any media organisations to stop repeating Yeye Ogunwusi’s lies without proper verification and qualification. You, also, have a duty to be truthful and factual. And now, you can.”
Reacting to his daughter’s claims, Olatunbosun said the relationship between his family and that of the traditional ruler is cordial.
The 78-year-old said in a statement that his relationship with the Ooni’s father John Ogunwusi, which dates back to 1970 while they were colleagues at the Western Nigerian Broadcasting Service, remained intact till date.
He said, “I can vouch for the integrity of my noble friend, Baba Oba John Oluropo Ogunwusi, and Oònirìsà Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi Òjája, too.
“As a man known for Yorùbá culture and traditions, I will always respect the stool of Oduduwa and Àrólé Oduduwa. I am not a bastard.
“That noble family has never done anything wrong to my family to warrant arrogantly damaging their reputation in the mass media or the press. I am not a bastard.”
The ex-broadcaster and poet said Adeola is an adult now whose happiness and progress in life should be paramount.