The Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has denied a report that said he defrauded a woman in the United States out of $180,000.
A blogger recently claimed on X that Ooni had collected the money in a purported marriage scam from the Osun-born woman known as Fagbule.
The post alleged that the traditional ruler shared a good rapport with the victim said to be an Ile-Ife indigene.
According to the post, the US-based doctor was allegedly tricked out of $180,000 while trying to arrange a free medical service for women and children in Ile-Ife.
The Ooni‘s spokesperson, Moses Olafare, responded to the claims by referring to them as “fake, untrue, and absolutely unfounded” in a statement. Ogunwusi rejected them.
Additionally, Ogunwusi denied ever having interacted with the woman.
The palace said that fraudsters posing as the monarch tricked Fagbule. In addition, Ogunwusi cautioned ladies from becoming desperate to marry him.
The victim ought to have gone to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to report the incident rather than posting it on social media, the monarch continued.
“That 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 statement reads in part.
“That the so-called Mrs 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.
“That 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 co-called relationship?
“That 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. And that the body of the letter does not grammatically reflect Ooni’s personally signed letters in any way.
“That, with the Ooni’s status in wealth, business success, philanthropy and highly revered royalty, to allege or even suggest that he would be collecting money from any lady for travel expenses and others in exchange for marriage with a huge portfolio of billions of Naira being handled by Ooni Ogunwusi for humanity can only be viewed by reasonable people in the society as a figment of the imagination of Mrs Fagbule and her social media Messiah.l (99% Oppressed).”
