The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi will on Saturday, May 20, officially welcome his sixth wife, Opeoluwa Akinmuda into his Royal Palace in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The palace spokesman, Moses Olafare told Channels Television on Tuesday that though the first-class Yoruba monarch married Akinmuda in 2022, she had been abroad but would be officially welcomed to the palace on Saturday.

“There is nothing like latest wife; Dr Opeoluwa Elizabeth Akinmuda has been (Ooni’s) his wife since last year. The wedding took place last year right after Olori Mariam’s,” Olafare said in a telephone interview.

“She was not based in Nigeria; she was based abroad. What is happening this weekend is thanksgiving ceremony in line with cultural tradition of the palace so that she can formally get a seat at the palace.

“It’s just a formal traditional rite that will usher her into the palace. It’s a thanksgiving ceremony at the palace.”

Oba Ogunwusi is already married to five other women namely; Olori Mariam, Olori Tobi, Olori Ashley, Olori Ronke and Olori Temitope.

The monarch married the six women last year after then Queen Naomi Silekunola announced her separation from him on December 23, 2021, ending the three-year union that produced a son, Tadenikawo.

Though some Yoruba monarchs tried to intervene but the reconciliation efforts were unproductive.

In 2008 before his coronation, Ooni was married to Adebukola Bombata but the marriage did not work. After his coronation in 2016, he married Zaynab-Otiti Obanor from Edo State but they separated after 17 months.

The monarch, who married Naomi in 2018, also had a daughter, Princess Adeola Ogunwusi, with Omolara Olatubosun.

Like the Ooni, other royal separations known to the public include that of the Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi (Chanel Chin, December 2019); and the late Alaafin of Oyo, Lamidi Adeyemi III (Anuoluwapo Adeyemi, November 2020).