"The so-called Ms Fagbule was and is never known to the Ooni of Ife for any interpersonal communication or relationship whatsoever, talk less of being promised a marriage proposal," a palace statement reads.
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, on Wednesday, described as spurious and baseless the allegation that he swindled one Ms Fagbule in a $180,000 marriage scam.
Reacting to a trending news on social media, the monarch cautioned women to avoid making themselves victims of internet marriage fraud.
According to a statement by his Director of Media and Public Affairs, Moses Olafare, the Ife monarch said, "It is worrisome the level at which ladies have been making themselves victims of marriage frauds on the internet despite our several warnings to the general public, particularly ladies whose ultimate ambition is to become queens of the Ooni by all means.
"Even though it is not in our tradition to respond to fake news like this posted and promoted by a criminal faceless source through a Twitter (now X) account, it has become imperative to make this response for necessary clarifications in order to calm the inundation of the genuine concerns expressed by subjects, friends and lovers of the Ooni globally on this matter.
"The following assertions are hereby made for necessary clarifications: 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 cheap popularity with a view to drawing huge followers/traffic for avaricious monetisation from Twitter (X).
"That the so-called Ms 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.
"Ooni Adeyeye does not operate any Facebook accounts personally. He runs the palace as an institutional organisation with a functional media directorate, which has a section that operates his social media handles - Instagram, Facebook etc," the statement read in part.
Mr Ogunwusi asked that if the alleged victim is from Osun State or Ile-Ife in particular, why didn't she come to the palace to meet him in person throughout the so-called relationship?
"Rather than taking her matter to the appropriate agencies like EFCC and the Police for professional investigation, which could have adequately helped her, she chose to make it a social media brouhaha.
"If, for whatever reason, she had preferred social media to the Police and EFCC who are professionally trained, shouldn't she have engaged a credible mainstream media organisation - print and electronic, or consulted credible Human Right crusaders like CDHR, Femi Falana Chambers and their likes in the country, who undoubtedly possess tested capacity and passion for applying principles of justice and fairness in their efforts of thorough investigation in any matter of injustice against the oppressed," the Ooni further asked.
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The monarch described the said letter of marriage shared on social media as a fabrication of lies.
He affirmed that the letterhead used for the letter does not reflect the originality of the palace's official letterhead, adding that the body of the letter does not also grammatically reflect letters he personally signs.
"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.
"If the lady truly has a genuine case of marriage proposal fraud against anyone, whether or not it affects the name of the Ooni, she is hereby invited to the palace in Ile-Ife to physically meet the Ooni for fatherly assistance, and with the help of the law enforcement agencies to uncover the perpetrators of this inhuman crime against her," the statement highlighted.
