OONI OGUNWUSI’S FATHER CELEBRATES 75TH BIRTHDAY QUIETLY
For Prince Oluropo Ogunwusi, life is beautiful and existence itself does not feel horrible. It feels like an ecstasy, rather, which only the Prince can savour the experience. The joy he feels is highly personal and peculiar to him. There is no gainsaying that the Baba Oba of Ile Ife had every cause to celebrate as he clocked 75 last week Monday but he chose to keep his celebration low profile. Last week Monday, Prince Oluropo Ogunwusi turned 75 but he marked it quietly in his house in Ife. As the father of the reigning Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, many of his peers and
associates thought he would have a grand celebration but Prince Oluropo chose to have a quiet one. The news caught many people unaware because he didn’t plan any big party. His plan was to just take gifts to a motherless babies’ home and celebrate it with them. But some of his children and family members who already knew the date showed up to celebrate with him. His children were around. It was an open house. There was the cutting of the cake. His wife prepared food and there was merriment.
No doubt Prince Oluropo had several reasons to celebrate: First, the age, 75, is a landmark age. Second, his fifth child has made him proud by becoming the Ooni of Ife about a year ago. Not only that, from available history, he is the first Baba Oba to witness the Ooni’s ascension to his forefathers’ throne.