Barely one year after the former Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunnade Sijuade, passed on in London, another first class Yoruba monarch has also followed suit – The Akarigbo of Remoland, Oba Michael Adeniyi Sonariwo.
Oba Sonariwo, Chairman, Ogun State Council of Obas, died on Saturday, July 23, 2016 at the age of 90.
An accountant by training, he ascended the throne on July 14, 1990 and reigned for 26 years. He took ill recently and was flown to the United Kingdom, on July 17,in search of better medical treatment, but unfortunately he didn’t make it.
Gloom and despair currently pervade his domain, with plans in top gear to accord him a befitting burial. ‘However, all the traditional rites must be performed first’, one of his subjects told YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine.
Born in 1936 in Ita Eleye, Lagos, the late Oba attended St. John’s School, Aroloya, Lagos and Methodist Boys High School, also in Lagos, before later going abroad for a course in Accounting. He was a staff of the Internal Revenue Service before the traditional stool beckoned.
His burial plans will be announced once all arrangements are concluded. Meanwhile, his remains remain in the UK, awaiting being brought back to Nigeria. Alongside one of his wives, Olori Abosede, who accompanied him on the trip.