An Ifa priest, Yemi Elebuibon, has declared that any man who sleeps with the estranged wife of the Ooni of Ife, Zaynab Otiti-Obanor, faces death.

The Ifa devotee also noted that the former queen must undergo some cleansing rituals with any man before they can become intimate. 

In addition, he said the cleansing process is necessary to enable the Olori to regain a normal life.

Mr. Elebuibon, who is also an actor, declared the consequence of a queen separating from a king in an interview with The Sun.

The former Ife queen popularly called Olori Wuraola Ogunwusi reverted to her maiden name in August after confirming that her marriage to the Ooni has broken down irretrievably.

While noting that Ooni would not be the first Yoruba Oba to be separated from his wife, Mr. Elebuibon said that marriage breakup is not very common among Yoruba Obas.

He said, “The wife of the Oba will be asked to consult Ifa and Ifa will give directions on how she will make the necessary atonement for her cleansing. In Yoruba tradition, a woman who has been married to a king cannot lay with any other man even if the marriage breaks up. But when the right atonements have been made, there won’t be any problem.”

On the kind of problems which an Oba’s ex-wife might encounter if she refuses to undergo the traditional cleansing rites, Mr. Elebuibon said: “For the woman, she might not really have a problem but for any man who sleeps with a queen or marries an ex-queen without the appropriate cleansing, the man may die prematurely, he may be struck with sickness or there might be retrogression in his life.”

He explained that if an ex-queen wants to remarry, she would have to do the cleansing with her new husband. 

”Both of them have to take part in the atonement procedures so that they won’t have any future problem. Any marriage she would be going into must not be elaborate. They should go far away and avoid any flamboyant wedding,” Elebuibon warned.

The Ooni got married to his now estranged Edo bride at an elaborate traditional marriage which held in Benin, the Edo State capital on March 16, 2016

 Wuraola, who is in her mid-30s, is from the Igun N’ Eromwon, a Benin bronze casters family.

The weeks of rumours and denials on the crash of the royal union between the revered monarch, and his beautiful wife, were put to rest on August 30, 2017 when the latter declared she was out of the marriage on Instagram.

The Ooni in a recent media statement said he would comment on the break-up at the appropriate time.