Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi on Tuesday visited the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, in commemoration of his eighth anniversary on the throne.
Following his visit, reports said he met with the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele and had a lengthy discussion with him.
Some of the reports claimed the monarch visited the facility in the afternoon and also returned in the evening to see the embattled former CBN governor who is facing corruption charges.
However, the Assistant Superintendent of Corrections (ASC) Samuel Duza in a statement on Wednesday said the Ooni visited the Kuje facility as convener of Hope Alive Initiative for Africa, in conjunction with his wife Queen Temitope for humanity’s sake.
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According to the statement, the Ooni, who secured the release of five inmates through payment of their fines, admonished other inmates to be on good behaviour, comport themselves in line with the rules of the custodial centre and forgive themselves.
Oba Ogunwusi’s spokesman Moses Olafare also spoke with Vanguard on the matter.
“The intent of those spreading the news was to blackmail the monarch. There is nothing hidden about the event. In any case, the king never met Emefiele because it was an official event organised by the NGO in conjunction with the Kuje Correction Centre…
“We must be careful with how people spread falsehoods about people. The video of the event is available to the public. I am not even sure Emefiele attended the programme because he is only in detention and not an inmate yet, so why link the programme to Emefiele? It is simply to achieve blackmail,” he said.
