“He is on his way back to Ife now (on Friday). It was not something very serious. The lift was faulty and some people were suspecting a foul play. They thought it was deliberately done to harm kabiyesi but that was not the case, it was a technical fault. The lift was said to have developed a similar fault on Thursday morning and it was the second time that kabiyesi was trapped inside. But there is no cause for alarm, kabiyesi is okay.”
These are the words of Moses Olafare, the media aide to the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, concerning an ugly experience he had at a Lagos hotel on Thursday.
The monarch got stuck in a life and this generated panic.
Olafare confirmed the development in an interview with ‘Saturday Punch’, saying the management of the facility had apologized.
Olafare was further quoted as saying:
“It is true, kabiyesi was stuck in the lift for about 20 minutes. That incident made people there to be apprehensive and there was drama there.
“The lift developed a technical fault when the Ooni was inside but the fault was rectified eventually by the technical department of the hotel and he came out.
“The hotel management tendered profuse apologies. Kabiyesi cracked jokes with the management of the hotel and asked them to improve on their facilities if they wanted to remain relevant in the Nigerian hospitality market.
“Kabiyesi calmed those who were already panicked. He asked them with a broad smile, ‘why are you panicking? Everybody became calm after that.
“He watched the play after that. It is not that he just went there to watch the play. The play, Moremi Musical Reloaded, is part of his projects. It is one of the projects of Moremi Ajasoro which he does every year.”
