Osun, APC Dispute Over Choice Of Monarchs

The main opposition political party in Osun State, the All Progressives Congress, and the state government are on a collision course over the emergence of new monarchs for Iree and Igbajo communities.

The APC in a statement by its chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, on Saturday, accused the State Governor, Ademola Adeleke of promoting crisis in Igbajo and Iree by tinkering with the choice of the legally installed monarchs of the two towns.

Earlier, a white paper released after a probe by the Ademola Adeleke administration, on the circumstances surrounding the installation of monarchs appointed by the immediate past governor of the state, Adegboyega Oyetola, had declared vacant the stool of both the Aree of Iree and Owa of Igbajo and called for commencement of fresh selection process.

The party noted that when the Adeleke administration met a stumbling block in rallying the support of the kingmakers of Igbajo to do the re-selection of another Owa of Igbajo, it resorted to the recruitment of five non-indigenes of the town on Friday who were instantly appointed warrant chiefs.

It further alleged that those appointed posed as kingmakers at the Multi-purpose Conference Hall of the Local Government Service Commission, State Secretariat, Abere, Osun State, to elect a new Owa of Igbajo.

The party noted that at the end of the re-selection exercise, Prince (Dr) Ademola Makinde, who is alleged to be a crony of the Adelekes, was selected as the new Owa of Igbajo.

“One fact remains that Oba Phillips Adegboyega Famodun remains the Owa of Igbajoland as he was duly selected by the people through their kingmakers and ratified by the state government, legally installed and given a staff of office after he had completed the necessary traditional rites while the traditional stakeholders in the ancient town had stated that it is a taboo for them to perform another series of traditional rites for another person when the substantive monarch is very much alive.

“We are appealing to the peace-loving people of Igbajo not to take the laws into their hands but to continue to put their hope and expectations in the hands of God and the supremacy of the rule of law which has been the pillar of strength of every reasonable and responsible community,” the APC chairman statement read.

On the controversies surrounding the Aree of Iree stool, the APC said, “The whole world must caution him not to precipitate crises in Igbajo and Iree.”

However, reacting to the allegations against the Governor, the Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, declared that the appointments made by the Adeleke administration were in line with tradition and chieftaincy laws.

On the stool of Aree of Iree, Alimi said, the government discovered that the immediate past administration deliberately bypassed the town’s kingmakers and made use of warrant chiefs to select and approve the Aree.

The state government’s statement read in parts: “The White Paper stated that a fresh selection process would take place in Igbajo to enable all eligible princes from the Owa Oke Odo Ruling House participate in a free and fair selection in the interest of fair play, equity and in line with the custom and tradition of Igbajo.

“Consequently, a fresh selection process began, and all interested princes from the eligible ruling house participated in the selection process. When it became expedient for the Igbajo Kingmakers to hold their selection meeting to appoint an Owa-elect, five surviving Kingmakers out of the six recognised by the Owa of Igbajo Chieftaincy Declaration deliberately refused to do so.

“After refusing to attend several meetings to which they were invited by the Local Council, Government had no other option than to invoke the provisions of Section 17 of the Chiefs Law of Osun State which permitted the revocation of the performance of any delegated function by any one and the appointment of other persons to perform such a delegated function.

“Thus, warrant kingmakers appointed according to law performed their duty and selected an Owa of Igbajo elect whose appointment is to be ratified by the State Executive Council. We therefore affirmed that as a government, we acted within the law and tradition as well as in the best interest of the people of the affected towns,” the statement concluded.