Osun, APC bicker over new monarchs appointments

The main opposition party in Osun State, the All Progressives Congress and the state government on Saturday disagreed on the emergence of new monarchs for Iree and Igbajo communities.

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

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

The party noted that when Adeleke’s 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 resulted in the recruitment of five non-indigenes of the town on Friday who were instantly appointed warrant chiefs.

It further said 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 said at the end of the re-selection exercise, Prince (Dr) Ademola Makinde, believed 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 expectation in the hand of God and 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 on Aree of Iree stool, the APC said, “The whole world must be alert to the fact that Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun appears to be on the loose. But we want to caution him not to precipitate crises in Igbajo and Iree.”

Osun govt reacts

But reacting, 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 Aree.

It further read, “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 to 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, the 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 anyone 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.”

Adeleke sacks monarchs

In November 2022, Adeleke directed security agents to take over the palaces of Owa of Igbajo, Aree of Iree, and Akinrun of Ikirun.

The directive was one of the executive orders signed by the governor.

This act was followed by a series of protests and controversies.

However, the state government in January 2024 ordered a fresh selection process to fill the stools of Aree of Iree and Owa of Igbajo, having nullified the initial processes.