Last Friday, the 19th November, Ikirun was disturbed. There was an announcement over the kingship stool. Within the next couple of hours, the town erupted in bedlam. While some were jubilating because the said announcement of the name of a new king was favourable to them.
Other groups in the sleepy, ancient town went to the street protesting not only against the named prince but also alleged underhand dealings in the process said to have produced the prince.
Since then, the town has divided into camps, groups and are now relating antagonistically against one another. One refrain on the lips of the majority in the town is: the said prince named as oba-elect is not what the people routed for as their leader.
They are also kicking because they said some politicians hijacked what traditionally ought to be done by the chief in the palace, and so the age-long tradition of selection process has been turned upside down by some political buccaneers, whose major aim is to install someone fitted to be used for their political activities.
Our correspondent went to town to feel the pulse of the ancient town and investigated what went wrong during the process of selection and everything came to be embroiled in crisis.
The whole imbroglio was said to have started with a rushed announcement that was dropped on the town like a thief in the night. The story had it that the Akinrun-in-Council, six (6) out of nine (9) Chiefs, who are the kingmakers in Ikirun, were said to have sidestepped into a corner and voted in a rush. Pronto, an Akinrun-elect was picked and announced in the evening of that Friday the 19th.
The name Prince Yunusa Akadiri, the king-elect, the manner in which he was announced or the process where and when all these were done, nobody claimed to have known except the kingmakers.
Spontaneously, euphoria and resentment greeted the naming of Prince Akadiri and the town erupted in crisis before long.
Investigation by our reporter said the Akinrun of Ikirun, Oba Abdul Rauf Olawale Adedeji II, died early in the year and as it’s the custom, the ruling houses were called upon to nominate the next Akinrun amongst themselves.
There was said to have been disagreement first over which ruling house is the next to produce the king. There were three ruling houses in Ikirun: Adedeji, Obaara and Gboleru. The immediate deceased king came from Adedeji Ruling House.
Both Gboleru and Obaara were at the forefront to produce. Each ruling house was said to have embarked on a search to pick one prince as the contestant to the stool.
In the intervening moment, a candidate from the Adedeji Ruling house, suddenly reportedly threw a spoke in the wheel of progress of selection. He was said to have dragged the Akinrun-in-Council and the government of Osun State to court.
His claim was that the stool should still devolve to the Adedeji ruling House. His logic was that the deceased Oba Adedeji, though was from Adedeji Ruling House but he belonged to the matriarch line (omo obirin) and not the patriarchal root (omo okunrin) who is traditionally entitled to ascend the through.
The selection process had to be halted until the trial and final judgment of the court. After month than six month, the court in Ikirun gave judgment on the matter. And the kernel of the judgment was that the Adedeji had taken their turn and now it is the turn of the other ruling house.
The judgment also noted that the next ruling house, Gboleru should produce the Akinrun. An addendum to the judgment was that, in view of the crisis in the Gboleru Ruling House, which almost tore them into shred, the court highlighted that they should come together and nominate one candidate for the stool, failing in this task within fourteen days (14) to so do, the next ruling house, Obaara should be approached for nomination.
Checks have it that the Gboleru suddenly divided into two camps, each having more than seven candidates contesting and no one wanted to give the other chance. Fourteen days was said to have elapsed in the process and the kingmakers turned to the Obaara ruling house.
Nominations were requested by the kingmakers. It was gathered that more than 22 names were submitted out of which one name emerged, Prince Ismail Lasunkanmi Adeyemi, an elderly London-trained medical doctor.
This was said to be the position before the 19th. Having received the nomination, the kingmakers passed same to the local government chairman, who should forward same to the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in Osogbo- awaiting the return of the governor, Gboyega Oyetola, for approval in council.
It was gathered that the candidature of Prince (Dr.) Ismail Adeyemi, did not go down well with some politicians in the town, who believed it will be difficult to micro-manage him when he ascend the throne.
With this, the politicians, which included a chieftain of the All Progressive congress (APC) in the town and the Ekerin of Ikirun, Chief Moshood Adekunle Oluawo; the legislator representing Ifelodun Local Government at the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Mulikat Jimoh were said to have collaborated with so e government officials to pick a candidate that will be pliable to the said politicians.
Thus, a plan was said to have been hatched by these named people. They reportedly invited seven of the nine kingmakers to a meeting. The names of the kingmakers invited were given as follows: Rasheed Raji Diekola Toogun (Odofin); Atoyebi Oluwole (Ojomun); Oseni Agboola (Olukotun); Sulaiman Olaore (Oluawo Onifa); Raheem Okunlola (Jagun) and Murtala Azeez (Oba’ale), who represented Mr. Raheem Adebayo (Baale Oke’ba), who incidentally is now late. Kareem Adetoyese (Eesa), who is the Akinrun-in-Council Chairman.
Oluawo, Hon. Jimoh and the governmnet officials were said to have arranged for hummer bus to go to Ikirun and under the pretext that the Governor wanted to see them, took the six kingmakers to Osun government House, Osogbo.
One of the kingmakers, who broke the silence, in a recorded voice interview, narrated how they were camped and false-imprisoned and mandated to do all sorts of thing.
According to him, some people just brought a bus without a number plate and told them they came from government house. He said they told him and his colleagues that the governor wanted to meet them over the Akinrun stool.
The kingmaker, who interestingly, is from the Compound of the candidate nominated by Obaara, Prince (Dr.) Adeyemi, noted that on getting to the state house, the people who brought them quickly moved them to an unknown hotel where they told them that they must vote for the candidate of the politicians.
He said they were all afraid of what could happen to them and when those who camped they saw the fear in their face, a government official had to douse the tension by telling them that Governor Oyetola sent them to do what they were doing in the hotel and so the kingmakers should not nurse any iota of fear.
From then on, he revealed that, “We were made to sign many documents. They told us that the person we should vote for and that is Prince Yunusa Akadiri. They also promised to give us N2.5 million each for voting Akadiri. So at that point, hearing the name of the governor and seeing the government officials we had no choice but to do what we were told.”
Thus, having finished the plan and voted in Osogbo, the six kingmakers were returned to the Ifelodun Local government Secretariat where the Obaara candidate, Eesa, the Mogaji, the chief Imam of the town and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Chairman were all invited to witness the kangaroo election.
Information had it that they council chairman just announced that there was vote in which prince Akadiri had six votes already while the Eesa now voted for the candidature of Prince Adeyemi.
The kingmaker revealed that immediate the announcement was made at the local government the six kingmakers were whisked away to the hotel hide out in Osogbo, sensing a backlash on what they had done.
This was what the people reacted to on that Friday and Saturday by trooping to the street in Ikirun and later went to protest at the Government House in Osogbo.
While the crisis was ongoing, it was gathered also that by the following day those who hatched the plan had also concluded another plan to seize the Eesa, who is traditionally positioned to crown the king, and take him to a place where he will be compelled to crown Prince Akadiri.
It was gathered that this plan was foiled when someone hinted some elite in the town and revealled the plan. Eesa, this correspondent was informed, had to be quickly hidden somewhere unknown to the town.
It was after the protest that all the schemes of the perpetrators were said to have come into the open. The governor, Oyetola, was said to have been miffed by what his aides did, so it was gathered.
Despite the fact that the deceitful act of the four people had been known to the Governor, one of them was said to have boasted at a radio programme that government has picked a candidate and that candidate has come to stay irrespective of what Ikirun people say or think.
This was said to have further infuriated the people of the town. One of the elders in the town, who crave anonymity, we gathered, wrote a letter to the governor to call his aides to order and not to dare the people of the town by going ahead to affirm a candidate through dubious process.
The Governor was said to be at loss over the issue for now. No official statement has been issued to the effect that the governor was in the no or not. “But silence, they say, means approval,” the elderly man retorted.
The silence of the Governor, it was said, had further reinforced the belief that he (the governor) knew about and supported what his aides and the politicians did.
Another dimension to the whole story was the alleged Aragbiji as well as Eburu of Iba connection. Aragbiji, Oba Rasheed Adebomi is the paramount ruler of Iragbiji and very close to the late Akinrun. Eburu, Oba professor Adekunle Okunoye, is the paramount ruler of Iba in the same Ifelodun Local Government with Ikirun as headquartres.
They said that in hierarchy, Akinrun is senior to both monarchs and so their involvement is aimed at installing a minor whom they will be controlling.
Apart from that, Eburu of Iba and other monarchs from Eko Ende, Eko Ajala and Obaagun, all under Ifelodun and Akinrun, were said to have had altercation with the later Akinrun over sharing formula of the money accruable to the palace from local government.
These four monarchs, it was gathered, had dragged the Akinrun to former governor Rauf Aregbesola to call Akinrun to order and to compel him to give them their deserved share of the monthly entitlement.
It was not revealed what the resolution of the matter was with the then Governor Aregbesola but feelers was that the late Akinrun continued with his own sharing formula which did not go down well with the other fellow monarchs.
Hence, the reason Eburu, representing the other monarchs, allegedly teamed up with the mastermind of the plot to install an amenable person, who will be at their beck and call.
A politician in the town, who did not want his name mentioned, said if the impunity of imposition continues, the whole town will not be at rest.
He said people would be unhappy that some impostors foisted an unpopular candidate on them.
He said: “What is happening is, to say the least, is disgusting. We do not expect the government to meddle into the selection process. Government’s duty is to approve or affirm the candidate the people want not that they will bring a candidate from the backdoor and impose it on the people.
“If anyone rides roughshod on our people we will fight back with everything within our capacity.
“You don’t openly rob people and test their will to revolt. That is what is happening currently. Our people will not take it lying low. This is nothing but rascally use of power by some charlatans. And if they think that by dropping the name of Government people will not resist, that is a figment of their imagination.
“Those who planned this cannot impose half-baked or illiterate like themselves on us. We shall resist with the last drop of blood in our vein.”
Presently, we gathered that everything has been put on hold by through an order of interim injunction from a high court in the state. The injunction was issued on Thursday restraining the government from further taking any action.
The people have folded their hands and are watching where the crisis heads and how it will be resolved. Resolution – only time will tell when and how the crisis will be determine
