From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
The people of Igbajo in Boluwaduro Local Government of Osun State, yesterday, alleged that Governor Ademola Adeleke nullified the process that led to the installation of Oba Adegboyega Famodun, as Owa of Igbajo because of the political difference.
Speaking at a press conference in Osogbo, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemo, Secretary to the Owa Oke-Ode ruling house, stated that the government was fighting the monarch because he was the immediate-past state chairman of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State.
Flanked by Chiefs Adewumi Taiwo, Babaloye Akeran, Emmanuel Oladejo, the Odofin of Igbajoland, Owa-in-Council, and some kingmakers, Adeyemo explained that some aggrieved chiefs had approached the court to challenge the emergence of Oba Famodun and the state government who is a respondent in the suit had filed a preliminary objection before the court. We wish to remind Governor Adeleke that his government’s order as contained in the recently published White Paper for the re-selection process of a new Oba is against the tradition and custom of Igbajo when the princes from Omo Owa Oke-Ode ruling house and the kingmakers had selected Oba Phillips Adegboyega Famodun as the authentic Owa of Igbajo on November 22, 2022.
“We are making it abundantly clear to Gov Adeleke, and the whole world that all due processes were followed by the Chieftaincy Law of the land for the selection, starting from the ruling houses to the kingmakers, to the local government before the king was announced and installed.
“We are making it explicitly clear that the tradition of installing the Owa of Igbajo cannot be reversed because the traditional rites cannot be performed twice in an Oba’s lifetime,” Adeyemo said.