By YINKA OLUDAYISI FABOWALE
THERE seems to be no let up in the controversy over the ownership of and jurisdiction over Erinmo-Ijesa in Osun State, between the Elerinmo of Erinmo, Oba Odunayo Ajayi and politician and cleric, Dr. Olapade Agoro, as the latter threatened to sue the monarch for alleged trespass and damage to his property.
Agoro claimed that some agents of the king, who is barely two years on the throne, encroached on and vandalized some beacons on his land, particularly the precincts of the site he proposed to build a private business university.
But four of Elerinmo’s chiefs, John Falodun, the Risa (second in rank to Elerinmo); Daniel Agbeju, the Aro; Michael Atofarati, the Lefosan and Samuel Omosebi, the Aasan and Secretary to the Elerinmo-in-Council; dismissed the allegations. They said the property belonged to the town and was held in trust for the community by the traditional ruler. They also dissociated the Oba from the alleged action, saying that youths in the community, apparently fed up with Agoro’s alleged persistent affront to the town’s traditional authorities, as well as appropriation of the land were probably responsible for it.
But Agoro, who claims to be the original landlord in the area, insisted that the Elerinmo sent some miscreants and thugs to destroy the beacons and the land, which, he claimed, had the statutory approval of the state government for the development of the university campus. He said the land belonged to him as an inheritance as the latest in the ancestral lineage of the Owa Itapami, the patriarch and founder of the community.
According to him, Erinmo and its ruler, like the neighbouring Igbajo, were tenants of his forbears and therefore had no right to the land. He also said the Oba was after his life, having allegedly sent armed thugs to invade his house in the town, due to displeasure over the university he was developing.
But the Erinmo chiefs in separate interviews, dismissed Agoro’s claims as mere distortions of history and facts. Atofarati said the land in contention belonged to the town and had for long been ceded to the royal house for farming and sustenance of the ruling family. He explained that the elders of the town knew nothing about the alleged vandalism, but learnt that some youths who found it being trespassed upon and surveyed moved to check further “illegitimate” action on it.
His counterpart, Agbeju, described Agoro’s claim of being the overlord in the community as “the joke of the year.”
He said the cleric was just a minor chief of the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran. He said Agoro as a minor chief could not even wear a crown talk less of arrogating to himself the title of an Oba. He said attempts by the politician “through litigation had suffered setback as high court ruled against him, while his appeal against the judgment was struck out by the Court of Appeal sitting in Akure.”
Falodun and Omosebi said Agoro was taking advantage of the peaceful nature of Oba Ajayi, who, they said had been restraining the people of the town from challenging Agoro: “We thank God for having Arowotawaya as our king at this time. He is the one stopping the community from putting a stop to all this nonsense. But for this, I doubt if he can walk with confidence on the street.”