One of the ruling houses in Igbajo, Osun State, the Owa Oke-Ode ruling house, some kingmakers and the Owa-in-Council have kicked against the decision of the state governor, Ademola Adeleke for a fresh selection of new Owa of Igbajo, the traditional ruler in the town to occupy the vacant stool.
Governor Adeleke had through an Executive Order sacked Oba Philips Adegboyega Famodun, the Owa of Igbajoland alongside other monarchs.
After a committee set up by Adeleke submitted its report, the governor, in a White Paper, said Famodun’s removal stands and that a fresh selection process should be conducted.
Addressing a press conference in Osogbo, on Monday, Secretary of Owa Oke-Ode ruling House and Akeran of Igbajo Land, High Chief Adewumi Taiwo Babaloye in a statement jointly signed insisted that the tradition of installing an Owa of Igbajo cannot be reversed, saying “the traditional rites cannot be performed twice in an Oba’s life time.”
Kicking against the re-selection order of Governor Adeleke for another Owa of Igbajo, they said it was oppressive, vindictive and vendetta-laden and against the rule of law.
They asked the governor to allow the case instituted against Famodun’s to be decided and that Adeleke should not politicise the stool of the town.
The statement reads in part, “We are stating here unequivocally and convincingly that the order for the re-selection process of another Owa of Igbajo after the selection process of Oba Phillips Adegboyega Famodun had been concluded in accordance with the Chieftaincy Law of the land is unnecessary and an aberration.
“We say a capital no to any attempt by the Osun State Government under the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke to be a judge in its own case as the state government is a defendant in the subsisting suit on the issue at stake.
“What becomes of the provisions of separations of powers among the Judiciary, the Legislature and the Executive if Governor Adeleke unilaterally decided to usurp the functions of the Judiciary on the Igbajo obaship debacle?”
Those of who attended and endorsed the press briefing included the Owa in council, Baales in Igbajo Land, representatives from each compound, among others.
They appealed to the governor not to avenge alleged offences of Oba Famodun, who was the former state Chairman of All Progressives Congress on the people of Igbajo.
They equally urged princes who contested for the stool to put the peace of the town ahead of their ambition saying, “We won’t encourage any actions or inactions capable of rocking the existing peace in our ancestry town of Igbajo by some princes who showed their intentions to vie for the obaship stool of our town by duly collecting forms and presented themselves for interview and are now making a needless issue out of it because they lost.”
