Chieftaincy row: Oyo monarch advised to abdicate throne or face crisis

A coalition of civil society groups has threatened that there will be no peace in Ago-Are community, Atisbo local government area of Oyo State, until justice and due process are allowed to prevail in the appointment of a new monarch.
The groups gave the warning on Friday at a joint press conference with members of a royal family.
The coalition, through its spokesman, Bankale Abdulazeez, advised the newly installed monarch, Prince Bodunrin Oyetunji Kofoworola, to voluntarily quit the palace and abdicate the throne, pending the determination of substantive suits on the matter which is currently before a competent court.
Azeez said everything humanly possible would be done by the coalition to frustrate efforts at muffling the judiciary and disrespect the rule of law.
The immediate past community head, Aare of Ago Are, Oba Jubril Oyesiji Oladoke, joined his ancestors in May last year after about 39 years of peaceful reign.
Two months after the demise of the ruler, a family meeting of the next ruling house (Edu) was convened where 15 candidates emerged to vie for the vacant stool.
Names of interested aspirants were later presented to the community kingmakers for screening through Ifa oracle divination and in line with the age long customs and tradition.
Rather than allowing age long traditional status quo in the process of selecting a new monarch for the community, the kingmakers opted for orthodox religious method.
The community has eight kingmakers through declaration made under section 4[2] of the Chiefs Law of 1957.
Two of the kingmakers had died, thus remaining six.
Four of the kingmakers, who are Christians, voted for a Christian, while the remaining two lawmakers, who are Muslims, voted for a Muslim candidate.
A christian candidate emerged victorious through the selection process and this was widely condemned by indigenes as “unacceptable and a negation of age-long tradition in the selection process’’.
The strange approach to selection of a new monarch by the kingmakers elicited anger and uproar from a cross section of indigenes, including the remaining 14 candidates who contested for the throne.
In a related development, another five princes from the same ruling house complained about what they referred to as ‘unlawful exclusion of our vested rights’.
They denied any knowledge whatsoever of the steps taken by both the ruling house and the kingmakers to select a new monarch, noting that such steps were not made public as required by the law.
This was corroborated by the kingmakers who having realised their mistake succumbed to the royal family’s decision.
At a peace meeting of the ruling house, a resolution for outright cancellation of the nomination and selection of candidates by the kingmakers for the vacant stool was passed.
The resolution was contained in a letter jointly signed by chairman and secretary of Edu ruling house, Princes Olalekan Olaniyonu and Salam Kazeem respectively.
It said the resolution became necessary, following observations by a generality of the community that the kingmakers did not follow the due process laid down in Ago-Are age-long tradition and customs for the selection of candidate for the vacant stool.
The Permanent Chairman of the State Council of Obas and Chiefs and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, also remained consistent and stood his grounds that due process should be upheld to preserve the values of the throne.
However, rather than complying with the decision of the community in line with age-long tradition, the state government wrote a letter through the Director of Chieftaincy Matters in the Ministry of Local Governments, Mr. Z.O, Jayeoba, to one of the candidates, Bodunrin
Kofoworola, endorsing his candidature for the vacant stool.
Also speaking, Public Relations Adviser to Edu Royal Family, Prince Olalekan Ayorinde, explained that when the state government maintained silence over the issue up to six months, members of the family took the matter to court.
He said: “The legal redress sought by the family was in addition to other court summons, which included the one filed by the Sobaloju, one of the kingmakers responsible for the mandatory seven-day Ipebi rites for the elected king.
He (Sobaloju) was bye-passed with impunity and his
role usurped and wrongfully performed by an impersonator for the coronation.
Copies of a letter written on March 21 by
Sobaloju’s lawyer, Dr. K.A. Adedokun, to the office of the governor on the need to maintain status quo and avoid executive lawlessness on the suit were made available to journalists.
The letter, which was received same day, was written before the iwuye ceremony.
In the suit number HSK/11/2016 filed at an High Court in Saki, High Chief Sikiru Lawal, the Sobaloju of Ago-Are, prayed for an order of interlocutory injunction restraining Prince Bodunrin Kofoworola and seven others, including their agents from conducting any iwuye ceremony, coronation, and presentation of staff of office or any
insignia of Are of Ago-Are to Bodunrin Kofoworola, pending the hearing and final determination of the substantive suit.
It also prayed the court to restraint Prince Bodunrin Kofoworola from parading himself as the Aare of Ago-Are pending the hearing and final determination of the substantive suit.
The motion was fixed for hearing on April 5, 2016, while the iwuye ceremony came up on Thursday, March 24, 2016.
Adedokun, who expressed strong indignation to what he called ’disregard to the judiciary’ tutored the governor that when there is a pending application for interlocutory injunction and all the parties sought to be restrained have been duly served, it is incumbent on all of them to maintain status quo ante bellum, pending the hearing and determination of the application.
According to him, “ it is our strong view that Your Excellency, who swore to an Oath of office as the Governor of the State to discharge your duties to the best of your ability, faithfully and in accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law, cannot encourage any illegality or unlawfulness. More importantly so, that Your Excellency swore to an oath that in all circumstances, you will do right to all manners of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”.