FOR installing lesser chiefs and attempting to claim an expanse of land in Isinkan, Akure, a crisis is brewing between the Deji of Akure, Oba Adebiyi Adesida, and the community.
The community had already written a petition to Governor Olusegun Mimiko, urging him to call the monarch to order.
The Isinkan Community Development Council (ICDC) asked the governor to stop the monarch from going ahead to take its land or else, the action would lead to a communal crisis.
The major crux of the dispute in the petition copied to all security chiefs in the state, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Speaker of the House of Assembly and Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs was the alleged trespass on the land of Isinkan by agents of the Deji and the alleged deliberate efforts by the monarchto undermine the authority of Iralepo of Isinkan, Oba Olu Ojo.
The petition, signed by six chiefs of Isinkan including the Iralepo of Isinkan, Oba Olu Ojo, said Isinkan community is one of the communities constituting Akure kingdom and the community has been existing alongside the other communities constituting the kingdom from time immemorial.
They stated that Isinkan as a community has its own people, its history, culture and land which are well distinguished from that of other communities in the Akure kingdom.
The ICDC said: “For some reasons which are best known to the incumbent Deji of Akure, he has of recent been engaging in various acts that could provoke the anger of members of Isinkan community but all the situation has always been treated by the elders of the community with maturity so that the peace within Akure kingdom will not be endangered.
Some of the incidences, the community said, included the blocking of the entrance to the palace of Iralepo of Isinkan by some suspected thugs loyal to Deji during a particular festival in Akure.
Also, the community said there have been frivolous and unfounded allegations against the Asaaju of Isinkan, Chief Fatoyinbo, that he was encouraging Akure youths to protest and riot over the appointment of a new Chairman for Akure South Local Government.
They said it was after the invitation by the Director of the State Security Service (SSS) that they discovered that the petition was written by the office of Deji to smear the image of the Asaaju, possibly implicate him and rail road him into prison.
Aside installing lesser chiefs over communities under Isinkan kingdom without the recourse to the right and interest of the people of the community, the ICDC said the Deji has allegedly been encroaching on the lands belonging to Isinkan.
The chiefs alleged that despite the intervention of prominent indigenes including Chief Adewole Atandeyi, Justice Aguda (rtd), Prof. Ojo and Chief Olugasa, the Deji has been oppressing the Isinkan community.
Their words: “The position of the Deji against the people of Isinkan is rather becoming unbearable to the people of the community, hence the need for your good offices to let him realise the limit of his power over the people of the community.
“The fact remains that if Isinkan people are conquered slaves under the incumbent Deji of Akure, by now we ought to be allowed to go free as the era of slave trade is over in the world and Nigeria in particular.
“Going by what obtains in other communities around us, the example of Isinkan community abounds, hence the need for the Deji to allow peace to reign in Akure kingdom.”
