Community rejects monarch allegedly imposed by Fayose

The Regent of Orin Odo, in Ikole Local Government, Ekiti State, Princess Oluwakemi Ogundana-Ajisafe, on Tuesday led indigenes of the community to the Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, in protest against the emergence of Oba Adebisi Ogunjobi as the traditional ruler of the community. The protesters accused the immediate past administration of Ayo Fayose of […]

The Regent of Orin Odo, in Ikole Local Government, Ekiti State, Princess Oluwakemi Ogundana-Ajisafe, on Tuesday led indigenes of the community to the Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, in protest against the emergence of Oba Adebisi Ogunjobi as the traditional ruler of the community.

The protesters accused the immediate past administration of Ayo Fayose of unilaterally imposing Ogunjobi as the Olorin of Orin Odo “without following due process and without performing the necessary traditional rites on him.”

They, therefore, urged the incumbent Ekiti State government not to recognise Ogunjobi as the town’s monarch and stop him from parading himself as the Olorin “for peace to reign.”

Describing the manner Fayose allegedly imposed “his preferred candidate” on the community as “bizarre, unconventional and strange to tradition,” Princess Ogundana-Ajisafe said the former governor did not bother to carry along the town’s kingmakers and other stakeholders in his decision.

She alleged that Fayose simply ordered that the two candidates contesting the royal stool be blindfolded while chiefs line up behind their choice of king.

She added that the former governor also allegedly used soldiers and other security agents to harass the chiefs and community leaders in imposing his preferred candidate.

Besides, gunmen, the regent told the Deputy Governor, took away the official Ford car used by the immediate past Olorin of Orin Odo, Oba William Abiodun Ajisafe, who was her father, at gunpoint.

She explained that she duly sought Fayose’s permission before travelling to the United States of America in 2015 after succeeding her father, but after which some gunmen invaded the community, allegedly on the order of the former governor, and arrested many chiefs.

Ogundana-Ajisafe said, “Fayose wanted to use my father’s staff of office to install his preferred person as the Olorin, but then it is the name of my father that is inscribed on the staff of office.

“No traditional rite was performed on Ogunjobi by those charged with the responsibility, hence he cannot claim to be the Olorin. We want the state government to help us stop him from parading himself as the Olorin because there is a process to be fulfilled before somebody can become a king and we want peace in our town.”

Responding, Egbeyemi urged the aggrieved people of Orin Odo to give peace a chance, and advised them to go to court to challenge the process that threw up Ogunjobi as monarch.

“My office cannot depose any Oba. The only place you can go to resolve the matter is the court of law,” Egbeyemi said.