Apetumodu stool: When will the waiting end?

Each passing day, sons and daughters of Ipetumodu, Osun State, eagerly look up to the state government on the announcement of a new Apetumodu, TUNDE BUSARI reports the progress of the succession issues in the Origbo town.

From November 2017 when the immediate past Apetumodu of Ipetumodu, Oba James Adegoke joined his ancestors, the palace of the headquarters of Ife North Local Government Council of Osun State, has remained unoccupied till date.

Oba Adegoke, before his ascension to the throne of the Apetumodu in 1992, was a Yoruba language teacher and famous football referee. He rose to the position of a vice-president of Nigeria Referees Association (NRA) having served as the chairman of the former Oyo State chapter for six terms. He was said to have enjoyed a father and son relationship with the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, whose death in 2015 shook Oba Adegoke.

A unique feature which stood him and Ipetumodu out among other towns was that he contested for the throne of the Apetumodu on two separate occasions before he was selected at the second attempt.

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He revealed: “It may interest you to know that I became the Apetumodu at my second attempt. In 1970/71, the stool was vacant and I stepped forward. But because of one or more reasons, I was not picked. I was then a school teacher; I returned to my work and even upgraded myself by attending the University of Lagos where I bagged my Grade I certificate in Yoruba. I was a Yoruba teacher who did all I could to ensure my students passed very well. It is on record that my students passed at 100 per cent.

“In 1992 then as God would have it, my ruling house, Fagbemokun, presented a candidate and I was picked and installed on April 11, 1992. The late Senator Isiaka Adeleke was the then governor of Osun State. After my installation, I went into Ilofi where I spent three months. On August 15, 1992, Governor Adeleke came and gave me my staff of office amidst a large crowd of people.”

In order to prevent a recurrence of the interregnum which the town suffered between 1986 and 1992 when Oba Adegoke was installed, the Ipetumodu kingmakers  have promptly set the ball rolling for the selection of a new Apetumodu.

Nigerian Tribune’s investigations revealed a bright, shining hope that the vacant palace of the Apetumodu will soon have a new occupant after the kingmakers had screened, selected and forwarded a name to the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the statutory consenting authority.

Further  investigations showed that the Ooni had not only assented to the kingmakers’ choice, he was also said to have recommended the name to the government for final affirmation, according to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). The findings revealed Prince Joseph Oloyede from Latimogun Compound as the Apetumodu-elect.

But while the family members and friends of the Apetumodu-elect were feasting and celebrating over the good news and also awaiting government’s final approval, a dissenting voice suddenly echoed, calling to task the selection process.

To underscore the seriousness of the aggrieved, a press conference was staged penultimate weekend in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, where the national leader of Aribile Ruling House,  Taiwo Ayoola, led others and called on the Osun State government to prevail upon the kingmakers from installing Oloyede.

Ayoola accused the kingmakers of having turned the head of the traditional procedure upside down in selecting a new Apetumodu, alleging further that Oloyede was a product of a compromised process.

The Ayoola-led group also accused the Ooni of turning a deaf ear to an Ile-Ife High Court injunction and giving his expressive nod to the decision of the kingmakers. Aside the Ooni, the chairman of Ife-North Local Government, Taiwo Orosanya was also accused of complicity on the alleged manipulated selection.

He said: “Despite the pending cases in court and series of letters to appropriate quarters, we were shocked that Arole Oduduwa, Oba Ogunwusi who is the fifth defendant being a prescribed authority and who had been served with all the processes in the suit, including Motion for Interlocutory injunction in an attempt to subvert justice and strangulate the rule of law connived with Chief Sunday Adedeji, the Asalu of Ipetumodu, Chief Rufus Babalola, Poju Akintayo, Chief Aresa, Hon Taiwo Orosanya, Chief Kehinde Orosanya and granted consent to Mr Oloyede a defendant in the pending case for installation as the Apetumodu of Ipetumodu.”

Like Ayoola, the head of kingmakers and Asalu of Ipetumodu, Chief Sunday Afolabi, also led a team of kingmakers and Ipetumodu Progressive Union (IPU) to Osogbo where they addressed a press conference and stated their side of the matter.

Chief Afolabi cautioned Prince Ayoola and his group, declaring in unambiguous term that no amount of blackmail or defamation of character would compel them to reverse their selection of Prince Oloyede, whom he described as the popular choice of Ipetumodu.

He said: “We followed the tradition and age-long process of selecting a new king in the town. No monetary inducement as being claimed by those elements led by Prince Ayoola. Few days after the completion of burial rites of our late king, I was called upon by the local government as the chief kingmaker to start embarking on the process.

“The next ruling house [Aribile Lineage] was contacted by the kingmakers through the local government to submit names of interested persons for the throne, and 13 candidates expressed interest to contest for the vacant stool. We were three in number then, following the death of one of the kingmakers, and we agreed to elevate Chief Kehinde Orosanya ( Lofidi) as warrant chief, and the fourth kingmaker.

“On July 26, 2018, out of the four kingmakers, three of us voted for Prince Joseph Oloyede while the other kingmaker voted for another candidate. We continued with the selection process after the injunction Ayoola got in court was vacated.”

It was gathered that the news, which was suggestive of a likely uproar in Ipetumodu, stirred some feelings, especially among parents of pupils at the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) located in the town.

The all-female post primary school was sited in Ipetumodu in 1995 during the regime of the late General Sani Abacha. And it has since given Ipetumodu noticeable visibility on the map of Federal Government-owned institutions in the country with parents from different parts of the country making occasional visitations to the town.

A parent who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity said she read the news and promptly put a call to the guardian of her Junior Secondary School Three daughter who dispelled the alarm.

“In this country, we know how to raise false alarm. It is even worse now with this online thing which spread unsubstantiated news and lies easily and quickly. I will go and pick my daughter this week for holiday,” she said.

The President of Ipetumodu Progressive Union (IPU), Dr Sunday Oyebowale,  also allayed the fear of apprehension in the ancient town, assuring the Ipetumodu residents of safety. Oyebowale affirmed the selection of Prince Oloyede and admonished the aggrieved princes to accept the selection in good faith, saying only God crowns whomever He chooses.

When our correspondent reached the palace of the Ooni for his side of the matter, his Director of Communication, Mr Moses Olafare confirmed that Oba Ogunwusi had since approved the selection process, saying the complaint launched by the other parties would not make any difference on the issue.

“We read different headlines of news from their press conference held in Osogbo, including blackmailing, but Baba has moved forward because he has lots of other pressing issues to attend to as his position in Yorubaland demands. Are they saying the Ooni of Ife is no longer a consenting authority over the Apetumodu stool? He has done what is expected of him and closed that chapter,”Olafare said with a tone of finality.