Awujale selection process remains suspended — Afobaje Council

The Awujale Afobaje Council of Ijebu Ode has faulted the Olisa of Ijebu-Ode, Chief Rasheed Adesanya, over a letter allegedly forwarded to Governor Dapo Abiodun, in which he regarded himself as the head of the kingmakers and forwarded five names of princes for consideration.

Recall that a letter signed by the Olisa of Ijebu Ode went viral on Thursday evening, whereby five names of contestants to the stool were pencilled down, with an instruction for the Governor to pick one of them for the stool.

The Secretary of the Afobaje Council, Chief Ayotunde Odulaja, while featuring on a Frontline current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, on Friday, addressed rising tensions surrounding the succession process.

He described the development as unauthorised, misleading and outside the established structure guiding the traditional selection process, insisting that the Awujale stool remains vacant but the selection exercise is still officially suspended by the state government.

He said the council had strictly complied with the directive and had not reconvened since the suspension order was issued.

“As you are aware, on the 20th of January, 2026, we received a letter from the Secretary to the local government, Honorable Oke Adebanjo, specifically stating that the selection process of the Awujale had been suspended. It is a day after the names of the nominees were submitted to the Council of Afobajes of Awujale, Ijebuland,” he added.

Chief Odulaja stressed that since that directive, no meeting of the kingmakers had taken place, and no further action had been taken regarding the selection exercise.

He added that any document circulating in the public space purporting to originate from the council was not recognised by the Afobaje body.

“So, to the best of my knowledge, the suspension has not been lifted, and as law-abiding citizens, we have not sat in Council since the 20th of January, 2026, to sit at the Council of Afobajes. We haven’t had any meetings, and this letter that has emanated from the palace or from the residence of the Olisa, we are not aware, and we are not a party to that letter. Let it be also known that in this letter, it was stated that some Alayeluwa, Olisa Rasheed Adeoye Adesanya. We don’t know anyone by that appellation. the Olisa of Ijebu-ode is a chief like all of us, and I don’t think that letter should be given any reckoning or acknowledged in any quarters.”

The Afobaje secretary further questioned the authority under which the Olisa acted, insisting that he is not the chairman of the kingmakers’ council.

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“I will say a no, because like I said, we have not sat since the 20th of January. We are a law-abiding council, and since the process has been halted, we have not even had a meeting. We have not even sat together to say that, oh yes, how are we going to move forward on this? We haven’t done anything. So these names are a figment of his imagination, and we’re not aware, and we’re not even aware that the governor will write directly to him. He’s not the chairman of the Afobaje council. The Ogbeni Oja of Ijebu Ode is the chairman of the Afobaje council. So if any letter were to come from either the governor’s office or the commissioner for local government or the commissioner or the chairman of local government, the letter would have been addressed specifically to the The Ogbeni Oja of Ijebu Ode, who is the chairman of the Afobaje council.”

He clarified that the Olisa is only one of nine members of the council and does not occupy any superior leadership position within the Afobaje structure.

Chief Odulaja maintained that the Olisa’s claim to have written in the capacity of chairman of the kingmakers was false and misleading.

“So there are nine of us. Olisa is one of the members of the council, and Chief Dr. Sonny Kuku, the Ogbeni Oja of Ijebu Ode is chairman, one of the secretary, and then we have seven other members.

“Well, so I see that in the letter, he claims to be the chairman of the Kingmaker’s council, which is false. He is the head of the Ilamuren council, which is undoubtedly true, but he is not the chairman of the Afobaje council. Again, I reiterate, the The Ogbeni Oja of Ijebu Ode, Chief Dr. Sonny Kuku, is the chairman of the council,” he added.