Oluponna stool: CSO raises alarm over impending crisis, calls for caution

A Civil Society Organization, Advocacy for Advancement of Peace & Harmony in Africa Initiative (ADAPHAI) has called for restraining the process of the enthronement of a new king in Oluponna, in the Ayedire Local government area of Osun State, following the demise of the former Olupo of Oluponna, Oba Emmanuel Onaolapo Oyebanji, Fadare II, on January 3, 2022.

The group warned that the clandestine and lopsided path followed by some kingmakers in the town, in the process of selecting a new king through the back door would backfire and disrupt the peace of the sleepy town and Osun State at large.

ADAPHAI, in a press statement signed by its National Coordinator, Sulaimon Suberu, the copy which was made available to newsmen in Osogbo, the Osun State capital on Saturday stated that there is palpable tension in the town as a result of resentment on the part of some royal lineages who felt shortchanged by the activities of the kingmakers and other stakeholders in the axis.

The group opined that by the present reality of the necessity for rotational arrangement among different royal families in the town, the recent endorsement by some kingmakers of a purported candidate from the same lineage as the immediate late monarch will throw the town into protracted anarchy.

ADAPHAI, therefore, called on the Governor of the State, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola and other traditional stakeholders in the area to quickly prevail on those kingmakers to tow the path of honour and dignity and refrain from any activity that could jeopardize the peace of the town and ultimately heat up the polity in the state.

The statement read in part: “As a reputable organization with the mandate to propagate peaceful co-existence and non-violent culture among all communities in Africa, our attention has been drawn to a surreptitious process that led to the purported endorsement of a candidate to occupy the vacant stool of Oluponna, a town in Osun State, following the death of the former monarch.

“We have substantially gathered through investigation among the disenfranchised family members of other royal lineages that the process was largely compromised by the kingmakers, who were alleged to have superintended a lopsided process of selection without recourse to fairness, justice and equity out of pecuniary reasons.

“We are also aware that while some royal lineages that are entitled to the throne had presented competent candidates to choose from as the next king of the town, the kingmakers unilaterally went ahead to endorse a candidate from the lineage of the immediate late king.

“Meanwhile, the aberration committed by the late king’s ruling house, parading a purported candidate as Oba-elect is being done with a high degree of impunity, despite several petitions by concerned royal families in the town and subsisting action in the law court against this infraction.

“It is even more worrisome that some critical stakeholders in the axis are tactically supporting this ruling house to perpetrate such a huge anomaly.

“In view of this, we are concerned that this level of injustice and lopsidedness could threaten the peace of the town and bring about uncontrollable acrimony in Oluponna and Osun State at large.

“It is on that note that we call on the necessary authorities to carefully and thoroughly look into the issue and make sure that justice and equity prevail in the process of selecting a candidate to occupy the vacant stool, in order to avert impending crisis”.

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