A socio-cultural group in Boripe North Local Government area of Osun State, Iree Cultural Frontiers (ICF), has criticised the recent selection exercise for choosing a new Iree monarch, the Aare, describing it as a sham and a slap on the community’s culture and tradition.
The group, specifically urging Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke to discountenance the exercise held at the council’s secretariat on February 22, noted that the exact grounds for the nullification of the previous selection exercise had resurfaced.
The Osun State Government, acting based on the report in its White Paper, had earlier nullified the selection of Prince Ademola Raphael, stating that it violated due process, and that another selection exercise should be carried out.
In a statement issued in Iree on Thursday by the ICF through its Chairman, Mr. Ilori Adanlawo, and Secretary, Hon. Oluwole Adisa, the group frowned upon the purported selection of Prince Ibraheem Oyelakin from Oyekun Ruling House, stating that his selection violated the laid-down rules and traditions in Iree royal ethos.
The statement read, “To make things clear, whereas there are six kingmakers in Iree, two have died while four are still very much alive. The titles of the living four kingmakers who should have voted are Osolo, Aogun, Inurin, and Jagun.
“Surprisingly, during the purported selection exercise, the Osolo’s vote was cast by one Taye, who is not the Osolo, and that of Inurin was cast by one female proxy, who is not a kingmaker; with the excuse that the kingmakers said they were too old and had sight challenges.”
The group maintained that the said exercise followed a similar pattern in the earlier wrongful selection of Prince Raphael, where a woman was appointed as a kingmaker; which is a taboo and forbidden for a woman to be a kingmaker.
Apart from this, the group noted that the exercise should not have taken place because the community’s kingmakers have not withdrawn the suit instituted in court against the earlier exercise, as directed in the White Paper.
“They could not withdraw the suit because the courts were on vacation. So, going ahead to select a new Oba at the time was void and a nullity,” the group stated.
Meanwhile, the ICF had restated in its earlier plea to Governor Adeleke to correct the historic injustice in Iree by considering the Olubonku Ruling House to present the next Aare of Iree, noting that the Ruling House produced an Oba last about 200 years ago.
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“Whereas the Olubonku Ruling House in Iree ruled only once 200 years ago, some of the other ruling houses had ruled six times, five times, four times, three times, and two times, respectively; and this is apparent injustice,” the group complained.
It said, however, that the Olubonku Ruling House is not at dispute, as it has fielded its Obaship candidate in Prince Afolabi Ali, an international lawyer, a philanthropic businessman, and an estate developer par excellence.