Our traditional rulers, people need freedom, Jebba, Shao communities cry out

Indigenes of Jebba, Shao and other Yoruba communities in the Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State have condemned alleged marginalisation in the Ilorin Emirate system.

Speaking at the  second Saka Adeyemi memorial lecture organised by a sociocultural organisation, Millennium Initiatives on Societal Values (MISSAVS) in Shao, the people said their traditional stools are being relegated in what they describe as the Ilorin Fulani feudalist-oligarchy setting.

It was gathered that the late Saka Adeyemi was one of the arrowheads of Moro Redemption Movement (MRM).

The lecture, entitled, ‘Rape and nationhood: salvaging the fate of Moro and other raped victims’, they urged that something urgent  should be done to halt the situation.

In his opening remarks, MISSAVS project coordinator, Dr. Reuben Akano, said the lecture was geared towards the renewal of “our agitation for freedom of Moro, as its people are still suffocating under the yoke of Ilorin Emirate system.”

Akano alleged that “both the Ohoro of Shao and the Oba of Jebba had been elevated, promoted and graded, but were later demoted, degraded and relegated, allegedly, on the instruction of the emir.

“Moro towns and villages have over 200 baales and mogajis and as traditional rulers they are restricted by the Ilorin Emirate system. Moro does not have a separate traditional council. The people are still being ruled by district heads called daodu in local parlance.

“The Ilorin Emirate system is alien to Moro Yoruba tradition and context. Ilorin Emirate system is an aberration for us in Moro. People from the Ilorin Emirate  assault our psyche on a daily basis. Who will bail us out of the rapacious grazing of Ilorin Emirate herds and cattle on a continuous basis?”.

He urged Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to rescue the people from the situation in the emirate.

“Any dividend of democracy under the administration of Governor AbdulRazaq devoid of grading of our traditional rulers and creation of separate traditional council for Moro will be termed ‘as usual.’

The guest lecturer at the event, Toyin Alabi said the oppression is evident today in the deficient development  experienced in the local government area which is as old as the creation of the state itself.

“Moro is the second largest local government area in the state in terms of land mass, but there is virtually no development to show for it,” Alabi said.

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