Religious leaders broker truce in Awo-Ekiti chieftaincy crisis

Since the trouble of chieftaincy crisis was visited on the peaceful Awo-Ekiti community in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area of Ekiti State, all stakeholders in and outside the community have been involved in one form of peace move or the other to lay the matter to rest. The royalty in the community was embroiled in a tug-of-war, following the anger of some of them over the emergence of Oba Sulaiman Azeez Olaleye, Aladejuyigbe IV as the Alawo of Awo.

It took a frightening dimension, when sources in the peaceful community claimed that worshippers were being harassed in their mosques and churches in the notably religious community. According to unconfirmed sources, some of the angry supporters of those on the losing side in the Awo chieftaincy tussle, allegedly attacked worshippers in the community’s central mosque, and thereby heightened the tension. Another of such attack, the sources claimed further, caused the Muslims to rise in defence of themselves and their property. “They had, in anger, retaliated by attacking some churches on a Sunday and this had created a very ugly image of our community and caused so much (although strange) disaffection,” the sources had claimed.

Soon, the matter assumed many colourations, the most dangerous of which was the religious tinge, which also created so much tension and concern. Following this, the state government announced the immediate imposition of a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Awo community and also deployed riot policemen in the town, to maintain law and order. The policemen mounted road blocks and sentry in strategic places in the town. Even at that, peace was scarce.

The curfew was soon telling on the socio-economic life of the people and they complained aloud when TribuneChurch visited the community. The beleaguered  Oba Aladejuyigbe said: “I don’t know what they want. I called them to a meeting. They refused. They’ve just decided to make this community ungovernable for me. If you ask them, they said, I’m a ‘stranger’ and I keep wondering what that means. They’ve been petulant.”

The Awo trouble is because Oba Aladejuyigbe IV, according to some members of the Aladejuyigbe clan, is allegedly not a member of the family. Chief Eben Alade, who said he is the head of Aladejuyigbe’s royal family, had disowned the monarch as a member of the family he superintends over. Alade, a retired Permanent Secretary told newsmen in Ado Ekiti: “I am the head of Aladejuyigbe family in Awo. I am the head of the family, I know the history of our dynasties. What we are contesting was the propriety of the government’s action to appoint a non-prince as our monarch. We don’t care who becomes the monarch, whether Muslim or Christian. Hardly can you see any family without Muslims and Christians co-habiting peacefully. So the concern that we are fighting religious war is unfounded.”

But, the matter assumed a religious dimension and needed the urgent intervention of the religious leaders. And they did. A joint meeting of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) was convened. One of the first results of the meeting was the lifting of the curfew, to which the community members expressed appreciation.

CAN and NSCIA said in a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, that Christians and Muslims had “nothing to do with who becomes king in any community in Ekiti State,” and added that “it is neither the duty of CAN nor NSCIA to elect a king for any community in Ekiti State.” They announced that “both bodies resolved to go back to their members and appeal to them to forget the past and henceforth allow peace to reign.”

In the communique signed by Reverend Joshua Orikogbe, Chairman, CAN, Ekiti State, Alhaji Yakubu Sanni, President NSCIA, Ekiti State, Reverend Samuel Ipinlaye, secretary, CAN, Ekiti State and Alhaji Tajudeen Adejumo, general secretary NSCIA, Ekiti State, they held that a Christian or a Muslim could become a king in any community in Ekiti State and therefore charged the people to seek redress in court if they felt aggrieved.

An indigene of the community, Mr. Sunday Omotosho said: “we love ourselves in Awo.” According to him, “in other communities, this could have led to the loss of lives.”

However, Omotosho expressed surprise that the matter had lingered. “Some people have refused to let the matter die. We beg them and beg God to help us bring it to an end so that we can continue to live in peace,” he said.