Rift between Fayemi, Ekiti monarchs resolved ― Ooni

Ooni of Ife

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, has disclosed that the rift between the governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi and the eleven ‘Pelupelu’ monarchs over the chairmanship of the state council of traditional rulers had been resolved.

The revered monarch who was in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, on Monday, to broker peace between the governor and the aggrieved monarchs noted that all the concerned Obas have agreed to sheath their swords in the interest of peace in the state.

It will be recalled that the state government had last week through the office of the bureau of chieftaincy affairs issued a 72-hour query to about eleven monarchs individually over alleged insubordination.

The affected Obas include Ewi of Ado-Ekiti Oba Rufus Adejugbe; Oloye of Oye Oba Oluwole Ademolaju; Elekole of Ikole Oba Adewumi Fasiku; Elemure of Emure Oba Emmanuel Ogunleye; Ajero of Ijero Oba Joseph Adewole; Alara of Aramoko, Oba Adegoke Adeyemi.

Others are: Ogoga of Ikere-Ekiti Oba Samuel Adejimi; Olomuo of Omuo Oba Noah Omonigbehin; Alaaye of Efon Oba Emmanuel Aladejare; Ologotun of Oguntun Oba Samuel Oyebade and Olujudo of Ido-Faboro, Oba Ayorinde Ilori-Faboro.

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The ‘Pelupelu Obas’ who had been at loggerheads with the government following the appointment of Alawe of Ilawe, Oba Adebanji Alabi in 2019 as the chairman council of traditional rulers in the state.

They approached the court arguing that the appointment of Alawe was against the chieftaincy law of the state and subsequently shunned all activities of the government including meetings of the council of traditional rulers.

This development made the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, to intervened by writing a letter to the governor warning him against degrading traditional institution in the state.

Oba Ogunwusi commended Governor Kayode for his efforts at ensuring that there was peace among the state traditional rulers by going to the extent of visiting the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi to explain his own side of the story. He described the Governor’s gesture as an honourable move that signified true leadership.

He said: “I am here for a particular reason and to the glory of God, we don’t have any issue again. Everything settled and you can see we are all here. It is normal that might be slight differences here and there but it is something within the family of Oduduwa clam and to the glory of God, it is has been resolved.

“The governor is here, all the PeluPelu Obas are here, the main founding fathers of Ekiti and I can say to a large extent it has been resolved. They are the father to the governor and you know we have an amiable son of Oduduwa who is the governor in Ekiti state. Look at what happened yesterday (Sunday) he went to meet the Alaafin and he explained his own side of the story, very honourable. That is true leadership despite the fact he is the governor.

“You can see now that everything is resolved. All the people that want to cause a problem in the media, I want to say we do not have a problem in Yoruba land. There is mutual respect between the people in government and the traditional rulers. It has been there for a thousand years and we are still upholding our heritage. All is well.”

Speaking on behalf of the monarchs, the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, said the issue among the Obas was a family affair and would be treated as such since they had agreed to work together.

The royal father explained that the communication gap between them and the government was responsible for the reason the case was not resolved before now.