Shock in Osun as Oluwo ‘beats up’ another oba

Oluwo of Iwo in Osun State, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi was on Friday accused of beating up another traditional ruler, the Agbowu of Ogbaagba, Oba Dhirulai Akinropo during a peace meeting held in the office of the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police, Zone 11, Mr Bashir Makama.

The AIG had summoned Oluwo and other monarchs from towns around Iwo to a peace meeting over an accusation by the Oluwo that the monarchs were selling pieces of land belonging to him.

Oba Akinropo was said to have been physically assaulted in the course of the peace meeting by the Oluwo, while it took a shocked AIG to rescue the beaten oba from the grip of his attacker.

Oba Akinropo, who had a cut on his left cheek from the attack, was thereafter taken to the state General Hospital, Asubiaro, Osogbo, where he was treated at the trauma section of the hospital.

Narrating the incident to journalists, one of the obas at the meeting, the Olu of Ile Ogbo, Oba Abeeb Agbaje Adetoyese said “around October 2019, Oluwo wrote a petition to the then AIG, Zone 11, Mr Leye Oyebade accusing some of us of selling his land and we were called to a meeting.

“We were told to settle it and we met the state governor at the secretariat. That day, Oluwo disrupted the meeting with his thugs. When the government realised that his trouble was too much, the government sent a letter to us to meet the AIG today. While the meeting was on, he (Oluwo) said myself, Agbowu of Ogbaagba and Onigege of Igege were selling his land.

“I told Oluwo that I wasn’t selling his land, but the land of Ile Ogbo. A Commissioner who was at the meeting said it is only a court that can adjudicate in land matters. The AIG was talking on the need for peace when Oluwo suddenly attacked Agbowu of Ogbaagba, giving him blows on his head. It was the AIG that saved him.

“Agbowu fainted and we had to rush him here (hospital) for treatment. The conduct of Oluwo today was bad, beating a fellow Oba up in the presence of chairman of Iwo local government and AIG”, Oba Adetoyese remarked.

However, Oba Akanbi in his reaction, said he merely defended himself from the other Oba’s staff of office “with a force which Agbowu could not withstand.”

Oba Akanbi in a statement he sent to Saturday Tribune on Friday evening explained that he was truly invited by the police to make peace on the selling of his land by monarchs under his domain, a pronouncement that he said “did not go down well with those affected as they regrouped to act against the authority of Oluwo who gave them the crown.”

He said he was at the peace meeting held at the Assistant Inspector General’s office, alleging that Agbowu of Ogbaagbaa interrupted him while he was making his speech and called him “mad man”, pointing his staff of office at him.

He added that the Agbowu’s attempt to stick the staff in his eyes “was heavily rejected with force which Agbowu could not withstand.”

“How could a constable openly insult a commissioner of police and make attempt to beat the CP? Can any monarch try such with Ooni and the Alaafin?,” the Oluwo wondered.