Osun: Family Reports Olu Of Ileogbo To Governor Adeleke Over Chieftaincy Title Crisis

Members of Oladunwo Compound of Ileogbo in Ayedire Local Government Area of Osun State have called on Governor Ademola Adeleke to as a matter of urgency intervene in the chieftaincy crisis rocking the Ileogbo community following the installation of a new Odofin by the Olu of Ileogbo, Oba Abeeb Adetoyese Agbaje, Bamofin III.

The protesting members of Oladunwo Compound who stormed the Government Secretariat in Abere, on Thursday, described the action of Oba Agbaje as unlawful.

Armed with placards with different inspections such as “Oladunwo can not be marginalized”, “Oba Habeeb Adetoyese has over stepped his boundary”, “Oba Habeeb is playing with fire”, “Enough is enough”, “Odofin is our right” among others.

The Odofin title, a respected chieftaincy position and one of the gazetted kingmaker roles in the community, became vacant following the death of the late Chief Amos Alabi of the Oladunwo Compound. Traditionally, the title is said to be the exclusive hereditary preserve of the Oladunwo family.

However, protesters alleged that the monarch violated long-standing customs by installing Mr. Faleye Samuel Omoniyi from the Olujogun Compound as the new Odofin. They argued that the Olujogun family already occupies another kingmaker title in the town—the Olukotun chieftaincy—which is rotated between them and another compound.

The protesters said that the protest was not an attack on the monarchy but a defence of ancestral tradition and fairness.

Speaking during the peaceful protest, a spokesperson to the aggrieved family, Alhaji Bashir Opayele, condemned the installation, describing it as a deliberate attempt to distort Ileogbo’s traditional history.

Opayele said members of Oladunwo family are surprised with the horrid move taken by the Olu of Ilegbo in installing new Odofin outside the family.

“Olujogun compound has Olukotun title as theirs and we have Odofin, both are kingmakers but to our own surprise a member from Olujogun was installed as Odofin against the wish of our family” he said.

He further stressed that it baffled their imagination that the Ilegbo monarch could not even allow Oladunwo family to finish with the burial rite of their son (late Odofin) before he took the move.

According to him ,”we are the only family that has occupied the office of Odofin since the creation of Ile-ogbo.

“It was a surprise that we received message from the palace three days after our son died to present our candidate for Odofin, this to us was abnormal.

“We that lost our son after all burial rite is done that is when we are supposed to present our candidate for the Odofin office.

We want the government to intervene in this matter by taking back our Chieftancy title (Odofin) to our family ” he said .

All efforts to get the reaction of the monarch proved abortive as his number was not reachable as of the time of filing this report.