Dissatisfied with an alleged violation of the government’s directive and subsisting Court case, traditional rulers and Olus in Akure North local government area have reported the Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi Ogunlade to the Ondo State government and Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, over illegal installation of a rival Olu of Ilado-Igbatoro Community when the reigning Olu, Chief Kayode Johnson Ajomale, is still alive.
According to the traditional rulers through a letter dated 27th June, 2022 and addressed to the state government, the action of the Deji of Akure is already causing uneasy calm and palpable tension at Ilado Igbatoro Community under Akure North local government area.
The letter signed by a legal practitioner, Mr Femi Emmanuel Emodamori on behalf of Ilado-Igbatoro Community Chiefs, the Akure North Local Government Council of Obas, and the Registered Trustees of Olus and Baales in Akure North Local Government, cautioned that if Oba Aladetoyinbo is not stopped and disciplined by the state government over latest violation of government’s directive against installing or removing Minor Chiefs in Akure North local government area, such could lead to breakdown of law and order in Ilado-Igbatoro Community.
The lawyer said, “We have the instruction of the Ilado-Igbatoro Community Chiefs, the Akure North Local Government Council of Obas, and the Registered Trustees of Olus and Baales in Akure North Local Government (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Our Clients”) to report the Deji of Akure, HRM Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi to your office over a fresh deliberate and deviant violation of the extant directive of the State Government stopping him from appointing and/or removing minor chiefs in Akure North Local Government Area pending the release of the White Paper on the recommendations of Hon. Justice Ajama Panel of Enquiry on Chieftaincy Matters and Crises in the State.
“The State Government’s directive in this regard is contained in the letter with Reference Number CD/C6/9/20/T/212, dated 19th April, 2021 and signed by the Permanent Secretary to your Ministry, directing the Deji to stop installing minor chiefs in communities in Akure North Local Government, and further directing the Kabiyesi to reverse such improper appointments he had already made. The letter was copied to the Chairman of Akure North Local Government Area for enforcement.”
The lawyer said, “according to Our Clients, on 22nd June, 2022, the monarch (the Deji) again defied the said directive of the State Government by purportedly installing one Dayo Afelumo as a rival Olu of Ilado-Igbatoro Community in the same Akure North Local Government, even though Chief Kayode Johnson Ajomale (J.P), the incumbent Olu of Ilado-Igbatoro since 1987 (over 34 years) is still alive, hale and hearty.
Chief Kayode Johnson Ajomale is also currently Chairman of the Registered Trustees of Association of Olus and Baales in Akure North Local Government, and a member of the Chieftaincy Committee of the Local Government.
“They (my clients) had also filed an application to restrain the Deji from making any purported appointment and/or installation of any person as the Olu of Ilado, pending the hearing and determination of the Suit.
“Despite that pending application, the Deji and his cronies appointed and installed a rival Olu of Ilado Community. However, according to Our Clients, the provocative and defiant action of the Deji is already generating serious tension in Ilado Igbatoro Community.
“The youths of the Community have reportedly vowed to resist the unprecedented desecration of their custom and the stool of their traditional headship by the Deji and Mr. Dayo Afelumo,” the lawyer said.
Below is the full text of the latest letter;
27th June, 2022
Our Ref: FEE/AKNLG/ODS/11/022
The Commissioner for Local Government &
Chieftaincy Affairs, Ondo State
Through:
The Chairman
Akure North Local Government Area
Iju Ita-Ogboblu
Ondo State.
Dear Sir,
REPORT OF THE DEJI OF AKURE’S LATEST VIOLATION OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT’S DIRECTIVE AGAINST INSTALLING OR REMOVING MINOR CHIEFS IN AKURE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, AND A CALL TO DISCIPLINE THE DEJI, TO FORESTALL A BREAKDOWN OF LAW AND ORDER IN ILADO-IGBATORO COMMUNITY.
We have the instruction of the Ilado-Igbatoro Community Chiefs, the Akure North Local Government Council of Obas, and the Registered Trustees of Olus and Baales in Akure North Local Government (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Our Clients”) to report the Deji of Akure, HRM, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi to your office over a fresh deliberate and deviant violation of the extant directive of the State Government stopping him from appointing and/or removing minor chiefs in Akure North Local Government Area pending the release of the White Paper on the recommendations of Hon. Justice Ajama Panel of Enquiry on Chieftaincy Matters and Crises in the State.
The State Government’s directive in this regard is contained in the letter with Reference Number CD/C6/9/20/T/212, dated 19th April, 2021 and signed by the Permanent Secretary to your Ministry, directing the Deji to stop installing minor chiefs in communities in Akure North Local Government, and further directing the Kabiyesi to reverse such improper appointments he had already made.
The letter was copied to the Chairman of Akure North Local Government Area for enforcement. We have attached a copy of the letter as Annexure A.
However, according to Our Clients, on 22nd June, 2022, the monarch again defied the said directive of the State Government by purportedly installing one Dayo Afelumo as a rival Olu of Ilado-Igbatoro Community in the same Akure North Local Government, even though Chief Kayode Johnson Ajomale (J.P), the incumbent Olu of Ilado-Igbatoro since 1987 (over 34 years) is still alive, hale and hearty.
Chief Kayode Johnson Ajomale is also currently Chairman of the Registered Trustees of Association of Olus and Baales in Akure North Local Government, and a member of the Chieftaincy Committee of the Local Government.
Instructively, Our Clients had written several letters to the State Government to report series of violations of the said directive by the Deji of Akure.
The latest of such letters was written to the State Governor and the security agencies in the State through our Law Firm in May, 2022, to warn about the Deji’s plan to appoint a rival Olu of Ilado Community, due to the pivotal role Chief Ajomale plays, as the Chairman of the Registered Trustees of Association of Olus and Baales in Akure North Local Government, in opposing the unlawful interference by the Deji in the Local Government. We have attached a copy of the letter as Annexure B. Annexure B was copied to the Deji himself and widely reported in the media.
Whilst Our Clients were still waiting for the State Government’s action on their letter(s), the Deji, according them, has now connived with some members of a Family called Ogunleye Family in Ilado Community, against whom Chief Ajomale has a pending land dispute in the State High Court, to orchestrate a strange, bizarre, customarily absurd and unlawful plot to remove him as the Olu of Ilado.
The said members of the Ogunleye Family, in executing the plot, claimed to be members of what they called “Agbabiaka Family of Ilado” and that their Family had “passed a vote-of-confidence” on Chief Johnson Ajomale and purportedly “removed him as the Olu of Ilado in their Family meeting held on 17th April, 2022”. They also wrote a letter dated ………. to the Deji, demanding that he should stop recognizing Chief Ajomale as the Olu of Ilado Community. We have attached a copy of the purported letter by the “Agbabiaka Family” as Annexure C.
It was on the basis of the nonsensical and customarily alien “vote-of no-confidence” allegedly passed by just a single family in Ilado Community that the Deji of Akure claimed to have appointed another Olu of Ilado on 22nd May, 2022, while Chief Ajomale is still alive, hale and hearty.
Interestingly, the Deji purportedly installed one of the dramatis personae in the vote-of-no-confidence charade, Dayo Afelumo, as the rival or “new” Olu of Ilado, a few days after Chief Johnson Ajomale (The Olu of Ilado) and the Ilado Community Council-of-Chiefs had sued the said Dayo Afelumo, his co-jesters masquerading as members of “Agbabiaka Family”, and the Deji of Akure before the Ondo State High Court on the same subject-matter.
They had also filed an application to restrain the Deji from making any purported appointment and/or installation of any person as the Olu of Ilado, pending the hearing and determination of the Suit.
Despite that pending application, the Deji and his cronies appointed and installed a rival Olu of Ilado Community. However, according to Our Clients, the provocative and defiant action of the Deji is already generating serious tension in Ilado Igbatoro Community.
The youths of the Community have reportedly vowed to resist the unprecedented desecration of their custom and the stool of their traditional headship by the Deji and Mr. Dayo Afelumo.
From all the developments chronicled above, it is clear that Our Clients are peaceful and law-abiding citizens who believe in the rule of law. On the other hand, it is clear that the Deji of Akure continues to violate the State Government’s directive to him with his illegal and provocative appointments or purported removal of minor chiefs in Akure North Local Government Area, in a brazen display of arrogance and disdain for the law and constituted authorities.
It is equally disturbing to Our Clients that your Ministry seems to be consciously or unconsciously aiding and abetting the illegal, deviant, provocative and arrogant actions of the Kabiyesi in this regard, by not taking any disciplinary action against him, even though the State Government issued the directives in Annexure A to him through your Ministry.
Our Clients are therefore compelled to state that in the face of the Government’s apparent failure to enforce her own directive stopping the Deji from appointing or removing minor chiefs in Akure North Local Government Area pending the release of her White Paper on the Justice Ajama Commission of Enquiry on Chieftaincy Matters, it may be impossible for them to restrain the youths and other members of Akure North Local Government Area from enforcing the Directive by any practical and effective means available to them.
Our Clients hope the Deji of Akure and the relevant government agency or Ministry responsible for enforcing the State Government’s extant directive(s) on this extra-ordinarily sensitive matter would take full responsibility for any eventuality caused by their acts or omissions.
Please accept the highest regards of our clients.
Yours faithfully
Femi Emmanuel Emodamori
Cc:
The Governor of Ondo State
Governor’s Office, Alagbaka
Akure.
2. The Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Governor’s Office, Alagbaka
Akure.
3. The Ondo State Director
State Security Services (SSS)
State House Annex, Alagbaka
Akure
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