Deji Of Akure, No More The Sole “Amanyanabo” Of Akure Says Agagu And His Akure-Born Deputy.
The PDP Government is doing wonders in Ondo State. Olusegun Agagu and
Omolade Oluwateru in their wisdom have just divided up Akure into three separate
kingdoms in their desperate bid to enlarge the Ondo State Council of Chiefs,
because the Council is not big enough, and they need to create more first class
Obas in the State and they need more Chairmen of Local Governments because the
current number is not big enough for the financial buoyancy of Ondo State as
one of the richest States of Nigeria by reason of its enlarged Revenue
Allocation as an oil producing State. Ondo State, in their judgment, is too
economically developed to now divert funds to such frivolities as enlarging the State
Council of Chiefs which is really a duplication of job, as the chairmen of Local
Governments are far more than adequate to run their local Governments, pocket
all the Government allocations assigned to them. They need more Obas, big and
small to add into the mix to make it that easier for them to return to the
Government House come the 2007 Elections.
They have figured it out that it is better to safely divide up Akure at a
time the preeminent Amanyanabo and owner of Akure, the Deji’s throne is vacant,
and the Regent and the Akure Council of Chiefs don’t see eye-to-eye. The
Regent, in their own book, is just a mere window dressing who is to be seen and
not heard. As Governor and Deputy, they wield the power of Life and Death and
can get away with murder.
They have not stopped there. They have now agreed to let the selection
exercise of the Deji be started all over because their arbitrarilly-created unit
of the only Asodeboyede Ruling House have now finally admitted their principal
nominee for the Deji’s title is, after all is said and done, neither, a
member of their Family nor a prince of Akure at all. They asked to be allowed to
do the whole exercise all over again, since in more than 150 years nobody from
their unit of Asodeboyede Ruling Line has succeeded in being named a Deji and
they want Agagu and Omolade Oluwateru to help narrow down the selection to
just their family alone this time around because they are scared to death, if the
selection exercise were thrown open to the one and only Asodeboyede Ruling
House that Akure has always had, none of their potential candidates stands any
chance of being selected again.
The Governor and his Deputy are not even interested in asking why is that?
They are as scared as the Osupa and Odundun Unit that another Adesida may
emerge victorious. The Government is not acting as a disinterested party in all
of this controversy. They have completely forgotten that the remaining unit is
not made up of the Adesidas alone, for God’s sake. They include Oba Ojijigogun,
Oba Arosoye, and Prince Faturoti Adegoroye, Oba Agunsoye, Oba Otutubiosun and
Oba Ataiyese and their descendants who are all lumped together in the other
unit. Where is the justice here? And how can a responsible Government take such
a position, is my question?
What has the Court of Law in Nigeria said about the contention of the Osupa
Family that the Deji-elect is not a member of the Family? This motion has
been heard so many times by different Courts of Law in Nigeria. What has been
their verdict? Should a law-abiding Government side with the Family or side with
the Rule of Law on this important matter? Isn’t the Ondo State Government
expected to also uphold the rule of Law and respect the fundamental human rights
of the Deji-Elect by telling the Family, if hey have lied about the Deji-Elect
who knows what else they are lying about? One thing however is clear that the
Deji-Elect did not nominate himself or present himself to the king makers. The
Family did. Right?. If the Osupa Family is disowning the selection of the
Deji-Elect, on that score, they must willy nilly accept that they have failed and
lost their credibility, and that must be a reason for the Government to
really throw the Selection exercise open to all who claim any affinity with he only
Ruling House in our town, or we may be on our way to nominating another fake
prince for the Deji’s title one more time too many. Shouldn’t the Government
be concerned about the possibility of nominating
the wrong person again for a
position that is held for life and passed on from father to a son on hereditary
basis?. If it happened before, it can, surely, happen again, in a situation
where the majority of the candidates showing interest today are only grand
children and great grand children. In a society where children born to different
fathers have been known to claim chieftaincy titles belonging to their
step-fathers, and there are many in our town, the likelihood is that the family could
again pick a fake or phony prince, I might add.
That has been my major concern, all along, and the major concern of the
majority in our State Capital who don’t want to see this title go to a
completely wrong candidate simply because they are money bags and they have political
clout and connections, but do not have the royal blood running in their veins.
Period. That is the question I think a good Government ought to think long
and hard about before asking an irresponsible Family to go repeat the exercise
in futility.
I personally think the Agagu and the Oluwateru Government has been a
disaster to our town, and our interest, and I want to say it loud and clear for
whatever it is worth, both on the Osolo and Iralepo elevation which I believe was
not properly done, even though it was the right thing to do. The Government
has also been most unfair to the other units of the Asodeboyede Ruling Line
which the Government seem to have totally ignored or abandoned.
I rest my case.
