The Olaribikusi Ruling House in Eruwa, Ibarapa East Local Government Area of Oyo State, on Wednesday, said the people of the town are against the action of Governor Seyi Makinde, who appointed and gave the Staff of Office to the deposed Oba Samuel Adegbola as the new Eleruwa of Eruwaland.
The family vowed to approach the court again to seek redress if Makinde failed to do the needful, insisting that it was the turn of the family to produce the new Eleruwa of Eruwaland and not the Akalakoyi family.
It would be recalled that the Supreme Court, a few years ago, deposed Adegbola after spending 21 years on the throne.
Adegbola was later appointed, given a certificate, and presented with the Staff of Office by Governor Makinde as the new Eleruwa of Eruwaland.
Addressing journalists in Ibadan, the Secretary of the Laribikusi Ruling House, Ijaola Abolade, said the request of the family was that the nomination process should be returned to their family, as pronounced by the apex court.
According to him, if not for the fact that Eruwa people are peace-loving, a crisis would have erupted as a result of the governor’s action.
Reacting to a statement by Makinde that whoever went to court to challenge the appointment of Adegbola again was just wasting his resources, Ijaola said the court remained the last hope for a common man.
He said: “We are members of the Laribikusi Ruling House, Eruwa, Ibarapa East Local Government, Oyo State. The Laribikusi Ruling House is one of the two ruling houses recognized by Eruwa tradition and the Eleruwa Chieftaincy Declaration of 1958.
“The confirmation and recognition of these two ruling houses by the Chieftaincy Declaration of 1958 also provide for the order of rotation between these ruling houses, that is, Laribikusi and Akalako. The rotation is one after the other.
“We believe that we have the obligation to respond to a statement credited to the Commissioner for Information, Prince Dotun Oyelade, that the Laribikusi Ruling House was unable to present candidates within the fourteen-day notice given to them by the government and that, as a result, the government had to shift the nomination process back to the Akalako Ruling House, which was the ruling house that produced the last recognized Eleruwa, Oba Bolanle Olaniyan (Gbajumola II).
“This narrative from the government can best be described with a proverbial saying: ‘If you want to hang a dog, you give that dog a bad name.’
“We maintain our position that nobody in the administration of this process, either at Ibarapa East Local Government or the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, gave us (Olaribikusi Ruling House) a fourteen-day Nomination Notice in line with the Chiefs Law of Oyo State. We challenge the Chairman of Ibarapa East Local Government, Kazeem Arogundade, to publish for the world to see the fourteen-day nomination notice he claimed to have given us and our acknowledgement of that notice, knowing fully what is at stake.
“We are here today to tell the whole world that after many court cases and intrigues that pervaded the ascendancy to the Eleruwa throne from 1995 to 2019, when the Supreme Court of Nigeria made a final pronouncement on the matter, we were ready to present candidates to fill the vacant throne and we expected the government to call on us through our local government to do so.
“We are here to tell the whole world that the only message we received from the government of Oyo State through Ibarapa East Local Government was an invitation sent to each section within the Laribikusi Ruling House for a meeting with the ‘Management of Ibarapa East Local Government’ on November 4th, 2024. This letter was dated November 1st, 2024, and signed by the Local Government Chairman, Hon. Kazeem Arogundade (Show the letter to the press). This invitation letter did not contain the agenda of that meeting.
“We all reported to the local government secretariat on November 4th, 2024, to honour that invitation. In that meeting, the chairman informed our representatives that the eldest member of Laribikusi, as required by the Eleruwa Chieftaincy Declaration (1958), should be presented for the nomination process to fill the vacant stool of Eleruwa to commence.
“With this, the whole world should know that the nomination process, which by law should commence with a fourteen-day notice, did not at any time arise. Having seen what transpired at the palace in Eruwa on January 13th, 2025, as managed by Kazeem Arogundade, and which in quick succession culminated in the issuing of a certificate and the Staff of Office to Samuel Adegbola on March 6th, 2025, their premeditated agenda rolled out with impunity is as clear as daylight.”
