Community leaders flay ADAPHAI’s comments on Olupo stool

Following the dust raised by a civil society organisation, Advocacy for Advancement of Peace & Harmony (ADAPHAI), on the selection by the kingmakers of Olupo-Elect, Oba AbdulRauf Oyekanmi Mosobolaje for Oluponna, the headquarters of the Ayedire South Local Council Development Area, Osun State, the youths of the community have described the body’s tantrums as a clandestine attempt to rubbish efforts of the kingmakers.

They claimed that the process that led to the choice of Prince AbdulRauf Oyekanmi Mosobolaje as the new Olupo-elect following the death of Oba Emmanuel Oyeleso Oyebamiji on January 3, 2022 was done on merit without any inducement in whatever forms.

In a rejoinder, signed by the Coordinator, Forum for Oluponna Youths Development, Oyebisi Yusuf, the forum said ADAPHAI’s piece in some national dailies is a disservice to the excellent efforts put together by the noble and respectful kingmakers in Oluponna.

In the said ADAPHAI piece, the group, which called for restraint in the process of enthroning a new king in Oluponna, forewarned that the clandestine and lopsided path followed by some kingmakers in the town, in the process of selecting a new king through the back door, would backfire and disrupt the peace of the sleepy town and Osun State at large.

ADAPHAI claimed that there is palpable tension in the town as a result of resentment on the part of some royal lineages who felt shortchanged by the activities of the kingmakers and other stakeholders in the axis.

The group opined that by the present reality of the necessity for rotational arrangement among different royal families in the town, the recent endorsement by some kingmakers of a purported candidate from the same lineage of the immediate late monarch will throw the town into protracted anarchy.

ADAPHAI, therefore, called on the Governor of the State, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola and other traditional stakeholders in the area to quickly prevail on those kingmakers to tow the path of honour and dignity and refrain from any activity that could jeopardize the peace of the town and ultimately heat up the polity in the state.

“We are also aware that while some royal lineages that are entitled to the throne had presented competent candidates to choose from as the next king of the town, the kingmakers unilaterally went ahead to endorse a candidate from the lineage of the immediate late king.

“Meanwhile, the aberration committed by the late king’s ruling house, parading a purported candidate as Oba-elect is being done with high degree of impunity, despite several petitions by concerned royal families in the town and subsisting action in the law court against this infraction…”

In the rejoinder, the forum described the group’s stance as a clandestine attempt by the leader of the group, Sulaimon Suberu and his sponsor(s) to paint the effort aimed at making a round peg in a round hole in a bad light.

“In his unwarranted vituperations against the yeoman’s job by the kingmakers, Suberu tried to insult their sensibilities by accusing them of a lopsided process of selection without recourse to fairness, justice and equity out of pecuniary reasons. One wonders what he means.

“He also tried to put his readers in the wilderness of comprehension by taking a voyage into the subsisting legal case – a needless sojourn. I must say Suberu missed the point and failed woefully to justify his opprobrium.”

Yusuf appeals to Governor Oyetola to disregard the allegations, noting that it lacks merit. He posited: “The process that led to the choice of Prince AbdulRauf Oyekanmi Mosobolaje as the new Olupo-elect following the death of Oba Emmanuel Oyeleso Oyebamiji on January 3, 2022 was done on merit without any inducement in whatever forms. There are two ruling houses in Oluponna in accordance with the Declaration made pursuant to Section 2 of the Chief Laws caps 25 of the Customary Law Regulating the Oluponna Chieftaincy namely; Momiloye/Ayelabowo and Aregbesola and with the death of Oba Oyeleso Oyebamiji who came from Aregbesola, it is the turn of Momiloye/Ayelabowo that produced the new Olupo-elect.

“Prince AbdulRafiu Oyekanmi Mosobolaje, the new Olupo-elect was unanimously voted by the 13 kingmakers with no one rejecting him.”
He revealed there has never been any tension, problem, rejection, protest or outcry since the kingmakers announced him. “Rather, everyone is happy about his emergence as it heralds prosperity and development. ADAPHAI and its national coordinator, Sulaimon Suberu is not well informed on the happenings in Oluponna. A simple check and thorough investigation would have given an insight rather than taking himself into public ridicule.

“The youths of Oluponna, artisans, and those in diaspora are happy with the choice of Prince AbdulRafiu Oyekanmi Mosobolaje as the new Olupo-elect.”

In another submission, an indigene of the town and legal practitioner, Chief Bola Abimbola Ige, described the ADAPHAI’s stance as untrue, unwarranted, unsolicited and should not be accorded any sense of believability by the general public.

“To every discerning reader, there is much to the press statement than meets the ordinary eye as positions canvassed by it are disjointed and absurd. Lone expects it to come out clean on who takes what to compromise the rotation system, as well as the affected persons whose rights to stool were trampled upon by the powerful kingmakers.

“Perhaps, ADAPHAI fails to realise that Oluponna is peopled by reasonable and well-read persons who cannot allow unlawful act like the one credited to the kingmakers go unchallenged.”

He said contrary to the claim of tension in the town after election of Prince Mosobalaje, the whole town, including those in diaspora went into frenzy of jubilation, expressing joy, enthusiasm and conviviality over his choice. “Even those who contested the stool with him have congratulated him, making him the choice of all and sundry.

Ige stressed that the call on Governor Oyetola to withhold the new monarch’s approval is illegal, unlawful, unwarranted, mischievous, vexatious, gold digging, self-seeking and antithetical to peace, tranquility and development of Oluponna.”