Kingmakers, Chiefs accuse Osun commissioner of imposing monarch

Kingmakers and traditional Chiefs of Iree town, Boripe Local Council of Osun State have accused the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Bayo Adeleke of imposing a new monarch on the town.

They said that, as against the norm, they were not allowed to be part of the election of a 49-year-old Prince Raphael Ademola, who was announced on Friday as the newly elected 16th Aree of Iree in Osun State. They alleged that Adeleke co-opted some of his fellow politicians to elect Ademola.

The new Aree, who hails from the Oyekun Ruling House, was reportedly elected by warrant chiefs at a meeting supervised by some officials of the Boripe North Local Council Development Authority, Iree.

The new monarch succeeded Oba Jimoh Olayonu who passed on July 8, 2018.

Meanwhile, kingmakers in Iree have rejected the process that produced the new monarch, accusing Adeleke and the Chairman of the local council simply identified as Bamigbesin of imposing their preferred candidate, whom they said is a member of the All Progressives Congress.

One of the kingmakers, the Aogun of Iree, Chief Saliu Atoyebi, who addressed journalists on behalf of other five kingmakers said: “They have not elected any king in Iree as far as we are concerned. What they should do is to bring the contestants who are princes to us (kingmakers) from the four ruling houses… for us to consult the oracle.

“This was not done. What they did was not the proper process by which the Aree of Iree should emerge. On October 24, 2022, the government brought a notice to us indicating that they wanted to appoint Iyalode as a warrant chief as a result of the death of one of the kingmakers, which we rejected vehemently because a woman cannot be part of the kingmakers.

“Afterwards, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Bayo Adeleke, summoned a meeting at the palace where he threatened us and thereafter promised to return on October 28 to force us to do his bidding. We recorded him threatening us, hence we had to go into hiding.”

Also speaking on behalf of the Aree-in-Council, counsel to the chiefs and kingmakers, Folorunso Apantaku, said that Adeleke and Bamigbesin installed their preferred candidate despite the Aree stool is still under litigation at the High Court of Osun State, adding that the kingmakers would further approach the court for another suit to nullify the purported election of the monarch.

“The principle of law is so clear that when a matter is pending before a court, status quo ante must be maintained. So, despite the service of those processes on the Commissioner for Local Government, Attorney General of Osun State, and the local council, they ought not to have taken step at all in the selection process.

“The selection of a king is only the responsibility of the kingmakers and not civil servants or government officials. What has happened in Iree is abnormal. We will approach the court to set aside every exercise they have done, to be null and void,” he said.

When contacted, Adeleke said that the kingmakers abdicated their duties, adding that the appointment of the warrant chiefs became necessary since it was within the government’s power to act when faced with such a circumstance.