Kwara community rejects newly installed monarch amid court proceedings

Some residents of Kajola town in Oke Ero Local Council, Kwara State, have threatened legal action against the state government for allegedly installing as monarch a prince of the town who is standing trial.

The newly crowned monarch was in March dragged to a Magistrate’s court by some princes and ruling houses for allegedly parading himself as the Edemorun of Kajola.

The aggrieved princes—Orishatuyi AbdulRoheem, Adeniyi Akanbi, AbdulSalam Abdul Azeez, Olayemi Oladipupo, and Yusuf Adio, all of Idofin Ruling House in the town—insinuated that the installation would influence the court’s decision.

The residents also joined the new traditional ruler, Prince Jide Kehinde, and five princes in the suit for constituting themselves as kingmakers and, in the process, appointing Prince Kehinde as king.

According to them, the accused contravened Section 16 (1&2) and Section 16 (Subsection 3) of Kwara State Chiefs’ Appointment Law, while the new king was said to have contravened Section 13 of the state’s Chiefs’ Appointment and Deposition Law.

The plaintiffs alleged that the exercise contradicted the culture and tradition of the community.

They also alleged that aside from being wrongly crowned, Kehinde had once stood trial before Magistrate M.B. Ajetunmobi in Omu-Aran in Irepodun Local Council, which was later transferred to Ilorin.

“The matter has been in court since March and was adjourned to a later date when the presiding magistrate, M.B. Ajetunmobi, was transferred from Omu-Aran to Ilorin,” one of the aggrieved stated.

According to him, the alleged unconventional kingmakers are Princes Agboola Oluwo, Sunday Dada, Azeez Omoribawu, Ajewole Ogundipe, and Bamisaiye Jejeloye.

The offence, according to the chieftaincy law of Kwara State, could attract four years’ imprisonment if found guilty.

“It was while the adjourned date was being awaited that the news suddenly featured on local radio stations that the Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs, and Rural Development, Alhaji Abdullahi Bata, had presented the Oba with an appointment letter and a staff of office as Edemorun of Kajola,” one of the plaintiffs disclosed.

Earlier, while testifying before Magistrate Ajetunmobi in Omu-Aran in March, Mallam Garuba Toyin Ibrahim, a senior officer of the State Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs, and Rural Development, was quoted as telling the court that under the enabling laws, the Kwara State government had not appointed any king for Kajola town.

He added that at the time in question, the only lawful body that could inform the government in writing that the stool of the Edemorun of Kajola was vacant should be the Oke Ero Traditional Council, which had not been done at the time.

Speaking with our reporter in Ilorin, Prince Olayemi Oladipupo, one of the aggrieved princes who also led others to express their displeasure over the development, said since the matter was still in court, the government should be duty-bound to abide by and respect legal processes.

According to him, they were shocked that a staff of office and an appointment letter were presented to their supposed king at a location not known to the people of Kajola community.

Responding to the allegations, the monarch, who did not deny the ongoing legal tussle, threatened to sue the reporter if he ever reported the happenings.

Further entreaties by the reporter to draw him out for printable comments merely angered the Edemorun of Kajola further, as he said: “You don’t really know me. It is better you refrain from writing it because I will sue you and sue whoever gave you the story to write.”

“If you want to be my friend, come to my palace at Kajola next week because I am going to Lagos this week,” he said.

All efforts to reach the commissioner, Alhaji Abdullahi Bata, were abortive as he could not be reached on the phone, while his press secretary repeatedly hinted he was not on seat.