Oyo: Subjects celebrate as Makinde removes monarch

The Oyerinade Ruling House of Oniware of Iware in Afijio Local Government Area (LGA) of Oyo State on Wednesday welcomed Governor Seyi Makinde’s suspension of Alhaji Abdulrasheed Adetunji as the monarch of the town.

According to them, the governor has done the right thing by directing the monarch to stop parading himself as the Oniware of Iware.

Governor Makinde had suspended the monarch because the dispute and legal challenges surrounding his appointment to the Oniware stool are yet to be decided by the court.

According to a letter written to Adetunji through the Executive Chairman of Afijio Local Government Area by the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, the process of appointing him had not been completed.

He was, therefore, warned to stop parading himself as the Oniware of Iware pending the determination of the court.

Alhaji Adetunji, who was appointed in 2020 by some people in the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo without the approval of the government, had written to the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters applying for a staff of office and coronation.

Reacting to the order, the Oyerinade Ruling House of Iware, in a statement by Prince Moses Ifekunle, Prince Onaolapo Ajibade, and Prince Olunide Opafunmulayo, expressed their profound gratitude to Governor Makinde for the timely suspension.

The Oniware Chieftaincy family said: “Since there is no Oniware of Iware on the throne at present, no one is authorized to sell any Iware land,” warning all those that Alhaji Adetunji sold Iware ancestral land to “not to accept any land in Iware from him as replacement because the Oyerinade Ruling House of Iware has not authorized any sales of their land. Those people should rather demand the refund of their money.”