The Olu of Orile-Ilawo in Odeda Local Government Area (LGA) of Ogun State, Oba Alexander MacGregor, has dismissed any insinuations that he is at loggerheads with the Osile of EgbaLand, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso, saying that it is the handiwork of mischief-makers whose stock in trade is selling lands belonging to six communities and who were hell-bent on destroying the customs and traditions of their forebears.

Oba MacGregor was speaking against the backdrop of the recent indefinite suspension of his 10 chiefs, who were sacked for allegedly selling more than 2,600 hectares of land belonging to six villages, as well as for disloyalty and insubordination to the king.

He reaffirmed that he is the sole custodian of the customs, culture, and traditions of the Ilawo Kingdom and will not sit back and allow unscrupulous and mischievous elements to send more than six villages with their culture and tradition into extinction with allegedly criminal tendencies.

He stated that the suspended chiefs were title holders in Ilawo, not of another town, which empowered him, as a traditional ruler, to suspend any erring chief according to native law and customs. He further stated that running under the shield of Oba Tejuoso cannot help them.

While going down memory lane, he noted that there is a union of multiple towns called Oke-Ona, stating that the union is a loose one and not a compulsory one. He explained that it is an independent native community that came together in 1840 or thereabouts to form Oke-Ona.

He explained that the composition of Oke-Ona is not homogeneous and not from a single native community but a loose union of big individual kingdoms.

He further stressed that the customary chiefs are governed by Ilawo customs and traditions, adding that the chiefs are nothing but from Ilawo extractions under the Ilawo Traditional Council of Chiefs, and the only custodian of customs, culture, and tradition is none other than the Olu of Orile-Ilawo.

Oba MacGregor added that customary chiefs in Ilawo only exist under the custodian of the culture, tradition, and customs of the kingdom, and any time short of that is non-avoidance. “These people have wiped out more than six villages in Ilawo through unscrupulous acts.”

The professor of biopharmaceutics turned king pointed out that any traditional ruler is at liberty to grant chieftaincy titles to any individual that validates his authority in other traditional rulers with separate autonomous domains, adding that, from time immemorial, there can only be one king in a town. However, when mischief-makers engage in unscrupulous acts in their own domain and are suspended, now claiming allegiance to another traditional ruler different from their own immediate domain, it calls for a total overhaul of their appraisal and disloyal tendencies.

On the allegation that they had become chiefs before his ascendance to the throne of their forebears, Oba MacGregor further said: “The Osile of Oke-Ona Egba was once a prescribed authority during the Ilawo interregnum period. This is the norm in any traditional setting: for every kingdom that does not have a king, you must have a prescribed authority who has a very limited role to play in your kingdom.

“Which is the Oba’s chief law, and once a king emerges from the kingdom, the role of a prescribed authority ends there, while the new authority takes charge of his domain with full autonomy.”

According to him, if the title chiefs disagree with the way and manner he removed them, they should go to court for proper adjudication on the matter.

“The genesis of obaship came from the tradition, culture, and customs,” he stated, “and the suspension stands. When they are ready to explain why their position should be reinstated, they need to come back to the Ilawo Palace for that purpose, not anybody’s palace.”

The traditional ruler further noted that the fundamental trait of a chief is loyalty and subordination to a king, but in their own issue, it was reversed.

He added that they were also allegedly involved in criminal activities of selling 2,600 hectares of land.

“They have wiped out over six communities in Ilawo through their conduct. The majority of atrocities happened before my emergence; they hurriedly perpetuated the act and continued even after my emergence.

‘I am fighting to prevent the genocide of my native community.’ All these atrocities are committed in the villages in Orile-Ilawo. I cannot sit here as the king and watch a handful of people committing genocide,” he said.

“The argument they are making is that they are chiefs in Ile-Ogboni, located in Abeokuta North Local Government, where the Osile’s area of authority is domiciled. But as much as it is for the people of Ile-Ilawo, Ile-Ogboni is within the authority of Ilawo jurisdiction. The suspension is indefinite, and in the meantime, I will ask the other chiefs to stand in and start the process of their replacement.”