Osun monarchs, indigenes protest, seek suspension of Oluwo for beating fellow Oba

– Those calling for my removal will meet waterloo, says Akanbi

Some traditional rulers and indigenes of Ayedire, OlaOluwa local councils of Osun State and parts of Iwo yesterday protested over the alleged beating of Agbowu of Ogbaagbaa, Oba Dhirulahi Akinropo, by the Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi.

The protesters, who carried placards and chanted songs, urged suspension of Oluwo to serve as punitive measures for punching his fellow monarch in public.

They accused Governor Gboyega Oyetola of keeping mum since the incident happened last week Friday and urged him to react by reprimanding Oluwo with suspension.

The protesters’ spokesperson, a former member of the state House of Assembly, Sikiru Ogunlade Araoye, said that the governor’s indifference on the issue could cause communal clash between Iwo and Ogbaagba, whose traditional ruler was assaulted.

Also speaking, one of the protesters, the Mosigbaola of Ile-Ogbo Kingdom, Chief Popoola Olawore, condemned Oluwo’s action and called for his dethronement.

Olawore claimed Oluwo had been in the habit of attacking fellow Obas. He asked the governor to call him to order to save the traditional institution from the mess.

Meanwhile, Oba Akanbi has chided those calling for his dethronement, saying that they would meet their waterloo.

The monarch, in a statement he personally signed, defended his alleged attack on his fellow monarch, Agbowu of Ogbaagbaa, Oba Dhikrulahi Akinropo last week, and declared the monarch and others in the Iwo Kingdom as land grabbers.

He said: “These monarchs are lording themselves over their subjects, taking their family lands and selling their inheritance with impunity.”

According to him, they have gone as far as arresting and imprisoning anyone in these families, who tried to obstruct them from selling their heritage.

He said that his palace was inundated by complaints of how their innocent subjects are sent to prison “because these monarchs (traditional rulers in Iwo zone) do influence cases against their people through their accomplices.”

The monarch said he was being criticised because he was fighting corruption in the form of land grabbing and indiscriminate sales of land.

Few minutes after the demonstrators stood their ground and insisted that they would make their grievances known to the governor, they were allowed into the governor’s office.

At the frontage of the governor’s office, the protesters were attended to by the Commissioners for Information and Health and Special Adviser to Governor Oyetola on Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters in Osun.

The spokesman for the protesters, the Asiwaju of Ile-Ogbo, Chief Raphael Akanbi Nafiu, presented a copy of the petition to the state government seeking sanction against Oluwo.

“Oba Akinropo was allegedly beaten in the office of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 11, Osogbo, AIG Bashir Makama, during a peace meeting the AIG convened over a land dispute.”

In the same vein, 15 members of the Iwo Traditional Council of Obas have petitioned Governor Oyetola over the alleged assault on Oba Akinropo by the council’s chairman, Oba Akanbi.

The petition was said to have emanated from an emergency meeting at the palace of Agbowu of Ogbaagbaa, who doubles as the vice-chairman of Osun State Council of Obas.

The fifteen monarchs, who signed the petition, obtained by The Guardian, asked the governor to suspend Oluwo and also urged the police to conclude their investigation and arraign Oluwo in the appropriate court.