…blames decades of royal tussle for underdevelopment of Ijebu-Igbo
An indigenous businessman, Omooba Yekini Olu Ogunnaya, has decried the failure of a Ruling House in Ijebu-Igbo, headquarters of Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State, to agree on who amongst them should be the next monarch of Ijebu Igbo, almost 26 years after the last occupant of the stool, Oba Sami Adetayo, joined his ancestors.
Orimolusi is the paramount ruler of Ijebu-Igbo comprising mainly Oke Sopin, Atikori, Oke Agbo, and Japara, whose traditional heads have since been upgraded as Obas, inspite of their inferior positions to that of the Orimolusi.
The royal house in Ijebu-Igbo, Ojuromi, has been entangled in intense legal battle over who to present as the next occupant of the stool since the demise in 1993 of Oba Adetayo from the Ikupakude Ruling House.
The royal tussle has been fought up to the Supreme Court, where the matter has been hanging for so many years as the apex court has yet to decide on it.
Ogunnaya, however, said it was time the people of the town sought new and alternative means of resolving the almost three-decade old logjam, which had retarded its progress.
He urged the Ijebu-Igbo Council of Elders to quickly move to bring an end to the perennial battle within the royal house to produce the next Orimolusi.
The indigenous businessman raised the alarm that a situation where the third largest town in Ogun State has been without an Oba in 26years, due to the perennial disagreement within a royal house, was anti-development and counter-productive.
He decried the seeming silence, disinterest and inaction allegedly being displayed by the indigenes of the town, warning them to avoid a repeat of the 28-year interregnum suffered by the town, when after the then traditional ruler of Ijebu-Igbo, Oloja Igbo, joined his ancestors in 1899, his successor, Oba Adesemowo, who was the first to use the Orimolusi title, was only crowned in 1927.
Ogunnaya said it was painful that since the demise of Oba Adetayo in 1994, the town had been left without a befitting paramount ruler in the person of another Orimolusi or even a strong traditional leader or mouthpiece to adequately represent the area and rally the people for the necessary development purposes.
The indigenous businessman described the current situation in Ijebu-Igbo as “ridiculous and indeed shameful.”
Ogunnaya, therefore, enjoined all the sons and daughters of the town to come together and join hands in moving Ijebu-Igbo forward by seeking immediate resolution of the almost 26-year-old logjam over the Orimolusi stool.
He said, “My humble call primarily is for every indigene of this our beloved town, Ijebu Igbo and its environs to join hands to seek alternative solution to what is now regarded as a calculated hanging of Ijebu Igbo Obaship case that has been languishing in the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the end of which is not foreseeable.
“If care is not taken, in two years to come, our town, Ijebu Igbo, may witness another so called 28 years of interregnum, which oral history refers to as the accumulated years between 1899, the year the then Oloja Igbo joined his ancestors, to 1927 when the first Oba Orimolusi Adesemowo was finally crowned.
“You will agree with me that we don’t need a mathematician or an expert to solve this simple arithmetic problem of subtraction and addition to conclude that 28 years of interregnum referred to by oral history was the year between 1899 and 1927.
“This town, Ijebu-Igbo is very large and populous. It is also endowed with indigenes and people of high calibre, blessed with good leadership worthy of emulation. We have people in all walks of life, who are doing well in their respective domains and professions. There’s an adage that says, ‘It is when the living fails in his responsibilities that we quickly remember the dead. Since it is abominable for the dead to come back to life to perform any function, it is imperative, therefore, that seeking an alternative solution now is the way forward.”