By Dayo Johnson

THE Obaship crisis in Ijare, Ifedore Council Area of Ondo State, deepened, yesterday, as stakeholders accused the council Chairman, Mr. Alex Oladimeji, of allegedly imposing a monarch on the community.

The stool of the Olujare of Ijare became vacant, two years ago, when Oba Adebamigbe Oluwagbemigun joined his ancestors.

The process of selecting a new monarch became messy following litigation arising from the illegal exclusion of some candidates to the throne including Prince Kola Oyewole

But some Ijare indigenes, in a statement, by Elder Ojo Bamidele, accused the council Chairman, Mr Oladimeji of pushing for one of the candidates, who is his cousin.

Bamidele said: “Members of the Sejeokun Ruling House have been united since the selection process started until some self-appointed adjudicators came on board in the family and wanted to deny some candidates the right to be part of the crucial stage of the process which led to litigation.”

The concerned indigenes, however, exonerated the Ondo State government from the looming chieftaincy tussle.

The statement reads: “The purported forwarding of four, out of the 13 names that applied to be Olujare and initially emplaced before the kingmakers (Afobajes), was a product of arbitrariness meant to unlawfully, nay illegally, exclude the names of candidates that are believed to constitute a threat to the candidates some cabals want to desperately force on the people.

“It is heartwarming that aggrieved stock of the Sejeokun Ruling House, the Olukekere/Osunpamisi descendants, has gone to court to challenge the purported illegal suspension of Chief Aarinmo, the unlawful exclusion of his candidate, Prince Kola Oyewole, and the moonlight frivolous narratives that seek to dislocate the inextricable link the Olukekere/Osunpamisi stock of Sejeokun Ruling House has to the Olujare stool.

“Traditionally, it is within the purview of the kingmakers to choose the Olujare, and the leader of the distinguished Chiefs has cautioned himself from embarking on illegality by processing the four selective candidates sent to him, on the receipts of letters of complaints of unlawful exclusion and court processes contesting the legality of the advancement.

“Permit us to state, very unequivocally, that the government of Ondo State has since distanced itself from being dragged into legitimizing illegality, as the Chairman of Ifedore Local Government, Mr Alex Oladimeji, who is prejudicially pushing for one of the candidates that is his cousin, has made the whole world to believe.

“We also call on the leadership of the Ijare Egbe Omo Elewe Obi to be guided by all the documents before it, and to prevail on elements within it to desist from supporting any initiative that could illegally exclude any of the candidates as the unity of all Ijare indigenes is paramount, even as posterity stands very advantageously to judge the present.”

Don’t drag me into your wrangling—LG boss

But in a swift response, the council Chairman, Mr Oladimeji cautioned the stakeholders not to drag him into the wrangling saying he has no power to impose a new monarch on the town considering various chieftaincy laws in the state.

Oladimeji said: “I need to respond to this because all they wrote against me is a blatant lie.

“As a local government Chairman, rules and regulations are guiding the selection of Obas, not only in my community (Ijare). All communities have their declaration/laws that govern them and there is an Ondo State Chieftaincy Law. Nobody can influence me and there is no way I can influence anybody to emerge as the King or force anybody on my town.”