By Dayo Johnson
AHEAD of the selection of a candidate to fill the vacant stool of the Deji of Akureland, one of the major royal houses, the Adesida warned Wednesday that it would not agree to the presentation of only one candidate from the ruling house to the Kingmakers.

They insisted that they “would want a situation where all interested princes from the Adesida royal house would be allowed to test their popularity among the kingmakers. We believe in democracy, all candidates should be allowed to contest.”

Already, no fewer than three candidates from the Adesida royal house have signified their intention to become the Oba of the town.

Speaking yesterday on the development as regards the Obaship tussle, the General Secretary of the Adesida royal House, Prince Adejare Adesida said the Ojijigogun ruling house is yet to receive a letter from the government directing it to present candidate(s) for the stool.

Adesida denied that three candidates have been short listed by the Ojijigogun ruling house to the Kingmakers for final selection.

He pointed out that if the letter eventually comes they would not subscribe to a situation where they would be forced to present only a member of the Royal House to kingmakers for ratification.

According to him princes from the Adesida royal house who have collected forms include Biyi, George and himself.

“Every member of the Adesida royal family who is entitled to the obaship stool has right to show interest in becoming the king of Akure. Every qualified prince in the Adesida royal family is free to contest for the vacant stool. It should not be restricted to just some people but all the princes are qualified”, he said

However, he denied speculations that the ruling house had met to shortlist three candidates.

According to him “we have not received any letter from the government asking the Ruling House to nominate candidate or candidates for the stool. The Adesida has been known for its uprightness, straightforwardness and integrity and would not be a party to all these propaganda.

“We have not made any nominations. No meeting of Ojijigogun has taken place since the election of officers.

Any prince that has interest can show interest, there is no limitation. It has not been done in the history of Akure to present a single candidate for the throne. During the time of Late Oba Adebobajo, not less than 17 princes from Adesida signified interest.”

“We want to state unequivocally that no shortlisting exercise has been carried out. It is totally embarrassing to state that some candidates had been shortlisted. This issue is an embarrassment to the kingmakers.

“As a royal family, we have not received a letter from the state government; the story is untrue and fabricated. No meeting of the Ojijigogun family has taken place in the recent times, so nobody has been nominated in our royal family.