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| High Chief Abiola Ogundokun in a world Press Conference in Iwo last Sunday, May 7, 2017 |
number 1 Celebrity Encounter Blog, Asabeafrika
was in the ancient city of Iwo to access the level of the crisis of influence
and power ravaging the town. Since Sunday April 30 when the youthful Oluwo of
Iwo, His Royal Majesty Oba Abdul Rasheed
Adewale Akanbi (Telu 1) announced his stripping of eminent Nigerian and
elder statesman, High Chief Abiola Ogundoku’s traditional and
Islamic titles, the town has been divided alongside different opinions.
However, it appears that the King is on his own as the body of Imams and the
Royal ruling Houses have soon taken sides with the former National Secretary of
the NPN party and a former PDP chieftain, High
Chief Abiola Ogundokun, chiding
the Oluwo for daring to cause political unrest by stripping the title bestowed
on Chief Ogundokun over 40 years ago
by his ancestors and the Islamic community. The Oluwo who has been enmeshed in
several other scandals in his one year reign seems not to be getting over the
issues at hand. So, why did Chief
Ogundokun fell out with the Oluwo of
Iwo? What are the issues that led to the fraction? This and many more Chief Ogundokun told Asabeafrika during a world press
conference with the four ruling houses in Iwo on Sunday May 7. Enjoy the
excerpts.
Chief, we understand there is an
altercation between you and the Oluwo of
Iwo, Oba Abdul Rasheed Adewale Akanbi.
Can you kindly tell us what the situation look like right now?
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| High Chief Abiola Ogundokun, the Obanla of Iwo Land |
have seen illegality, criminality, drug addiction and irresponsible persecution
of innocent community people including members of the royal families. As the
financier who has been supporting Oluwo
with my money and everything, I decided to caution him and advise that he
should stop it. Among his sins are; if he wants to install somebody as a chief
in Iwo and ten people are contesting
(for the title), take money from the man you are sure you want to put there.
Don’t take money from all the ten. We do accept that whatever he gets from
there is part of the contribution to the throne. I think it is wrong (to take
money from multiple of individuals) because people go about borrowing money
because they want to become chiefs or anything. I give him enough money,
minimum, at least half a million every month which I give in cash and sometimes
by bank transfer.
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| The Oluwo of Iwo almost prostrating to thank High Chief Abiola Ogundokun for a favor done him |
He found an offense in my confronting him on that. Like one
of his lawyers who defended him in the criminal acts filed by the Oluwo of Iwo Oke. He promised (the
lawyer) and invited him to come and take over the title of Aipate. The title of Aipate,
this man didn’t seek for him to give him that title but he is the one who
offered him. I am a living witness to that. Now, you have collected N1.2
million from this man. If the man denies today, I have tape recording
where the man told me the total money Oluwo
collected from him without making him the Aipate of Iwo land. And he now
brought somebody from his friend in that same family, and installed him. I even
I advised his lawyer (the victim) to attend the ceremony, which he attended. Oluwo was still having the effrontery to
bring him out and disgrace him there in the public. Those are some of the
terrible things Oluwo did which I
advised him against.
that you are being relieved of your chieftaincy titles. How would you react to
that?
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| The embattled Oluwo of Iwo with High Chief Abiola Ogundokun last year at Ogundokun’s daughter’s wedding in Lagos |
has even promoted me by making me an Oba in Iwo land. I am now the Oba Nla of Iwo land. I have the letter
he wrote me. How can he make me an Oba just two months ago and he will come out
to say I am not good again. I will give you copies of that letter which tells
the story.
meeting with the ruling houses?
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| High Chief Abiola Ogundokun giving his speech before scions of the 4 ruling Houses in Iwo |
this one?
them o (Change to vernacular; Bawo mo se de bi yi o? To which all members of
the royal houses chorused and said, “Awa la pe yin”—We invited you). They
called me while we were in the hospital with the boy Oluwo brought a gun to kill this morning. We were there and some
members of the press were there. He was there (Pointing to a top New man from
Osogbo),
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| An elderly woman in Iwo lamenting the situation of things to High Chief Abiola Ogundokun before the commencement of the World Press Conference |
when I got the call that they wanted to see me. This is the president
of all the royal families in Iwo
land. They called me and it would be disservice if I fail to honor because I am
under their control, they are the four royal families in Iwo land. These are all their representatives sitting down here.
They said they have an emergency meeting because of the latest development in Iwo that Oluwo went and brought a gun and wanted to kill somebody and they
said they want me to come.
fight, the grass is bound to suffer. As an elder statesman and eminent Nigerian
of many means, how do you think this crisis can be resolved to enable peace
reign in Iwo land?
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| High Chief Abiola Ogundokun….’Said both ex-President Obasanjo and Governor Rauf Aregbesola tried to settle his scores with Oluwo but the monarch refused to yield’ |
tell you I have done everything humanely possible. My dear brother and friend, Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo invited us for peaceful resolution and settlement, he
told Obasanjo
‘No, I will handle the matter by myself’.
Obasanjo
offered to come to Iwo, pleaded with
him that ‘Let me come and settle it. This
man is the one who brought you to us that we should help rescue you from your
court case’. The governor (Ogbeni Rauf Aragbesola) called us, he listened
to the facts, the governor didn’t even want us to make any statement but he
(Oluwo) insisted on telling his story, he told his story but when I started my
story, he rose up to box me in the presence of the governor; that is how he has
been very oppressive and negative to peaceful settlement.
marched his leg during an event in Iwo town on Saturday April 29. Why did you
march the Oluwo’s leg?
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| The Oluwo of Iwo sitting majestically on his King Seat |
evidence to show that where he sat and how he sat, nobody can even go near his
seat. He has a high rise chair which he has to climb steps before he gets to
the seat. I will show you in my camera. You cannot get near to him. Then, there
is a big cushion. If you want to match his leg, you have to climb that cushion
and then climb the staircase to the chair. It is a specially made royal chair.
And I was the chairman of that occasion.
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| High Chief Abiola Ogundokun sitting at a far distance between the SSS Director, Oyo State and an Islamic cleric at the event where Oluwo allegedly fell out with him on April 29 |
He was even called to address the
occasion after two traditional rulers had spoken, rather than addressing the
issue of praying for the couple, he started calling me names and called himself
god because he claims to be god, and the ancestral Telu of Iwo land. That he
is god. And the state Director of the SSS, Oyo state sat by my right hand side.
Magaji
Abdul Baki sat on my left. He came there to provoke me, did everything,
I didn’t talk. You can ask from the Imams.
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| Oluwo sitting majestically on the chair where he allegedly claimed Chief Ogundokun marched his foot |
All the Imams in South West were
present. They were disturbed, when they even tried to stop him, he refused. He
had to wrestle, he was fighting them before they could get the microphone from
him; and the second day he announced that he has removed me, he cannot remove
me. I have been Otun Balogun for over 40 years and Basorun Musulumi for
about 19 years.
simply because you advised him against taking money from different traditional
title contenders and giving the title to just one person?
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| The High Chief tells the media about his fall out with Oluwo |
don’t engage in bad behavior, don’t smoke, and don’t get drunk again. Give
respect to the royal princes as it is accustomed to Yoruba culture and tradition. The second one is that he should stop
cheating the indigenes, if you have a title and ten people are contesting for
that title, don’t take money or monies from all the ten people, take money from
just the person you are going to give the title to because anybody that gives
you his money and you deny such a person the title, it is a bad thing. You
would have heard the story of how he collected money from some people and they
brought a dead body to the palace to haunt him.
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| Chief Abiola Ogundokun to the Press ‘An Oba whose palace hosts a dead body will never reign well’ |
You don’t bring dead body to
the palace but this people brought dead body to him in the palace just because
of his greediness. And anybody that is a king and a dead body is taken to the
palace during his reign; he will keep finding himself in one trouble or the
other. And since a year he has been on that throne, it is one day, one crisis.
The ruling house wrote him, they didn’t write to anybody, they said ‘Kabiyesis, the way you are running this
government, let us always have access to you for deliberations just like it is
accustomed to us in Iwo, that, one tree cannot make the bush’. You ought to
seek a democracy with the royal houses. Please, let us always meet with you and
deliberate on issues.
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| A cream of Press Executives talks to High Chief Abiola Ogundokun while Princes of the Ruling Houses watch on |
And all these titles you are giving out, always let us
have knowledge of your intention so that we can be advising and giving you
direction because you didn’t grow in Iwo
(He grew in Canada) and you are short of the knowledge of history like we that
grew here. And what was his response to that simple question from the royal
princes? He arrested them with police both the young and the old, even Baba,
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| The January 8th 2017 letter written to High Chief Abiola Ogundokun by HRM Oba Abdul Rasheed Adewale Akanbi making Ogundokun the Obanla of Iwo |
(Asiwaju Babatunde Kamilu-Arowolo) before God saved them and he even began to
create unfounded titles and giving them out. And they said any traditional
title that is not synonymous with Iwo,
stop giving unto people. He even gave me
a title without informing them. I have the letter with me. So, he is not
democratic.
the best option to this crisis?
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| High Chief Abiola Ogundokun & Oba Abdul Rasheed Adewale Akanbi at Ogundokun’s daughter’s wedding September last year |
God to help us send him away because this town can never be settled with
someone like that on the royal throne. If someone can become King and the royal
princes cannot access the palace again, is that a good omen? These are the
royal princes, are they allowed going into the palace? Ask them. Even Oluwo Oke that we begged to drop his
court case against him, the royal princes arranged a meeting between him (Oba
Abdul Rasheed Akanbi) and Oluwo Oke
(Oba Kadiri Adeoye) and he agreed that they should call for a meeting. (He
turned to the royal princes and asked) ‘How many times have you called both of
them for meeting now?’ (And they chorused ‘Eemeta’ meaning ‘three times’). But
he ridiculed the meeting, calling Oluwo
Oke a common baale, that if he
cannot be brought to his palace, no settlement. At a time, he even went on
radio in Ibadan while they were
waiting for him here in Iwo to cast
aspersion on the person of Oba Kadiri
Adeoye the Oluwo of Iwo Oke. So,
how do you think we can have peace with such a person on the royal throne of Iwo?
morning with one Rondo-Rondo?
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| The High Chief in the midst of telephones calls and visitations |
is a boy who once worked with him and he wanted to rape that boy. That boy is
his right hand man, if I give him cash, it is the boy I give the money to and
he will take it to his bed room. In fact they both drink and get drunk
together. The two of them are so close but we never knew what was going on
between them. So, one day, he (Oluwo) said he will have sex with this boy and
the boy told him that he cannot practice gay.
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| The High Chief Abiola Ogundokun on phone with a former IG of Police who called him |
he is right now in the hospital. You will all see him today. The boy covered
his secret for long but the last one he did when he wanted to rape the boy by
force, the boy called a chief and informed him. In fact, it was my presence
that the boy re-called the chief recently and I recorded it because the chief
said it was true that the boy told him exactly that. That they should help him
beg Oluwo to leave him alone; so,
when he got to know that the boy reported him to someone, he now said he is
looking for his hundred dollars and that he is sacking the three of them
working in the palace.
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| The High Chief Speaking to AIT crew |
So, after the boy left, he then called back the other
two. He didn’t pay the boy’s salary and he even went further to malign the
boy’s name on the internet, saying that he sacked him because he stole his
money and that was where the boy now shouted out that ‘I never stole your money
o’. ‘It is sleep with me; I am not sleeping with you that brought this crisis’.
So, he started threatening the boy that since he has revealed his secret to a
third party, there is no more sanity for him again. So, he started threatening
the boy. When I was with the press last week in Osogbo, the boy came to us and the boy told us the story of how he
intended sleeping with him and he refused. Since that day, Oluwo started looking for a way to arrest the boy; we were waiting
for him to arrest the boy with police. But suddenly, yesterday, to be honest I
heard the CP (Commissioner of Police,
Osun Command) came down to Iwo
yesterday and the CP warned him
(Oluwo) that ‘look, don’t take laws into your hand’. I just
finished speaking with the CP, now.
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| The High Chief with the GDA as he receives delegation of Media Executives who joined him for a summon from the Ruling Houses |
He warned the Oluwo not to take laws
into his hands, that it is the police that can arrest anybody. So, don’t take
laws into your hands. If someone makes an allegation against you, you can sue
the person to court but you cannot arrest him. But last night, 1am, he took his
riffle and I have even reported that gun to the SSS, since last Friday. So, he
grabbed the riffle and took some thugs from his house led by his Chief thug,
they call him ‘Iron Body’ and he went
and broke the house of the boy. You people will go and take the picture of the
boy’s house now and you will see the kind of damage. He beat the boy to coma,
all his face was battered and he even used the butt of his gun to hit the boy’s
chest.
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| The High Chief with the GDA before the World Press Conference in Iwo town |
According to what residents said, he equally used tear gas on the boy
and left his family in total disarray. He eventually kidnapped the boy, seized
his phone, and seized the wife’s phone. He started checking on the logs and
said ‘Oh, you have called Ogundokun’.
And he said ‘yes, I know you would have
called Ogundokun’. I think it was because of the awareness of his sordid
action that night, he became afraid, that they have seen that he is the one
that took the boy away, so after torturing the boy, he now returned him to the
police station this early morning.
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| The High Chief Abiola Ogundokun speaking with journalists |
man. I, as an anti-corruption crusader, anti-injustice person; people called my
attention to what happened and I made myself available. There was a heavy crowd
at the police station; in fact, the royal princes were already there. I said ‘DPO, what has this boy done to deserve
this?’ he said it was Oluwo who
arrested him and brought him down. And that they warned Oluwo not to try it, he too was surprised to see the way the boy
was tortured. So, people applied for the boy’s bail and the boy was bailed.
Take this guy to the hospital, and the hospital they took him to, they said
they admitted the patient. But they came and told the DPO, in my presence that
the boy should be taken to a government hospital and the boy said ‘with Oluwo’s influence, if they take
him to government hospital, they might get him down there’. Because the
civil service circle could be weakened, so, we agreed to relocate the boy to a
private hospital. So, we have record that the boy was taken to a private
hospital after Oluwo kidnapped and
tortured him. (Watch the video edition on Asabe
Afrika TV via Youtube)
