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| The Asiwaju Gbogbo Omo-Oba Iwo, Alhaji (Prince) Babatunde Kamilu-Arowolo with his Secretary, Alhaji (Prince) Ismael ECOMOG |
land, (Asiwaju Idile Gbogbo) Omo-Oba,
Alhaji Babatunde Kamilu-Arowolo
in an emergency meeting with all princes of the royal houses in Iwo land told journalists some of the
reasons why the royal princes are at logger head with the Oluwo of Iwo Oba Abdul Rasheed Adewale Akanbi and
equally expressed reservation on ways forward for the town if Oba Abdul Rasheed Adewale Akanbi remains the Oluwo of Iwo. The emergency meeting
which took place on Sunday, May 7, 2017 in Iwo
town had the presence of eminent Nigerian politician and elder statesman, High Chief Abiola Ogundokun who was
summoned to the meeting by the royal princes after the alleged kidnap
of one Mr. Abdul Mojeed Agbaje Olawale aka Rondo-Rondo by the Oluwo, Oba
Abdul Rasheed Adewale Akanbi
(Telu 1).
Although the palace denied ever
trying to kidnap Rondo-Rondo but Rondo-Rondo insisted in an interview with Asabeafrika that it was the Oba who
‘arrested’ him. Others at the emergency
meeting are Mogaji Idile Adegun-Odo, Prince
Ayodeji Daramola, Representative
of the Alausa royal family, Alhaji
Ibrahim Bushari Imole De, Secretary of the Alausa royal family, Alfa Adam Ayobi Ojo. Others are Akeem Arolu from Tadese Royal House, Prince (Alhaji) Semiu Oladimeji Fanta, Prince Adedoja Osunnwo, Prince Akeem Ayofe (Adegun-Odo Royal
family),
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| The Oluwo of Iwo, HRM Oba Abdul Rasheed Adewale Akanbi. (Telu 1) |
Prince Saheed Dauda
(Adegun-Odo Royal family) and Prince
Alhaji Ismael Ecomog, the General Secretary of the entire Royal Houses in
Iwo among many others. Both Asiwaju Babatunde Kamilu–Arowolo and Alhaji Semiu Oladimeji Fanta spoke with Asabeafrika. Enjoy the
excerpts.
emergency meeting in Iwo today?
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| Princes of the Ruling Houses at the meeting |
for coming around. I want to thank everybody that made the time to be here at
this hour of the day because it is indeed an emergency meeting and it has to do
with the political situation in Iwo. I
pray that all of you that came for this emergency meeting, God will bless you.
You will never be disappointed. God will continue to lift and bless your works.
I thank you for coming to Iwo. The
kind of things we see these days in Iwo
is beyond our thinking. As a person sitting with you right now, if we are to
list the number of traditional rulers (Oba) I have sat and deliberated with in
my life time, we will be counting nothing less than 4 or 5 Oluwos. But the coming of this present Oluwo is quite interesting, this present Oluwo is far from what we expect; we are totally surprised at his
conducts and behavior as a royal father.
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| Princes of Ruling Houses in Iwo at the May 7 meeting |
We have not seen this kind of thing
before. But why I am not totally surprised is that, if you are alive, living in
this world, you will keep seeing different things. With this latest accident in
Iwo today (Kidnapping of Rondo-Rondo),
I will say my comment will not be too long due to the role bestowed upon me. If
I can see where the royal princes and the people of Iwo are going on this matter, if I can see their direction and I
can see that it is a good path, my own is to give my blessing. The man that we
summoned here today, Chief Abiola Ogundokun, it is
God that intentionally lift him as a statesman for this nation. If anyone is
angry with his kind, that person is just wasting his own time.
High Chief Abiola Ogundokun and the Oluwo of Iwo?
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| High Chief Abiola Ogundokun giving his speech to members of the ruling houses in Iwo |
five or six days ago is quite funny, it is the Islamic scholars in Iwo
that raised a team to meet me couple of days ago, that they want an emergency
meeting. I asked what the problem is, but they refused to let me have the full
details, urging me to come first for the meeting. But I insisted they tell me
as I am not a dictator, any step I am taking must be communicated properly to
the ruling houses as their Asiwaju. I
must inform the entire royal houses. So, they quickly informed me that
something abominable happened in our land. That the king said all titles given
to High
Chief Ogundokun,
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| Alhaji Prince Babatunde Kamilu-Arowolo with Alhaji Prince Alhaji Ismael ECOMOG |
he has taken those titles off him and that they
(Islamic Chiefs) will never take a decision without the cooperation of the
royal families (ruling houses). That wherever you go is where we shall follow.
So, that was what led me to my calling this emergency meeting. We thank God that we invited High
Chief Abiola Ogundokun and he came straight away.
It is an honor to have him here with us.
action?
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| A group of Omo-Oba at the Asiwaju Babatunde Kamilu-Arowolo Emergency Meeting |
Our decision
is straight and simple. First of all, we are not in support of what he (Oluwo)
did. Our position is that the titles that our living fathers have earned before
he got there, we the royal princes are against him stripping such titles. We
totally go against you coming to strip titles off our elders and living legends
and statesmen. That is quite ridiculous. If it is the one you gave someone
during your reign, you can always take it back or strip the person, no problem.
But the one our fathers gave, no way. We are not children who will come and
destroy the legacies of our fathers. We are totally against it. It is not our
tradition. He (Oluwo) has no right to de-robe any title chief. Those titles
were given by his predecessors and he will be insulting not only the
sensibilities of the bearers but also destroying the legacies of our fathers
and that of his predecessors.
allegedly kidnapped one Rondo-Rondo this morning?
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| Some Omo Obas at the meeting |
was this very afternoon that I was equally briefed on that matter (Rondo-Rondo
crisis). But we are on top of the situation and God will give us a new
direction.
the Princes are at loggerhead with the Oluwo over his decision to rule alone.
Can you expatiate more on the crisis?
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| First page of a protest letter by Princes on the allegation of non-inclusion of princes in palace activities by Oluwo |
instances where he (Oluwo) has denigrate his role as a father. The fight
between him and Oluwo Oke is a major
example that tested our faith. We the royal princes did everything possible to
bring peace between the two of them (Oba Kadiri Adeoye-Oluwo Oke & Oba
Abdul Rasheed Akanbi-Oluwo).
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| 2nd Page of a Protest Letter on non-inclusion of Princes in palace activities by Oluwo |
We appealed to Oluwo
Oke to drop the court case against him and even invited him down and Oluwo Oke came and explained to us what
happened in details, and we saw that what Oluwo
Oke is fighting for is even right. He is not wrong at all, and we went to
meet our king (Oluwo), the day we met him was a Thursday and we made the meeting day for the next Thursday (8days
later).
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| Faces of members of a Ruling House in Iwo |
We said ‘please, Oluwo-Oke is
coming down with other Obas and we can have two of you settle this matter’.
And he said ‘no problem, I will be there’.
But, what did we see? Two days to the meeting, we again went to meet him and he
said he is game and ready for the meeting. A day before the D-day, very early
in the morning, I led a delegation of royal princes to the palace to remind him
and he assured us of his presence. We even preached and advised him that if you
find yourself in this kind of auspicious role, you must be a father to all. And
I asked all the princes to prostrate for him and they did. And he said ‘oh, I have accepted. We will end the rift’. So, the next morning when Oluwo-Oke and his entourage arrived, we
went to meet him again and he said ‘good,
I am coming down’. He said ‘what is
the time of the meeting?’ and we
said ‘10am’. He promised to show up.
So, by 10am, we waited, he didn’t show up.
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| Faces of Princes of the Ruling Houses in Iwo |
By 12pm, we raised another team to
meet him in the palace; he still said he was coming up until 5pm in the
evening. So, we went back to meet him only for him to tell us that the fight we
are trying to settle is nothing but a meeting of calumny (Ipade Ote). I was shocked; this is someone we were trying to broker
peace between him and the man that took him to court over his misconduct before
he became king. He said ‘oh, you guys are
all fake people’, that he didn’t actually plan to show up at the meeting
venue. That if we cannot bring that Oba (Oluwo Oke) down to his palace, we
should forget it. He said ‘isn’t he a
Baale?’, that if we cannot bring him here (his palace) and let him remove
his clothe and start rolling on the floor for him and use his mouth to run the
ground, that he will ensure that he is removed from the soil
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| Some Princes of the Ruling House in Iwo |
(Maa ka kuro
n’ile). I said ‘you will remove a man
from the soil? You Oba Iwo, you will remove a man from the soil?’, we used
every known strategy in the book to beg this man but he insisted that if we
cannot bring Oluwo-Oke down to his
palace and let him remove his clothes and start using his mouth to rub the
ground and rolling before him, he will make sure he is removed from the soil.
When we begged, begged and begged and he refused to comply, we left him to his
fate.
contested for the same throne? He said that is why two of you are at loggerhead?
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| Asiwaju Gbogbo Idile, Omo Oba Babatunde Kamilu-Arowolo (R) with High Chief Abiola Ogundokun, speaking with the Press |
recognize him, I have never seen him, we the royal princes have never seen him
before, and he is not even the one we expected. We are just a victim of
circumstance.
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| Protest letter from the Ruling Houses in Iwo |
houses on him now, how do you think peace can be achieved?
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| Protest letter from the 4 ruling houses |
voice people are making, the one demand our people are making is what I must
echo out because majority of the people are saying that we made a wrong choice
(A shi oba je) and we are saying we
are not the one who choose him o, it is what pleases the government that it
does.
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| A protest letter from the four ruling houses |
We are not the one who chose him. The person we wanted, government didn’t
pick that person. However, a lot of people are asking us this question ‘what is the next step?’ I said ‘well, it is only God that can change this situation for us’ but the people of Iwo are not happy with the situation at
hand. We need a change.
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| A protest letter from Adegun-Odo Ruling House |
intervene before it is too late—Alhaji Fanta
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| Prince Alhaji Semiu Oladimeji Fanta….Wants Osun State Government to intervene |
three hours emergency meeting, one of the Royal Princes, Prince Alhaji Semiu
Oladimeji Fanta of Adegunodo Royal
family urged the government of Osun
State to quickly intervene in the ongoing crisis in Iwo land. He has this message for the state governor, Ogbeni
Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola.
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| A letter of Protest from the Ruling Houses |
with Asabeafrika
after the meeting “With series of events
that has been taking place in Iwo since the beginning of the reign of Oba
Adewale Akanbi, coupled with the kidnapping and beating of Rondo-Rondo last
night, we have no any other option than to ask for an emergency meeting with
the government of this state”
behalf of all the ruling houses and leadership of royal princes of Iwo call on Governor Rauf Aregbesola
to invite us for an emergency meeting. They should invite both the Oluwo and all of us so that we can have
an opportunity to tell government what we want in order for Iwo to move ahead. I think we are ripe
for that and in order to maintain peace and stability in Iwo, the Governor should as a matter of urgency invite us for a
meeting on way forward”.
