On Friday, Aree of Iree and princes from four of the town’s governing families disputed over what prompted some protesting youths to storm and set a part of the palace on fire.
On Thursday, some young people broke into the palace of Aree and destroyed a section of the structure there.
Osolo of Iree, Chief Sobalaje Alao, said one of the kingmakers, Soliu Atoyebi, was detained on the direction of former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affair, Mr. Bayo Adeleke. This information sheds light on what motivated those involved to start the protest that resulted in the attack on the palace.
He added that Oba Raphel Oluponle has refused to leave the palace despite an instruction from the state governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, that Aree and two other monarchs should leave their palaces while the review of the procedure that led to their emergence was ongoing.
He emphasized that the current king was not duly elected and urged the state administration to make sure that the government’s orders were followed.
“We have not elected Aree. There are a lot of manipulations towards the emergence of the current occupants and that can’t stand. The attack on the palace was due to the arrest of Aogun of Iree, Saliu Atoyebi by DSS. An aide to the former Commissioner, Bayo Adeleke accompanied those to arrested him and felt it was uncalled for that an individual would continue to oppress us. Government must intervene immediately to save the town from further crises,” Alao said.
In contrast to the kingmakers’ accusations, Adeleke asserted that he had no involvement in Atoyebi’s detention and that a petition from individuals he had defamed had prompted his invitation.
Aogun’s arrest had nothing to do with the Aree Obaship, according to Gbemiga Olatunji, who spoke on behalf of the Oyekun, Larooye, Iyoonla, Ojo Ayagaga, and Olubonku ruling houses. He also urged the people of Iree to avoid provocations that could result in violence.
In an effort to give the appearance that there was a crisis in the community over Aree stool, he also claimed that hoodlums attacked defenseless locals by breaking into their homes, attacking them, and stealing their belongings.
Olatunji said, “We condemn this act in strong terms; it is barbaric, satanic and criminal. The attack to the best of our knowledge is to create the impression that there is a crisis in Iree and portray Iree in a bad light in the face of the new government in the state. We state categorically that Iree is peaceful and all the ruling houses are strongly behind the King, Oba Ademola Oluponle.”
