Following the death of the previous Olupo of Oluponna, Oba Emmanuel Onaolapo Oyebanji, Fadare II, on January 3, 2022, a civil society organization appealed for restraint on Tuesday about the process of installing a new king in Oluponna, Ayedire Local Government Area of Osun State.
The group expressed concern that the backdoor approach used by some kingmakers in the community to choose a new ruler “would backfire and disrupt the peace of the sleepy town and Osun State at large.”
According to ADAPHAI’s press release, which was signed by its National Coordinator, Sulaimon Suberu, and a copy of which was provided to journalists in Abuja, there is palpable tension in the town due to resentment on the part of some royal lineages that felt undervalued by the activities of the kingmakers and other stakeholders in the axis.
According to the group, the recent endorsement by some kingmakers of a supposedly candidate from the same lineage as the recently deceased monarch will plunge the town into protracted anarchy because of the current reality of the need for rotational arrangements among different royal families in the town.
ADAPHAI therefore urged the state’s governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, and other traditional players in the region to quickly persuade those kingmakers to follow the path of honor and dignity and abstain from any action that might endanger the town’s peace and ultimately stoke the state’s political climate.
The statement read in part: ” As a reputable organization with mandate to propagate peaceful co-existence and non-violent culture among all communities in Africa, our attention has been drawn to a surreptitious process that led to the purported endorsement of a candidate to occupy the vacant stool of Oluponna, a town in Osun State, following the death of the former monarch.
“We have substantially gathered through investigation among the disenchanted family members of other royal lineages that the process was largely compromised by the kingmakers, who were alleged to have superintend a lopsided process of selection without recourse to fairness, justice and equity out of pecuniary reasons.
“We are also aware that while some royal lineages that are entitled to the throne had presented competent candidates to choose from as the next king of the town, the kingmakers unilaterally went ahead to endorse a candidate from the lineage of the immediate late king.
“Meanwhile, the aberration committed by the late king’s ruling house, parading a purported candidate as Oba-elect is being done with high degree of impunity despite several petitions by concerned royal families in the town and subsisting action in the law court against this infraction.
“It is even more worrisome that some critical stakeholders in the axis are tactically supporting this ruling house to perpetrate such huge anomaly.
“In view of this, we are concerned that this level of injustice and lopsidedness could threaten the peace of the town and bring about uncontrollable acrimony in Oluponna and Osun State at large.
“It is on that note that we call on the necessary authorities to carefully and thoroughly look into the issue and make sure that justice and equity prevail in the process of selecting a candidate to occupy the vacant stool, in order to avert impending crisis”.
