The Head of Lafogido Ruling House of Ife,
Prince Adeleke Adewoyin, has described the Ife Chieftaincy Declaration
of 1980, on which the kingmakers based their decision to narrow down the
selection process for the Ooni stool, as a fraud.
Adewoyin, who said this in Ife during an
interview with our correspondent on Thursday, said he would not mention
those who perpetrated the fraud now.
He stated that the content of the document was alien to customs and tradition of Ife.
Adewoyin, who is a former deputy governor
in the state, insisted that there was a need for all the ruling houses
to come together in order to arrive at a collective decision on how the
vacant stool of Ooni would be filled.
He said, “We are a law abiding people in
Lafogido Ruling House. We will not take to violence and that is why we
approached the court. We will fight the injustice against us to a
logical conclusion.
“We have been marginalised all this while
and we want a stop to it. The Ife Chieftaincy Declaration of 1977 is a
fraud and that is why we have gone to court. “
He said the Giesi Ruling House was not
supposed to be regarded as a separate ruling house from Ogboru from
where the family sprang.
Adewoyin also said Giesi Ruling House
surrendered its right to produce the Ooni in 1980 when it was its turn.
But he said he did not know if they were paid to concede the opportunity
to the Ogboru Ruling House which produced Oba Okunade Sijuwade, who
died on July 28.
He said the injunction granted by Justice
Adeyinka Aderibigbe was as a result of a suit filed by the Lafogido
Ruling House seeking an order of the court restraining the Osun State
Governor, Rauf Aregbesola; the Obalufe of Ife, Oba Solomon Omisakin, and
the Lowa of Ile-Ife, Chief Joseph Ijaduola, from going ahead with the
selection process pending the determination of the matter before the
court.
But a group known as the Ife Cradle
Youths has berated the Lafogido Ruling House for instituting a suit
against the state government and the kingmakers.
The group Coordinator, Kunle Elusayo, in a statement on Thursday, expressed disappointment with the court action.
The
statement read in part, “Ruling houses should not ridicule the Ooni
stool for any reason. Going to court is an attempt to ridicule and cause
embarrassment to our tradition. It will be unfair to see our highly
rated and world most respected tradition being suspended by a court.
“History is clear and not hidden to
anyone. It is the same declaration that screened out and denied Giesi
Ruling House that is being used now. Where were these families then? why
didn’t they point out the errors? Why didn’t the Ogboru Ruling House
reject the throne when rotated to them?”
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