The intervention of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, in the standoff between Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and some obas under the aegis of the Alademerindinlogun (16 crowned Obas or the 16 Pelupelu Obas) when the matter reached a boiling point last week, is said to have brought about a solution to the issue.
Appointment and inauguration on August 15, 2019 by gov Fayemi, of the Alawe of Ilawe Ekiti, Oba Adebanji Alabi, as the chairman of the state Council of Traditional Rulers to succeed the immediate past council chairman, the Oloye of Oye Ekiti, Oba Oluwole Ademolaju, on expiration of his two-year tenure is the cause of the standoff.
The 16 monarchs had opposed the appointment of the Alawe, saying that chairmanship of the council was the exclusive preserve of the 16 obas and that picking someone outside the group as chairman of the council was “a violation of the Ekiti State Chieftaincy Law.”
Members of the Alamerindinlogun Obas are the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oloye of Oye, Elekole of Ikole, Elemure of Emure, Ajero of Ijero, Alara of Aramoko, Ogoga of Ikere Ekiti, Olomuo of Omuo, Alaaye of Efon, Ologotun of Ogutun, Olujudo of Ido-Faboro, Onisan Of Isan, Attah of Ayede, Owa-Ooye of Okemesi, Onitaji of Itaji, Oore of Otun and Arinjale of Ise Ekiti.
According to the governor, there had been addition to the group of the 16 Pelupelu Obas which now stood at 22, and Fayemi thought all of them could as well chair the council, hence the appointment of the Alawe to be the chair.
But the 16 Pelupelu Obas saw the appointment as a violation of the Ekiti State Chieftaincy Law; hence their decision to stay away from the meetings of the traditional council, government programmes as a mark of protest and in addition, they took Fayemi and the Alawe to court.
Ekiti Council of Elders led by its President, Prof Joseph Oluwasanmi swiftly moved in to intervene, appealing to all sides in the crisis to sheathe their swords and explore options of peace and calling for caution and restraint, saying the logjam, if not amicably resolved on time, could be hijacked by miscreants to cause problem for the state.
After a while, 5 of the 16 Pelupelu Obas – the Onisan of Isan Ekiti, Oba Gabriel Adejuwon; Attah of Ayede-Ekiti, Oba Abdulmumin Orisagbemi; Onitaji of Itaji-Ekiti, Oba Adamo Babalola; Owa-Ooye of Oke-Imesi, Oba Gbadebo Adedeji; and Arinjale of Ise-Ekiti, Oba Ajayi Adetunji, shifted grounds, the reason why they are now 11.
The situation took a new turn on March 11 when Fayemi queried the 11 remaining aggrieved Pelupelu Obas over alleged insubordination, giving the individual monarchs 72 hours within which to reply.
Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Adeyemi, in his letter to Fayemi, said: “To some races, nothing outside the mundane is attached to their traditional institution whereas, that of Yoruba is beyond the mundane as it is also ancestral and spiritual.”
“The Yoruba Oba is the representative of the ancestors, the real owner of the land or ground,” the Alaafin stated.
This made Fayemi to pay a visit to the Alaafin to explain his own side in the crisis.
To further facilitate peace in the matter, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Ogunwusi, visited Fayemi the governor and the aggrieved obas in the state.
After meeting with the 11 Pelupelu Obas, together with the Governor, Kayode Fayemi and the Alawe on Monday, Oba Ogunwusi said:
“We are here to resolve any issue that probably might snowball to something else. What is key is communication breakdown and we have actually closed that gap.”
“We are here for a particular reason. To the glory of God, we don’t have any issue again, everything is settled. It is normal, there might be slight differences here and there, but it is something within the family of the Oduduwa clan and to the glory of God, it has been resolved.
“The governor is here, we are in the Governor’s Office, all the Alademerindinlogun, the Pelupelu obas, the main founding kings of Ekiti and to a large extent, we have resolved. They are the fathers to the governor and it has been resolved.
“There are no issues because we have a very amiable son of the Yoruba people who is the governor of the state like the Yoruba will say ‘bibiiire o see fowo ra’. Everything has been resolved. To the glory of God, there is mutual respect between the people in government and the traditional rulers.”
But until the details of the resolutions reached at the meeting are released to the public and seen to have been totally accepted by all parties involved, it may be difficult to conclude at the moment that a permanent resolution of the crisis has been made.
