The Supremacy battle for the leadership of the Osun State Council of Traditional Rulers resurfaced yesterday in Osogbo, the state capital.
At the monthly meeting of the Osun State Council, the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, had a brush with the advance team of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi. Some aides of the Ooni were beaten and stripped during the incident. The Ooni’s men had brought his special chair to the front seat of the venue of the meeting as the presiding chairman.
But Oba Aromolaran reportedly shouted down at the Ooni’s men, and said that Oba Ogunwusi’s chair should not come before his own in any way. The development generated heated arguments among the Obas, who appealed to Owa Obokun to be patient about the issue.
It was also learnt that this led to a scuffle, which later resulted to the stripping of one of the Ooni’s messengers, who wanted to place the chair on the vantage position, while another one was reportedly beaten.
The development also led to the cancellation of the meeting as many monarchs, who were present, reportedly flayed the situation, describing the act as ridiculous to the traditional circle. Informed sources said that many monarchs at the meeting said they could not see the reason Aromolaran should be fighting Ooni of Ife over who chairs the meeting, when it was clearly understood by tradition that, Ooni is the head of Yoruba kingdom.
“Despite the Ooni’s ‘Emeses’ (messengers) insistence that they were sent by the monarch to put the chair at that place, Aromolaran resisted them by force and got one of them stripped,” the source added.
As at the time of going to press, the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was said to have been briefed on the development and that he has immediately swung into action to see that peace reigned among the traditional rulers. Sources at the Osun State Government House said that the governor had summoned the monarchs to restore harmony in the circle.
In his reaction to the development, the spokesperson of Ooni, Mr. Moses Olafare, said: “Ooni will not want to be drawn into what happened. But he (Ooni) remained the permanent chairman according to the law. “What I know is that, it is incontrovertible that the Ooni remains the permanent chairman of the council.”
It would be recalled that chairmanship supremacy tussle resurfaced in the state traditional circle when the former Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, joined his ancestors last year. Since then, the Owa Obokun of Ijesha land has been claiming that he was the acting chairman and that some monarchs in the state had even pronounced him to be their chairman.
The Ooni was quoted to have told Owa Obokun in his palace that: “You are one of the prominent traditional rulers in Yoruba land and it is in my own interest and that of the larger Yoruba people to relate very well with the Owa.
I’ve just spent about three months on the throne now while you, Owa, have spent about 34 years. “It is my responsibility to visit you first because you have been on the throne for long.
It has been said by the God almighty that I should come and liberate Yoruba land and to ensure peace and unity. I am not engaging in any supremacy of leadership tussle with anybody.”
In his response, Owa was quoted to have responded to Ooni that: “Your visit was a surprise to me and it is the least expected one. Now that you have come to show hand of friendship, I will now join your unity train to unify the Yoruba.”
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