There is palpable tension in Ara community, Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State over the selection of a new monarch in the town, as a ruling house petitioned Governor Adegboyega Oyetola on the issue.
The petition which was signed by the head of Ajadi Ruling House, Prince Emmanuel Oladejo, on behalf of the family members was made available to newsmen in Osogbo, the State capital, on Wednesday, urging traditional institutions in Yoruba land to wade in to avert imminent crisis of high magnitude in the sleepy community.
According to the petition, the process that led to the emergence of a new monarch in the town, was said to have negated the principle of fairness and tradition of the ancient town.
They accused the new monarch of conniving with head of kingmakers, and some other kingmakers to illegally perform the Oba initiation ritual and installed one Olubayo, whom they described as an alien.
“We members of Ajadi Ruling House wishes to intimate your Excellency with the disorderliness and undue processes being presently perpetrated in the process for the selection of the new Alara of Ara from Ajadi ruling house, the ruling house adjudged by the decision in the judgement of 23rd January 2019 to be the next ruling house to produce candidate to fill the vacant stool of Alara of Ara.
“It is pertinent for the Governor to know that by 5:30am of 28th of January, 2019 four days after the judgement of the Ejigbo High Court sitting at Ile-Ife on 23rd January, 2019, Chief Bara of Ara, the Head of Ara Kingmakers in connivance with some kingmakers illegally performed the Oba initiation ritual and installed one Iwindapo Olubayo an indigene of Oyo state as new Alara of Ara.
“At the time Chief Bara installed Olubayo, the judgement of the High Court was not ready for collection and there was no process in place for the filling of the vacant stool.
“There are six ruling house in the Alara of Ara Chieftaincy by the 1979 Alara of Ara Chieftaincy Declaration , Ajadi Ruling House , the 5th is to produce the new and next Alara of Ara.
“The head of our ruling house, Prince Emmanuel Oladejo had declared that he saw and endorsed three (3) expression of interest forms obtained by Prince Gideon Olufemi Adegboye, Prince (Barr) Samson Oladunmoye Ilufoye and Prince Victor Oyekanmi Adegboye.
“That the alleged 4th form purportedly obtained by one Iwindapo Olubayo was never presented to the Head of the Ajadi ruling house let alone endorsing it. The said Iwindapo is not known to the head of the Ajadi ruling family.
“We are concerned about this development in our community, and obviously we want somebody that will continue where our late monarch stopped but not a person whose emergence to the throne is against customs and tradition of our land, anything contrary to due process is a taboo and a recipe to chaos ”, it read.
