Some angry indigenes of Ibese in the Yewa-North Local Government Area of Ogun State have staged a protest against the choice of the new monarch of the ancient town, Oba Rotimi Mulero.
The emergence of the embattled monarch was recently approved by the Ogun State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
The angry indigenes, some of whom are from Olokojobi Ruling House, armed with placards and banners, said they would not accept the government’s decision on the choice of the new Oba.
The Ibese, the community hosting Dangote Cement Factory lost its late monarch, Oba Joel Bamgbose, in January 2017.
Since then, the Olokojobi Ruling House have been making frantic efforts to have a new king installed.
Speaking on behalf of the ruling house, Prince Abdulhakeem Idowu said the peaceful protest was held to display their disapproval of the choice of the new Oba.
Idowu said the decision was made despite a subsisting court injunction that all activities relating to Ibese Obaship installation be put on hold.
He said “We are against the imposition of Oba in Ibese.
“Despite the fact that we have two injunctions restraining the State from installing anybody at all as the Oba, the State government had gone ahead to install one Rotimi Mulero as the Oba.
“The said Mulero is not from our ruling house. What we are saying is that this installation, from the beginning to the end, is totally wrong, and we cannot accept it.
“What the declaration of Ibese says is that the Obaship can only go to the female line when there is no qualified candidate from the male line.
“We submitted the name of Prince Adedimeji Idowu to the kingmakers as our candidate. But they went to another family that is not even from Ibese. The ‘Muleros’ are not from Ibese, they are from Iboro; it is only their mother that relates to us here. The declaration doesn’t allow that.
“We are sending a strong signal to the State government. You can hear what happened in Agosasa, in Ado-Odo, Itele and other places over obaship tussle. We don’t want that in Ibese.
“What we are saying is that the government should give us our mandate. This is our heritage. What the state government did is slap on the judiciary.
” We believe in the judiciary and we know the right thing will be done. The whole world should come to our aid. It is a pity that Governor Dapo Abiodun who is from a royal family is rubbishing every law that establishes obaship in Ogun State,” Idowu told newsmen at Ibese Garri Market.
He called on the people of Ibese to remain calm, even as he expressed optimism that the court would nullify the process that produced Mulero as the Aboro of Ibese.
“My Olokojobi family and the good people of Ibese, I want you to remain calm. This crown belongs to us. We have the custody of the ancestral crown. Please don’t fight anybody. We are in court and we are going to win,” he stated.
When contacted, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ganiyu Hamzat, said he was new in the office and would check.
He said he will check what is wrong in their file as it concerns the community when he returns from Abuja.
