...fingers traditional ruler
Some of the people of Iloro Ekiti, in Ijero Local Government Area of Ekiti State, took to the streets on Sunday to protest what they termed persistent retrogression and records of abominable incidents in the community, especially in the last five years.
The protesters, who were of different ages, including aged women, carried leaves and marched through the various quarters of the town, chanting traditional songs to show their grievances.
Speaking with Roundoffnews.com, the protesters highlighted some of the abominable incidents recorded, including premature deaths, kidnapping, infiltration, poor growth, and development.
According to them, there seems to be no week without a record of the death of a young person, while kidnapping, which was never recorded for a long time, seems to be an order of the day.
Some of the protesters alleged that the incidents were consequences of the inability of the current traditional ruler of the town Oba Olufemi Olugbesoye to follow due process of installation and perform all mandatory customs and traditional rites as had been done since time immemorial.
They alleged that the traditional ruler was crowned by the Ajero of Ijero Ekiti in his palace, contrary to the custom of the land, hence the community had continued to witness strange happenings, which are signs that the gods, the ancestors, and the people are angry.
They called on Governor Biodun Oyebanji to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter and ensure that a new King is enthroned through the wishes of the people.
Also speaking, Prince Arowolo Babatunde of the Arowolo ruling house said ” What happened in the community today is as a result of lack of leadership and worries about the influx of strange faces into the community causing security concerns as a former Boko Haram Escapee was arrested in the community last year
“The community is jittery that the neighboring community has been turning back fulanis with no one to take charge in the case of our community.
“The royal family’s farmland was given to strangers cultivating cannabis with 1m cash allegedly collected annually for 3yrs and part of the proceed was brought to the royal families meeting which they rejected.
“The community wants the government to beef up security of the community owing to the fact that if a royal family’s farmland could be used to cultivate cannabis there’s probability that the security of the community could be compromised.
The protest was carried out under a strict monitoring by heavy security agents to avoid any breakdown of law and order.
Responding, the traditional ruler of the town, Oba Olufemi Olugbesoye noted that the protest was sponsored and did not reflect the wishes of the majority.
He also denied the allegations of poor growth and development saying since his enthronement the community has witnessed unprecedented development among which are the establishment of a private university in the town, his promotion to grade A Oba, good road and solar lights, housing a LCDA headquarters among others.
Oba Olugbesoye equally faulted the allegation of an influx of foreigners saying some teams of security agencies were still in the town recently to comb all the bushes and they found nothing.
He claimed that all the allegations were framed just to discredit him.
He said the case regarding the process of his enthronement was already in court and it would be tantamount to contempt of court if he started talking about it, hence he urged the protesters to wait for the outcome of the court.
