Confusion over Eleruwa, Onilala Throne

Crisis are still brewing  over the heirs to the thrones of Eleruwa of Eruwa  and Onilala of Lanlate all in Ibarapa east Local government as courts cases to determine the rightful occupants are still pending .

In Eruwa, following the  January High court  judgment ordering Oba Samuel Adebayo to vacate the Eleruwa stool, IBARAPA UPDATE gathers that, Oba Adebayo had begin to employ all strategies to retain his position

The plots which begins with appealing the high court rulings, in an application filed before the  Court of Appeal , sitting in Ibadan, may have also take a political dimension.

Oba Adebayo  IBARAPA UPDATE learnt had being to lobby the incumbent governor of the State Senator Isaki Abiola Ajimobi to intervene in the Obaship tussle.

A source close to the palace  said “ serious political lobbying had begin embarked upon since when the former governor Alao Akala lost the election, you will remember that our king campaigned for Akala’s re election, he worked very hard to deliver his constituency  for the former governor so that he will gain his support “

the planned also include uncalled for visitation of state official to the palace to intimidate his opponent “ in a space of two weeks the First lady was here, followed by the commissioner of police, so that our people will see relevance in him, as a strong Oba in the state”   

The source said the Oba Samuel at a time publicly boasted that “since the case took 13 years at the high court, he will ensure it takes a longer period at the Court of Appeal.”      

  Justice M.L Abimbola of the Oyo state high court sitting at Ibadan had restrained Oba Samuel from parading  himself as the Eleruwa of Eruwa land

The monarch in a swift reaction told IBARAPA UPDATE on phone that the allegations are  mere plot to tarnish his name.

His words :  I don’t know about that, I move freely in my community , have been on the throne for fourteen years the town has been peaceful, we all live in  harmony so why should I use security to oppress my opponent, am acceptable by my people, I don’t even often use my police ordeal neither is my house a military commando estate for people.

I don’t know how to lobby, am 14 years on the throne, the governor can’t decide the case that is in Court of Appeal, am performing my duties so why should I lobby him, please I don’t know who is lobbying the governor.”   

However Prince Rasheed Oyedepo Ajao argued that one of the plans is to use delay tactics by filing frivolous motions in court of Law.

He said “after the court ruling, by January 31, he filed a notice of appeal at the appeal court in Ibadan, a few days after that, he filed a motion for stay of execution, the motion for stay execution didn’t come up until June 7, 2011, that is after he has filed his own paper, his lawyer filed his suiting address.

“For reason best known to him when his lawyer was to start argument on the motion for stay of execution, the lawyer said  he was no longer interested in the motion and he was going to withdraw the motion, the judge now ruled and he struck out the motion on June 7, 2011, the motion for stay of execution.

Since he filed the notice of appeal, he did not do anything significantly on that appeal. The next we saw on August 25, I was served motion of appeal on the motion for stay of execution, that was slated for November 28, the stay out of execution  motion was struck at the high court. The intention is to delay the judgment, because his telling his people that since,  the high court case took thirteen years, he believe the appeal court will take longer years.

Since will know the high court the take so long period was because of his delay tactics and the Nigerian legal system tolerates it but he will not have it like that this time.

Oyedepo also reassures not to pursue his case illegal “No matter how long it lasted I am going to pursue the case legally because I know I will win. I do not have the slightest doubt in my mind that I will win. He did not meet up with any of the condition of both the chieftaincy declaration and Chief law the chieftaincy law says the person must come from the Olaribikusi ruling house, he is from the Akalako ruling house, the ruling house that have just left the throne and that is why all our grounds of suit against him were upheld by the court.

Onilala Throne

While the crisis in Lanlate town as being between the Bioku and Oguntayi family since 2000, the Onilala stool as being simultaneously occupied by Abdul Lateef Olawuyi Olagoke (Ilufemiloye1) of the Bioku ruling house and Oba segun Oladejo (Oguntayi II) of Oguntayi’s family.

The Bioku ruling housing according to Prince Ismail Makejuola of the Bioku family said the chieftaincy declaration, there are only two ruling houses in Lanlate, which are Bioku and Olabebe ruling houses and this has being in existing since the inception of Lanlate.

“After the death of the late Oba Richard Oyewole Oyediran of Olabebe ruling house, the local government sent the Bioku’s family letter to present candidate for the Kingship throne of Lanlate as the next ruling house and we did. It was later sent to the Oyo state government and this was during the tenure of the former Governor of the state, Adewolu Ladoja and Olagoke was enthroned.”

“but when Akala assumed office Ilufemiloye was dethroned because the then federal lawmaker at the lower chamber for the Ido/Ibarapa constituency, Oluyemi Taiwo who led the motion of the impeachment of former Governor Ladoja while in the state house for the ruling of the nine months of former Governor Alao Akala was in support of the Oguntayi’s family.

It is the people that gave Olagoke the mandate and it is recongised by all Lanlate indigenes but because of the forceful government of Akala led to the removal of Ilufemiloye  and the installation of Oguntayi II.

Also speaking for the Bioku’s family, Adejare Gbadamosi stressed the fact that the Oloko white paper that brought Adio and Oguntayi families to join the two existing ruling houses in Lanlate was released by the former Governor, Lamidi Adesina but emphasized that the white paper was nullified by former Governor Rasheed Ladoja. “Ladoja in 2003, abrogated Oloko report white paper vide Oyo state of Nigeria gazette No.14 vol 29 and this made Oloko report illegal for use in Oyo state as far as chieftaincy rules are concerned”, he added.

 According to Gbadamosi, the first Oguntayi was a chief (Aare ago) in the early Lanlate kingdom but only had an unacceptable opportunity to rule the then dwellers of Lanlate for 22days while the first Adio was from Igboora and an in-law to Bioku’s family but was became Onilala when there was no adult male to occupy the throne when it was Bioku’s turn.

“If Adio’s family wants to rule Lanlate, it should be from the Bioku’s linage, because their father ruled as candidate of Bioku then but for Oguntayi Aareago is the Chieftaincy tittle they are entitle to not Onilala.

“That is why we are in court and we are aware of the delay tactics they are imploring but all we know is that the both the Oguntayi and the Adio families have no rite ascend the throne of the Onilala”, he added.

He therefore, implored the government to stop the present Onilala’s salary until the court decides.

However, in contrary to the view of the Bioku’s family, the Onilala of Lanlate Oba Segun Oladejo Oguntayi II, argued that there are four ruling houses in Lanlate and the Oguntayi and Adio are part of the four ruling houses in Lanlate.

According to him, the Bioku family used the chieftaincy declaration of 1957 in enthroning their candidate and disregard the Oloko white paper that was gazette by the former Governor Lamidi Adesina, where Oguntayi and Adio families are included in the ruling houses of Lanlate.

”Everything is not political influence, chieftaincy issue is not about political connection but it a family rite. Instead of admitting that the 1957 chieftaincy declaration had been amended my opponent went ahead to used the 1957 to installed their candidate, despite the litigation on the issue then in 2007.

“Nobody snatched the throne from them, it was the government that said their installation did not follow due process and I was installed, I am recognized, I attend Obas and Chiefs councils meeting, I have been giving instrument of office and my appointment has been gazette, what else”, he said.

Oba Oladejo however, said no delay in the court, because the judge in charge is currently busy with the election tribunal and more so judiciary should be given time for possible evidences or facts from the lawyers of both parties as fair hearing.

“The case is just starting, we are just going for mentioning because the hearing has not started but there is litigation on the issue. Chieftaincy is a sensitive issue and cannot be resolved within a month”, he added.

REV. OLANIYI RETIRES AFTER 27 YEARS OF SERVICE

The minister in charge first Baptist church, Anko Eruwa Reverend (Dr.) Micheal Olaniyi has retired after 27 years of service in the God’s vineyard.

Dr. Olaniyi who describe his years of service as God’s fulfillment and challenging in an interview  with IBARAPA UPDATE  said that he enjoyed pasturing the church because of their cooperation and commitment he received from his member

According to him he enjoy Gods power in changing peoples lives through the  words of God preached to people throughout his year of service.

“What I enjoy most is the power of God changing the life if people just by his word. People hear the word and change their life for good, that is what I cherished and I always thank God for that, because once ones life change towards Christ , everything about him will change for good.”

Recalling his most challenging period during service, he said that people beliefs that pastors are free from problem, “when my Wife died in January 8th, 2011, members were looking unto me as a person consoling other people, but it was my turn and it was very challenging but God lead me through. Instead of people consoling me, I was the one consoling them.

“It caught them unaware, many of them taught once you are a pastor you are free from problem, for a pastor wife to die many members wanted to run away from the church but God gave me the grace to encourage them,” he added.

LG BOSS BLAMES TEENAGE PREGNANCIES ON PARENTS

The chairman of Ibarapa East Local Government, Lanre Olaosegba has blamed the increase of teenage pregnancies and school drop out on parents.

He said this while speaking with Ibarapa Update at the opening match of the Ido/Ibarapa champions football competition at the Eleruwa stadium on Monday, 24th October, 2011.

According to him, it is the responsibility of the parents to send their words to school and ensure they are in school and not elsewhere. “Truly, youths are not interested in education again but we discovered that children spend more time with their parents than in school, therefore, we have to back to the base and ensure adequate home training”, he added.

Speaking on his plans, Olaosegba said his administration is ready to organize a reorientation programme for the parents to avoid indulging pupils or secondary school students in activities that are detrimental to their future by their parents.

“In our meeting with all principals in local government and Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) about six weeks ago, it comes to reality that teachers cannot be blamed for seeing students at cinema houses, games centre, markets while they ought to be in school. When our parents are curbed, all will return to normalcy”, he added.

My Plans For Ibarapa North Local Government- LG BOSS

Adegboyega Ojelere is the caretaker chairman of Ibarapa North local Government, in this interview with our correspondent, He speaks on his plans to develop the local government and his political ambition , Excerpt  

I’m Prince Adegboyega Ojelere, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to become what I am today, it a position I do not deserve but God counted me worthy to be here. Now that I am here I want to serve my people and I know God will help me to elevate their suffering in this local government.

Thus, I have been trying to see some of our leader to know their needs and what they want. We have our programmes which we run, the free health programme, free education, employments and other things like that.

In Ibarapa farming is a major occupation, what are the plans of your administration to develop this sector?

Agriculture is one of our programme we want to embark on and we are proposing to mechanised our agricultural sector. By given farmers tractors and other equipment needed. Also, we want to give farmers fertilizers because fertilizer this days is not easy to come by and even may not be affordable at its present price for our people. We want to get this fertilizers and give it out at a very cheaper rate.

When did the local government want to achieve this?

I have called the director of agriculture in the local government and he has told me that we have to purchase up to five tones of fertilizer and we are also going to supplement this with hoes and cutlasses to be given to the farmers in the local government.

 On electricity, what are you doing to the frequent and long time outage of power in your local government?

On that we the three Caretaker Chairmen in Ibarapa have met and deliberated on how to solve this. We invited the officials of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and they told us what we need to do to put an end to outage of electricity in the land. We try to liaise with the PHCN manager in Ibadan so that we will tap our electricity from Ido district and we will bear the cost and it will not going to cost us less than 10 million naira. And we are ready to do that to avoid outage of electricity or blackout.

We discover that there is no much blackout in Ido axis, compare to where our connection is presently. To buy the poles and the cables to run the connection will cost us 10 million naira and the three local government are ready to paid the cost.

Youths are interested in education anymore, what are you doing presently to get back this lost attention of the youths?

It is not particular to Ibarapa youths alone but it is a general challenge in the country. There are many graduates on the street seeking jobs now. So, these youths are discouraged that if they are asked to go to school and after graduating there is no job. So, why do they have to bother about going to school in the first place. They rather prefer join the local charcoal production crew or become a motorcyclist  and so on.

But we want to encourage them with petty jobs and that is while Oyo state government come up with the Youth Empowerment Scheme of Oyo state (YES O) to absorb 20,000 people. It is in our plan to employ youths so that they can be rest assure that after their education they can get job.

Igangan’s motor park under lock.

We all know what happened during this Akala region we know how they were killing themselves and that is why government bound all of them from carrying out their responsibilities. They don’t help us rather disturbing the peace and the orderliness of the state and the communities. As soon as the embargo is lifted off them at the state level, everything shall return to normalcy.

Otepa bridge collapsing

We plan to do something on that because the Oyo state as instructed us to go out and look for the federal road that needs construction and I have been there to see things myself and we are going to work on it.

Health and welfare

We gave 10,000 to 20 widows and 5,000 to 20 aged people during the visit of the first lady of the state. We are running free health care, even the 3 local government conducted a free medical treatment for people with eyes defect.

Politics, are you interested in contesting the next election?

I am not interested in contesting any elected post. As it comes my way, they ask me to serve them and am doing it. After this if they ask me to contest again, I will find another way to reject it. But if it is the will of God, well we let it be.

IGBOORA LOSES NYSC SON IN MOTOR ACCIDENT

The sleepy community of Igboora, Ibarapa Central Local government on 6th October, 2011 was woken as the news of the death of a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member and male indigene of the town hit the community.

IBARAPA UPDATE gathered that the deceased Adewole Kabiru, a 29 years old Higher National Diploma (HND) graduate of marketing from the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Ogun state was serving his nation as a NYSC Cop  in Jos, Plateau state.

According to the father of the deceased, Sikirulai Adewole said Kabiru left his service station because of the Jos crisis but was required of his boss to be coming every month to sign his allowance voucher.

“On his way, we heard a trailer broke down, but after being repair it spitted diesel oil on the road and it was the spilled  diesel  oil that slipped the bus in which Kabiru was a passenger  and eventually caused the accident that claimed my son’s life”, he added.

Lamenting on the lost, Adewole called on the federal government to allow graduates to serve in their states or region, near to their location to reduce the lost promising youths to auto crash, saying the government is lagging behind in provision of good road network which is the major  cause of road accidents.

“If provisions are made for buses, cars and big vehicles like trailers to travel on separate route, this would not have happened and there will be less issues of road accident.

“Now, we have no power nor know any federal government official and our hope man to liberate us is taken. All we can do is to trust in God and only if the government have mercy on us to rescue our situation”, he added.

The late Adewole Kabiru attended Methodist primary school and Igboja High School both in Igboora, before he proceed to the polytechnic of Ibadan, Adeseun Ogundoyin campus, Eruwa for his National Diploma and finally graduated at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Ogun state in 2010.

OMOYIN SHUT PETRO STATION AFTER ELECTION VICTORY

Many residents of Eruwa Community has continued to question the closure of Highway Petroleum owned by the house of Representative member representing Ibarapa / Ido federal constituency , Sunday Adepoju (Omoyin) few weeks after his victory in the April 2011 general poll.

The reasons for the closure of the filling station located at Odo-Baba Ode area of Eruwa was unknown to community dwellers, IBARAPA UPDATE   gathers that the closure was due to mismanagement of the business and internal crisis.

However residents said the business was grounded after Omoyin  had invested all the capital of the business into his political ambition , others argues that the establishment of the business was a propaganda strategy to win supports of his people.

“We  are here when he started the rested Symbolic building material company opposite FEMO company and now Highway Petroleum is also down to the earth, I don’t why all his business in our community don’t last the test of time.”

However Omoyin’s close aide Mr Olanrewaju Ibrahim confirmed that the filling station was shut down because of mismanagement and internal crisis.

“I don’t know much about it but I can confirm that my honorable want to be using Symbolic as his constituency office for now because of his full involvement in politics but the filling station was closed because our people don’t know how to manage it, ” he added.

Also speaking Adepojus’s senior legislative aide Mr Ezekiel Ojelade denies that the closure of the filling station  has nothing to do with the lawmakers victory at the poll nor its political career.

According  to Ojelade, nobody is suffering the closure as people thinks  it creating unemployment because the proprietor of the venture still pays every staff as at when due.

He said the lawmakers is planning something bigger and better for his constituency.

IBARAPA FIRST LADIES TO GET N1.5 MILLION FOR WIDOWS, AGED

The Oyo state first lady, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi has pledged N1.5 million to the wives of the three local government chairmen in  Ibarapa region of the state.

While making the 500,000 pledge to each Ibarapa first lady and other 30 local governments of the state during her recent tour to the local governments, Mrs. Ajimobi said the fund is to be distributed to 10 unidentified widows in their areas so as to eradicate poverty.

She said this during her recent tour to the 33 local government of the state on her healthy living project for the widows and aged people in the state.

Mrs Ajimobi who had earlier distributed 50,000 each to 330 widows in the state across all local governments said widowhood  is seen as a curse  and the death of  their breadwinner usually translate into death of his family. Many widows and their children are often  kicked out of their homes, forced to live in poverty and turned to prey  to abuse, violence and sexual  exploitation.

“we should all rise to support  and empower  the widows in our midst and give them the opportunity to live again. This cannot be achieved  with mere talk but through decisive action. With determination we will save widows and their families  from stigma, harassment and humiliation” she added.

Mrs  Ajimobi therefore urged the wives of all the local government area chairman in the state to go back to their respective councils to launch the programme with assurance that her office had made  available the sum of 500,000 to each council for onward distribution to 10 unidentified widows in their area to eradicate poverty