Victor Akinkuolie, Ado-Ekiti
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The people of Orin Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Government area of Ekiti State recently trooped out to protest the alleged plan by some power brokers in the town to impose a king on the town.
They accused the government of planning to appoint a new king from a family that doesn’t belong to the royal family.
The stool of Olorin of Orin Ekiti became vacant following the death of Oba Oluwole Olubunmo in 2015.
The protesters flaunted various placards with the following inscriptions: ‘No third ruling house in Orin’. ‘Imposition Won’t work, “We won’t allow perversion of history’, among others.
Briefing newsmen after the protest, Chief Francis Falua, the Eletin of Etin and head of kingmakers , said the only legally recognised royal family that had been in existence for over 200 years were the Olubunmo and Famokiti.
The kingmaker described as a serious perversion and mutilation of history for the government to have included ‘Idimeyinsunwon’ as the third ruling house, contrary to tradition that only recognises two.
He described as illegal and sacrilegious, attempt by government to bring another ruling house from a family that had never occupied the traditional stool since the formation of the town.
Falua said from tradition and oral rendition, the town had never had a third ruling house , saying such coming up now was an aberration.
He said it is the turn of Famokiti to produce the king since the late Oba Oluwole Olubunmo was from Olubunmo ruling house.
Falua added that Idimeyinsunwon , where the government , based on the advice of the Deputy Governor, Chief Bisi Egbeyemi was planning to bring out the next king , was not a ruling house.
“Before the late Oba was installed, it took the town over 15 years, we could not produce the king because of the crisis”.
Lending credence to the fact that the town had only two ruling house , Chief Fasuyi accused Ajibewa family in the town of allegedly being behind the forged gazette.
“The issue of kingship is not about gazette, but about a long standing tradition”.
He added : “We only have Olubunmo and Famokiti ruling houses. We don’t know where the third ruling house emanated. We are not fighting”.
Fasuyi clarified that the Morgan commission of inquiry of 1978 corroborated that the town has only two ruling houses, saying “We don’t know the declaration that brought out the gazette that said three.
The Deputy Governor of the state had visited the town on Thursday and ordered the community to produce the king while he ordered kingmakers of Orin-Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Government Area to nominate a candidate to fill the vacant Olorin royal stool in line with the extant law as soon as possible.
According to a statement by the Special Assistant (Media) to the Deputy Governor, Odunayo Ogunmola, government said the choice of the next king must be in line with the Olorin Chieftaincy Declaration, Gazette No 2.
He said the government’s intervention followed a disagreement on the number of ruling houses eligible to produce candidates to contest for the Olorin stool.
Egbeyemi maintained that the state government is bound by the law which recognized Ajibewa as the third ruling house saying “no one can change it.”
