The Asiwaju of Osogbo land, Chief Ajadi Adekilekun Badmus has described the allegation made by the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress against the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Larooye as embarrassing.
Badmus, in a statement on Sunday obtained by InsightMedia in Osogbo, said the whole Ataoja-in-Council is shocked with the development.
InsightMedia has reported that the All Progressives Congress in a statement on Saturday accused the monarch of interfering in politics by directing non indigenes to vote candidates of the People’s Democratic Party in the forthcoming polls.
“Oba Larooye and the whole Ataoja in council expressed shock and indignation at the twisting of the agenda of the meeting that was had with representatives of non-indigenous communities in Osogboland.
“The Ataoja, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Olanipekun, convened the meeting to appeal to non-native residents of his domain to allow peaceful and rancourless elections before, during, and after the general elections. The Ataoja neither threatened nor warned the guests on how to exercise their lawful and legitimate franchise during the coming elections but only preached messages of a peaceful atmosphere in his domain.
“And I want to believe that this action is one of the cardinal function of the Ataoja and it is necessary because of the daily scary news and reports of incidents that the public receive almost on daily basis.
“Based on the above I wish to make it clear and assure all and sundary that the Ataoja did not and could not have issued threats or asked his guests to vote against their conscience nor vote for or against any political party.
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“The Ataoja is the father to not only all indigenes and non-indigenes of Osogbo, including the Igbos who recently contributed to the ongoing renovation of the Palace of the Ataoja, but also the father to all political parties and their members.”