The Aragbiji of Iragbiji, Oba Abdulrosheed Olabomi and the Osun State Government are currently trading words over the decision of the State government to amend the Aragbiji Chieftaincy declaration.
InsightMedia recalled that the State Executive Council had during a meeting on Tuesday approved the amendment as contained in a report of a committee set up by the government in 2009.
The report was rejected by the state cabinet of former Governor Rauf Aregbesola in 2013 and the rejection was subsequently gazetted.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Oba Olabomi accused the Governor of attempting to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere in Iragbiji through the “backdoor approval of a report rejected in 2013”.
He said the purported Report of a Judicial Panel of Inquiry is unknown to Aragbiji, the four ruling houses of Ajibode, Osungbemi, Arowodoye and Ogunmolu and the law of the state.
He said, “We appeal that the State Executive Council’s decision presided over by Governor Ademola Adeleke on January 29, 2025, on a purported Judicial Inquiry into the Aragbiji Chieftaincy, which was reported to have been accepted, be reversed.
“As far as law is concerned, there is no living Judicial Inquiry on the Aragbiji Chieftaincy. There was one, which had been consigned to the trash since April 2013, and no amount of mischievous ambush can give life to the dead document. The Governor, Ademola Adeleke, should not plunge Iragbiji into crisis;
“It’s a smack of inconsistency on the part of Osun State Government to publish a Gazette 12 years ago (2013), and for the same Osun State Government to attempt to issue another White Paper (Gazette) on the same subject matter in 2025.
“One looks at the issue as an attempt by Governor Ademola to settle political scores with perceived foe by causing friction among the peace-loving people of Iragbiji. Therefore, we call on well meaning and peace-loving people of Osun State and Nigeria to prevail on Governor Ademola Adeleke, to reverse his intention to cause unrest in Iragbiji”.
Reacting the allegations by the monarch, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dosu Babatunde accused the monarch of twisting facts.
Babatunde said the administration has all rights to revise any decision made by previous administrations in the State and it only exercised the powers.
“The administration of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola in 2010 set up a One Man Judicial Panel of Inquiry into the Aragbiji of Iragbiji Chieftaincy Declaration to include Lagbua Family as a Ruling House. The Panel was headed by a serving Judge of the Osun State High Court of Justice, Osogbo; Hon Justice Dr A.A Aderibigbe and its setting up was as a result of sustained agitation by the Lagbua Family of Iragbiji to the Government.
“The Panel sat between March 8 and 31, 2010 at the High Court Hall, Osogbo and all relevant stakeholders in the Aragbiji of Iragbiji Chieftaincy testified before the Panel. It submitted its report to the Government on 28th July, 2010 but the report was not considered by the State Executive Council until April 3, 2013 when in its wisdom, the then Executive Council rejected the Panel’s recommendation on the basis that the request of the Lagbua Family was in the remote past. The decision was then published in the Government Official Gazette.
“It should be noted that as at the time when the State Executive Council met in 2013, an Iragbiji son was the Chief of Staff to former Governor Aregbesola. Reports then indicated that the Council was largely influenced to ignore the merit of the panel’s report by simply throwing it out.
“However, the Lagbua Family continued its agitation and appealed to the present administration for redress. His Excellency, the Executive Governor later approved the constitution of a Committee to come up with a White Paper on the Report of the One Man Judicial Panel composed of senior technocrats in Government.
“The new Committee recommended that the Government should set aside the decision of the then State Executive Council which rejected the recommendation of the One Man Judicial Panel of Inquiry and implement its recommendations on the basis that:I
“The reason for the rejection of the Panel’s recommendation had ab initio been addressed and resolved by the Panel of Inquiry which took judicial evidence from all the parties. The Panel of Inquiry in one of its findings agreed that the claim of the Lagbua Family is not remote because they have consistently been agitating for their inclusion in the Chieftaincy Declaration of Aragbiji of Iragbiji, having written series of letters and petitions to the Governments of Western Region, Western State, Oyo State and Osun State.
“The Panel found that Lagbua Family was included in the draft Aragbiji Chieftaincy Declarations of 1951 and 1956 but was excluded when the Declaration was to be registered in 1958.
“Furthermore, in arriving at its recommendation for the inclusion of the Lagbua Family in the Aragbiji of Iragbiji Chieftaincy Declaration, the Panel found that as recent as 1942, one Oyekanmi, a member of the Lagbua Family was an Elemo, Head of all the Princes in Iragbiji, a position recognized in the present Chieftaincy Declaration.
“Based on these already established facts, the State Executive Council at its meeting of Wednesday 29th January, 2025 vacated the earlier decision of the State Executive Council of April 3, 2013 and approved the recommendation of the One Man Judicial Panel of Inquiry that the Lagbua Family be included in the Aragbiji of Iragbiji Chieftaincy Declaration. ‘
