The three ruling houses in Ikere Ekiti, the second most populous town in Ekiti State, have protested the selection of one Jimi Adu as the Ogoga-elect of the community.
They said the selection was in flagrant violation of the state’s Chieftaincy Law.
The three ruling houses, namely: Akaiyejo, Agabaola and Ogbenuote, said Adu was not a biological member of any of the royal families in the community contrary to the tradition of the town that a prince must fulfill before he could be crowned as king of the ancient town.
To guide against break down of law and order, the ruling houses asked the state Governor, Ayo Fayose, to declare as null and void the selection process allegedly conducted by a faction of the 21-member kingmakers and order a fresh process that would be in tandem with the law in the state.
Speaking with journalists in Ikere Ekiti on Monday, the ruling houses accused Ikere Development Forum, headed by a former President of the Nigeria Bar Association, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), of planning to foist Adu on the town despite stiff opposition to his candidacy.
The spokesperson of the families, Prince Ojo Ologundoye, maintained that Adu would suffer immense eligibility problem among the indigenes of the town if he succeeds in his desperate quest to become the next Ogoga.
They described as a call to anarchy the alleged factionalisation of the kingmakers by the powerful and influential members of the Forum in a bid to ensure that their preferred candidate scaled the hurdle of selection process.
The spokesman said: “To say the least, Mr Samuel Jimi Adu is not a member of any of the ruling houses, but has surprisingly he is claiming to be a member of Ogbenuote ruling house, whereas he has no link with that royal family and neither is he a prince at all, which means this selection has no place in history and in law.
“As a matter of fact, no selection process was conducted by the Ogbenuote ruling house, some few people just handpicked and foisted on the family by some powerful indigenes and this had sparked up widespread resentment thereby culminating in some protest letters to the Governor, the State Attorney General, Speaker of the State House of Assembly among others.
“Rather than for the kingmakers to consult the oracle in line with customs and tradition , they came up with a list of 14 kingmakers out of 21 traditional kingmakers. Even two of the kingmakers refused to sign, sensing danger in the high level of partisanship and illegality embarked upon by the kingmakers.”
The families contended that it was alien to the tradition of the town for IDF, which was a town development group, to dabble into obaship issue, branding such attempt as unconstitutional and brazen display of ego.