Kingmakers, Osun commissioner disagree as new Aree emerges

A 49-year-old Prince Raphael Ademola was on Friday elected as the 16th Aree of Iree in Osun State after he was elected by Warrant Chiefs.

The new Aree, who hails from the Oyekun Ruling House, was reportedly elected by Warrant Chiefs at a meeting supervised by some officials of the Boripe North Local Council Development Authority, Iree.

He succeeded Oba Jimoh Olayonu who passed on on July 8, 2018.

Meanwhile, kingmakers in Iree have rejected the process that produced the new monarch, accusing the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Bayo Adeleke, of imposing his preferred candidate.

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One of the kingmakers in the town, the Aogun of Iree, Chief Saliu Atoyebi, who addressed journalists on behalf of the Aree-in-Council, further said, “They have not elected any king in Iree as far as we are concerned. What they should do is bring the contestants who are princes to us (kingmakers) from the four ruling houses… for us to consult the oracle.

“All these were not done. What they claimed they did today was not the proper process by which the Aree of Iree would emerge. On 24th of October 2022, the government brought a notice to us indicating that they wanted to appoint Iyalode as a warrant chief as a result of the death of one of the kingmakers, which we rejected vehemently because a woman cannot be part of the kingmakers.

“Afterwards, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Bayo Adeleke, summoned a meeting at the palace where he threatened all of us and promised to return on October 28th to force us to do his bidding. We recorded his threatening us, hence we have to go into hiding.”

But when contacted, the Commissioner for Local Government And Chieftaincy, Adeleke, said the kingmakers abdicated their duties, adding that the appointment of the warrant chiefs became necessary since it was within the government’s power to act when faced with such a circumstance.

He said three times meetings were called for kingmakers to elect a new monarch and on those occasions, they refused to turn up for the meeting, insisting that due process was followed in the appointment of the new monarch for the town.