The Ekiti State government has warned communities pursuing autonomy to eschew violence and stoking the embers of division that could threaten and destabilise the existing royalty.
The Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Monisade Afuye, gave the warning in Ado Ekiti, on Tuesday, while presiding over a chieftaincy brawl brewing in Araromi Ugbesi Ekiti, Ekiti East Local Government Area of the state.
The intervention was sequel to a petition written by the Okete family of Araromi Ugbesi, calling for its enlistment as a Ruling House and as well agitating for the removal of Owa Eleshi of Araromi Ugbesi Ekiti, Oba Lawrence Adeyeye over alleged harassment and intimidation of his people.
Addressing the community, Mrs Afuye, in a statement by her Special Assistant on Media, Victor Ogunje, warned that, henceforth, any community or chiefdom pursuing autonomy must do that with civility and peace, saying such demand won’t be granted under the atmosphere of crisis.
For fence-mending, Mrs Afuye directed all the Chiefs in the Okete family to reunite with the monarch and start attending community meetings to restore peace, saying the government can’t approve autonomy under the atmosphere of peace and disunity.
“With you changing your name from Okete to Obalende, you have pulled out of Araromi Ugbesi and it will be difficult for you to get the declaration changed in your favour.
You can’t be given autonomy when you are causing a crisis.
“I want you to sustain the rotation of Elenta chieftaincy within the Okete family for peace to reign. Go back and reunite with your traditional ruler, so that you can be one to pursue whatever agenda you have peacefully”.
Speaking to the petition, the representative of the Okete family, Mr Dapo Adebayo, accused the monarch of charging the people of the family to court on trumped-up charges, while also using his connection to discipline their members unjustly.
“It has got to a stage that Kabiyesi no longer allows us to gather to celebrate marriages, burial of aged ones, launching for community development without permission. We are being treated like slaves in our own land.
“Using trumped-up charges, Kabiyesi had succeeded in sending our people to jail. All these must stop and we need the intervention of the government to put an end to this maltreatment”.
For peace to reign, Adebayo requested the monarch to accede to the request to change the family’s name from Okete to Obalende and replace the current Elenta chieftaincy holder, Chief Meshack Alonge, with their preferred candidate.
Debunking the accusations in his defence, Oba Adeyeye, accused the family of polarising the community, by stoking the fire of acrimony over the installation of one Chief Alonge as the Elenta of Ugbesi community.
Oba Adeyeye said the Okete family had been pushing for autonomy at different times before Justices Silas Oyewole and Jide Aldejana Panels of Inquiry, but failed owing to the fact they had no history to support their case.
“I am just pleading with them to allow peace to reign. Governor Oyebanji stands for peace. Let it be known that the family doesn’t have eligibility for the royal stool, they are not part of the ruling house. They are using this to foment trouble.
“I didn’t send any of them to jail. It was the police that charged them to court and they were found guilty and sentenced accordingly. It wasn’t me that charged them to court as being alleged”, the monarch clarified.
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