Following the killing of the Olufon of Ifon, Oba Israel Adeusi, who was mudered on the 26th of November, 2020 at Elegbeka along Ifon-Benin highway, the Olufon stool has been vacant, hence some concerned indigenes of the town have appealed to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu led Ondo State government to ensure smooth and transparent process of choosing new monarch for the community without undue political interference.
Speaking on behalf of the sons and daughters of Ifon, a Prince of the town, Professor Adetokunbo Adeola, while speaking with newsmen in Akure, stated that political interference had started coming into the selection process, stressing that the government should direct its officials not to impose anointed person as an Oba, as it is the people who should be allowed to select their monarch.
Adeola said the alleged interference was now causing tension and apprehension among residents of the town.
Prof Adeola notes that, “On behalf of the concerned sons and daughters of Ifon town, it has become highly expedient for us to urgently address this press conference with a view to letting the general public know about some recent happenings in Ifon town that are alien to Ifon custom and tradition in the selection of a new King. It would be recalled that the Ondo State Government in its letter dated 18th May, 2022, directed the Umaugba ruling house in Ifon town to produce a candidate, or candidates for the Olufon stool.
“As a matter of fact, the choice and preference of the Umaugba ruling house by the Ondo State Government over the other ruling houses who are supposed to be the next in line of succession according to the 1968 Olufon Chieftaincy declaration, is now being challenged in the Court of law in Owo.
“An interlocutory injunction restraining the Ifon Kingmakers from acting on the State Government’s directives to select the next Olufon of Ifon, pending the hearing of the motion on notice was subsequently granted in May, 22nd, 2022.
“While the motion on notice was yet to be heard at the High Court in Owo, one of the Princes from the Umaugba ruling house, who had been parading himself everywhere in the town as the anointed Government’s candidate, being an (Party) stalwart, while sensing that the presiding Judge in Owo was not prepared to do their biddings, hurriedly wrote a frivolous petition against him, just to ensure the transmission of the case to the Ondo State Chief Judge, for reassignment to another Judge in Akure, who, according to him, had been contacted and directed by the ‘power that be’ to sit in his chambers and vacate the interlocutory injunction without hearing the motion on notice, as soon as the case file gets to him.
“We have also heard from the acclaimed government’s anointed candidate that all arrangements had been put in place to vacate the interlocutory injunction on Tuesday, 5th of July, 2022, while his selection as the Olufon elect by some of the Kingmakers had been slated for Thursday, 7th of July, 2022, somewhere outside Ifon town.
“Just recently and surprisingly too, some notable APC members and top political office holders from Ose Local Government Area, who are not from Ifon town, had been reaching out to some of the Ifon Kingmakers, while claiming that the Ondo State Governor had given them the assignments to ensure the selection of the acclaimed Government’s candidate and that they are going to give it all it takes to get about eight out of the fourteen Kingmakers to the side of the acclaimed anointed candidate to pave way for his selection in a clandestine manner.
“We wish to appeal to the Ondo State Government and every politician that had been assigned to unduly interfere in our traditional process of selecting the next Olufon of Ifon, that politics should not be introduced to the process of filling the vacant stool of the Olufon of Ifon.
“The Ifon Kingmakers should be allowed to search for and select the next Olufon of Ifon in the traditional means as laid down by our forefathers. We also appeal to the Ondo State Government, that the Ondo State judiciary be allowed to resolve the Olufon Chieftaincy matter that is now before it, without undue interference from any quarters.
“Conclusively, Ifon needs an acceptable King of their own choice that will be freely selected by the Ifon Kingmakers through the guidance of the gods of our land. We say NO to any planned imposition of an individual on us as the next Olufon of Ifon, as our custom and tradition can never be sacrificed on the altar of any political party membership,” Prof Adeola said.
