….Asks Ondo Govt, Security agencies to Stop reckless attacks in the Town.
Aiyetoro Community, Ilaje Local
Government Area Of Ondo State through the Ogeloyinbo -in-Council And the Board Of Trustees Of The Holy Apostles’ Church, Aiyetoro, have exonerated the Traditional and Spiritual leader of the Community, the Ogeloyinbo of Aiyetoro, Oba Micah Ajijo of any wrongdoing in the disbursement of a compensation paid by an oil company.
The Community leadership also described as unfounded the allegation that the N150million oil-spillage compensation paid by Mobil oil was diverted into personal purse or misappropriated.
The positions of the community, the Ogeloyinbo in Council and the Community Board of Trustees, were made known by the Asiwaju of Ayetoro, Gani Ojagbohunmi; the Baba Ijo, Arch. Bishop E. Eretan; Most Rev. Apostle J.I. Ajijo who is the Chairman, Board of Trustees; Basorun of Ayetoro, Hon Tola Alabere; as well as Folajimi Iretolu who is the Secretary, BOT and Aare Atunluse of Aiyetoro Community, at a press conference in Akure, the State Capital.
The community leaders said about four houses and properties had been destroyed by some aggrieved members of the community while properties worth millions of naira carted away during the protest by the some gangsters loyal to a self-styled prophet in the town, Oluwanbe Ojagbohunmi.
According to the press text read by the Asiwaju of Ayetoro, Gani Ojagbohunmi, no fewer than 84 buildings had been torched and destroyed over the crisis in the coastal community between 2015 till date, following the Obaship tussle which had been settled in Court.
Ojagbohunmi who is also a former Clerk of the House of Representatives, explained that the crisis remained in the community since 2015, following the ambition of a self-styled prophet, Oluwanbe Ojagbohunmi, alleging that the prophet has been sponsoring hoodlums to unleash attack on the traditional ruler of the town, Oba Micah Ajijo.
“This auspicious gathering has been requested to draw the attention of the Nigerian Press to the current crisis ravaging Aiyetoro Community which
has snowballed into an on-going destruction of properties including our Oba’s Palace, threats to lives, assault occasioning various degrees of bodily
harm, and attempts to kidnap and kill the Ogeloyinbo of Aiyetoro Community by a gang of hoodlums in Aiyetoro Community who are being tele-guided by a self–styled prophet called Mr Oluwambe Ojagbohunmi.
“The Okitipupa Area Commander; the Chairman, Ilaje Local Government and the O. C 19 Battalion, Army Barracks, Okitipupa were subsequently alerted on the above and they all visited and
confirmed the aforesaid criminal activities on 05/03/2023.
“The passionate pleas of the aforesaid government and security officers to Mr. Oluwanbe Ojagbohunmi and his gangsters fell on deaf ears. As soon as the officers left around 7:00p.m on 05/03/2023, the gangsters again swooped on the Ogeloyinbo’s palace and started to destroy the Palace building with an attempt to kidnap the Oba from the palace.
“It took the subsequent effort from Naval Officers from a neighbouring Community to rescue the Oba from the Palace and took him out of the community for safety. The destruction of the Oba’s Palace, looting of its properties and threats to lives and properties and other criminal activities being perpetrated by Mr. Oluwanbe Ojagbohunmi and his gangsters have now continued unabated and there is no end at sight.
“So far, the Ogeloyinbo of Aiyetoro Community (Oba Ajijo) has lost properties worth over Five Hundred Million Naira to the above criminal activities. It is rather unfortunate that no security whatsoever has been provided in Aiyetoro Community despite the assurance by some senior government officials and the police that security personnel would be immediately deployed to the Community to prevent further damages to properties and threat to lives.
“It is necessary that we react to the
narrative Oluwambe and his supporters are currently using as excuse or justification for the on-going violence. The false narrative is that the financial compensation paid to the community recently by Mobil Oil Unlimited Company for the oil spillage that affected the community few years ago was misappropriated, and that people in their group that are entitled to compensation were excluded.
“One Mr. Youngboy Lemamu, one of the leaders of the dissident group was quoted in a recent press release that the leader of the community caused compensation of money to be paid into his private bank account, with a view to manipulating the process and administration of the compensation. We hereby state categorically that this allegation is completely false and baseless.
“They added that the compensation was paid into the Community’s official bank account, noting that the monarch was not even a signatory to the bank account, hence all allegations by the group against Oba Ajijo are false and unfounded.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we hereby give an outline of the facts concerning the compensation as follows: All negotiations and arrangements on the formula for the payment of compensation to entitled beneficiaries were conclude under the leadership of the predecessor of the present Ogeloyinbo of Aiyetoro, and same was only rectified by the present leadership of the community.
“When the community lawyer (a senior advocate of Nigeria) negotiated an out-of-court settlement with Mobil
Oil Unlimited Company, he promptly informed us on the amount due to the community, and requested that we
send a community account where the money will be lodged.
“And the secretariat of the community promptly forwarded the community First Bank account, to which the money was paid, after the lawyer had deducted the amount due to him as legal fee in line with one earlier agreement with him.
“In line with the previously negotiated agreements on the compensation, the relevant beneficiaries are people in
the community that are affected by the spillage and who organized themselves into groups/cooperatives, the donors (i.e people who provided money to sponsor the costly process of seeking compensation) the litigants (those who sued and spent money in the process) on behalf of the claimants and the community.
“In the light of the above, we hereby request as follows: (i) urgent mobilization of Mobile Police Force and other security agents to Aiyetoro Community to maintain law and order; (ii) commencement of thorough investigation of the above
stated criminal activities of Mr. Oluwanbe Ojagbohunmi and his gangsters, with a view to make them face the wrath of a due process of law;
“(iii) urgent provision of security personnel to guard the palace of the Ogeloyinbo of Aiyetoro; and (iv) establishment and fully equipped Police Station and Naval Base in Aiyetoro Community.”
