Oyo State Former Attorney General, Barrister Michael Lana has been assigned by the EMIOLU Ruling House of Iresa-Adu, and have filed a lawsuit against Prince Oyerinde Adeyeye of OSHUNBIYI Ruling House, who is currently parading himself as the Oba of the baffled ancient town of Iresa-Adu, Surulere Local Government, Oyo State.
The Barrister with wealth of experience filed a case in August to finally put an end to the injustice against EMIOLU Ruling House for the last 6 years. According to The Counsel, “The Oshunbiyi Ruling House have now produced two(2) Aresa-Adu in succession in a total violation of the Aresa-Adu of Iresa-Adu Chieftancy Declaration. The Oshunbiyi are again currently attempting to produce third(3rd) Aresa-Adu in succession. This is complete injustice to the Emiolu Ruling House and the theatrical circus must stop”.
The lawsuit filed by EMIOLU Ruling House alleged foul play and politically motivated obaship certificate issued to Prince Oyerinde Adeyeye during the administration of the former Governor of Oyo State, Ex-Gov Abiola Ajimobi to become the Aresa-Adu without complying with any due process of Aresa-Adu Chieftaincy declaration.
In the Aresa-Adu Chieftaincy declaration, candidate contesting for the throne from a Ruling House should have their names submitted through the leadership of their Ruling House to the Kingmakers. In the declaration, there are Seven(7) KINGMAKERS in the Chieftancy Declaration namely; The Baara of Iresa-Adu, Balogun of Iresa-Adu, Jagun of Iresa-Adu, Aare Ago of Iresa-Adu, Ikolaba of Iresa-Adu, Abese of Iresa-Adu, and Iyalode of Iresa-Adu; who must then determine a suitable candidate to be the Oba, Aresa-Adu of Iresa-Adu.
There are two(2) Ruling Houses according to the Gazzete of the Aresa-Adu Chieftaincy Declaration, (i) Emiolu Ruling House, (ii) Oshunbiyi Ruling House. The throne is rotational between these two(2) ruling houses. Recall that the most recent Aresa of Iresa-Adu, Oba Jimoh Oloyede was from Oshunbiyi Ruling House passed on in 2018. The throne should naturally rotate to Emiolu Ruling House, however, in a shocking turn of event, the Ex Governor Ajimobi led administration wrote to Oshunbiyi Ruling House to produce Aresa-Adu again. No action was taken by Oshunbiyi Ruling House to nominate any candidate at the time. The Oshunbiyi family did not forward any name to the Kingmakers as they were equally shocked as to why they received another letter from the Government and not Emiolu Ruling House.
However, in that 2019, Prince Oyerinde Adeyeye from Oshunbiyi self-proclaimed to be the new Aresa-Adu of Iresa-Adu. All Seven Kingmakers (Afobaje) were alive in 2019 and they did not take part in any selection process. That move by Prince Oyerinde Adeyeye undermines the sovereignty of the Aresa-Adu throne, and carpeting the duties of the legal Kingmakers of Aresa-Adu.
In what has truly become a circus, some family members from the same Oshunbiyi Ruling House who were previously reluctant to partake in name submission or nomination in order not to deprive EMIOLU Ruling House their right to produce Aresa-Adu, are now beginning to pressure the Government to remove Prince Oyerinde Adeyeye but to have their names considered instead, if the Government chooses to dismiss the sacrosanct Chieftancy Declaration and insist on having Oshunbiyi produce a third (3rd) Aresa-Adu in succession. There is a general consensus by both Ruling Houses that Prince Oyerinde Adeyeye, did not follow any due process and is not fit to be Aresa-Adu of Iresa-Adu.
All seven Kingmakers have published their own signed letter in 2020 to the Oyo State Government that the next Ruling House to produce Aresa-Adu of Iresa-Adu is the EMIOLU Ruling House.
Furthermore in 2021, a joint statement was issued by all leadership of Iresa-Adu, the Mogaji of the two(2) Ruling Houses, Prince Fowomola Olanipekun (Mogaji of Emiolu Ruling House), Prince Raji Oloyede (Mogaji of Oshunbiyi Ruling House), and all seven (7) KINGMAKERS (Afobaje) that Prince Oyerinde Adeyeye was not to be recognized as the Aresa-Adu, as he was never nominated by his family, neither is it his family’s turn to enthrone Aresa-Adu.
Iresa-Adu community, both young and old made their feelings very clear when Prince Adeyeye Oyerinde attempted to parade himself as Aresa-Adu in June 2019 by rioting against him, his entourage, drummers, etc. This was widely circulated on all national news media platforms in 2019. Any member of the public can do an online search about the incident. Prince Adeyeye Oyerinde, overwhelmed by the community reaction against him fled into the bush.
One of the elders in the town said; “Oyo State Government created this problem for us. We just woke up one day in June 2019 and saw some people coming into town in a carnival-like fashion, and they started proclaiming Adeyeye as the new Aresa. The Youths were not finding it funny and descended on Adeyeye and his entourage. Some of his drummers were beaten to a pulp. It took the intervention of the Police before normalcy returned to this town. This was because there was no process that chose him. He went to obtain an illegal certificate from Ibadan and decided to come and proclaim himself as our King. We have Laws governing Oyo State, and no one is above that law. He is not even from the next Ruling House, which should be Emiolu Ruling House. That is why the town is backing the Emiolu family for justice to prevail. Even when our forefathers never had a Chieftaincy Declaration, the throne rotated between both families peacefully without the existence of a Government intervention. Since histroy and tradition was not destroyed during the times of our forefathers, it shall not be destroyed during our own time”.
Some members of the Emiolu Ruling family, “Please help us appeal to Governor Seyi Makinde to correct this error made by his predecessor Ex-Gov Ajimobi administration. Governor Makinde should use his executive power to withdraw the illegal certificate that Prince Adeyeye Oyerinde is carrying around, and write to our family (Emiolu) to produce the next Aresa. Even the Oshunbiyi Ruling House agrees that it is our turn. It is only the Prince Adeyeye faction of the Oshunbiyi family that are against us because of their selfish interest. The town is suffering a lot of setback as a result of this too. Please help us beg the Governor to correct past mistakes, so that his name can pass down in our town’s history”.
His Excellency, Engr Seyi Makinde should treat this as a matter of priority and stop the individuals playing politics with one of the most revered throne in Oyo state and in Yorubaland.
