Officials of the Department of Chieftaincy in the Osun State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs have been accused selling chieftaincy titles to the highest bidders.
Tha allegation was made by a prince of the Ademuyiwa Ruling House, Itaakun, Ikire, during a press briefing on Wednesday in Osogbo on the matter of the Sooko Chieftaincy of Itaakun, Irewole LGA of the state.
Prince Adeoye while addressing journalists also accused the officials of taking advantage of their status to pervert the course of justice and having total disregard for the provisions of the extant laws of the land.
Adeoye also revealed that several letters written and petitions submitted on the subject were deliberately ignored.
He noted that the Sooko Chieftaincy Ruling Houses were four according to the original declaration of the Chiefs Law of 1957 comprising of Metiku, Falade, Ademuyiwa and Atere.
Adeoye added, “The inclusion of Omomimi as the 5th Ruling Houses was the beginning of the chieftaincy dispute and the Awodeyi’s 4 Ruling Houses resisted the inclusion which led to the setting up of the Abegunde’s Commission of inquiry and the Chieftaincy Commissioner then was Dr. L.O. Adegbite.
“After the conduct of a comprehensive inquiry, the then Commissioner published the findings of the Inquiry which findings were accepted by the State Government and the findings were as follows:
“That there are four ruling houses for the sooko of Ikire chieftaincy; That the identities are Ademuyiwa, Falade, Metiku and Atere; That the Momimi ruling house whose member allegedly reigned about 200 years ago is too remote and is therefore affected by section 4(4) of the Chief Law, Cap 19; and That Molaja house is not a ruling house for the purpose of the chieftaincy.”
He described as laughable that the two rejected Ruling Houses of Momimi and Molaja by the J.B. Abegunde Commission in 1958 and which was accepted by the government are now being made the only two Ruling Houses by another counter declaration which was made available on September 30, 2024.
“The first 4 Ruling Houses were the original Ruling Houses and the four were children of our ancestral father, Awodeyi as it was Awodeyi that gave birth to Metiku, Falade, Ademuyiwa and Atere.”
Insisting that anything outside the originally recognised four Ruling Houses is ill motivated, Adeoye called on the Osun State Government to urgently intervene in order to avert a pending crisis in the town.
“We the Royal House of the Metiku, Falade, Ademuyiwa and Atere. has insisted that there are four ruling houses entitled to the throne of the SOOKO of ITAAKUN – IKIRE, contrary to the widespread design of 2 ruling houses.
“There is need to put the records straight to avoid misinformation and perpetration of falsehood. The truth which has been affirmed and reaffirmed historically and legally is that SOOKO OF ITAAKUN can only be occupied by the four ruling houses as earlier mentioned.
“We are aware of the defective Declaration being flaunted by the fake two ruling house. We need to state unequivocally that the defective Declaration as recently promulgated was surreptitiously procured while they were unlawfully alienating family properties and the Court of Appeal and the state refused to admit the defective Declaration in evidence, just as the High Court refused to admit same.”
He noted that since the matter is in court, the government officials issuing contrary documents were in contempt of court.