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The Ilu of Orile -Ilawo in Odeda local government area of Ogun state , Oba Alexander MacGregor has dismissed any insinuations that he is at a loggerhead with the Osile of Egba land, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso saying that it is the handiwork of mischief-makers whose stock in trade is selling of lands belonging to Six communities and were hell-bent in destroying the Customs and tradition of the forebears.
Oba Professor MacGregor was speaking against the backdrop of the recent indefinite suspension of his ten chiefs who were sacked for allegedly selling more than 1600 hectares of land belonging to 6 villages, as well as disloyalty and insubordination to the king .
He reaffirmed that he is the sole custodian of customs, culture and tradition of Ilawo kingdom and will not sit back and allow unscrupulous and mischievous elements to send more than 6 villages with their culture and tradition into extinction with their allegedly criminal tendencies.
He stated that the suspended chiefs were title holders in Ilawo not of another town which empowered him as a traditional ruler to suspend any erring chief according to native law and customs and running under the shield of Oba Tejuoso can not help them.
While going on memory lane , he noted that there is a union of multiple towns called Oke-Ona noting that the union is loose one and not a compulsory one, noting that it is an independent native community coming together in 1840 or there about to form Oke- Ona.
He explained that the composition of Oke -Ona is not homogeneous and not from native community but a loose union of big individual kingdoms.
He further stressed that the customary Chiefs are governed by Ilawo customs and tradition adding that the chiefs are nothing but from Ilawo extractions under Ilawo traditional council of chiefs and the only custodian of customs, culture and tradition is no other person than the Olu of Orile-Ilawo.
Oba MacGregor added that customary chiefs in Ilawo only exist under custodian of the culture, tradition and customs of the kingdom and anything short of that is a null and void.
“This people have wiped out more than six villages in Ilawo through unscrupulous act “.
The professor of Biopharmaceutics turned king pointed out that any traditional ruler is at liberty to grant chieftaincy title to any individuals that does validates his authority in other traditional rulers with separate autonomy domain, adding that from time immemorial, there can only be one king in a town but when the mischief makers involve in an unscrupulous act in their own domain and they were been suspended and now claiming allegiance to another traditional ruler different from their own immediate domain saying the act calls for total overall of their appraisal and disloyal tendencies .
On the allegation that they were Chiefs before his ascendance to the throne of his forebears, Oba MacGregor further said that “Osile of Oke-ona Egba was once a prescribe authority during the Ilawo interregnum period , this is the norms in any traditional settings, for every kingdom that does not have king you must have a prescribed authority who have very limited role to play in your kingdom.
“Which is Oba’s Chief laws and once a king emerges from the kingdom , the role of a prescribed authority ends there while the new authority takes charge of his domain with full autonomy”.
According to him,”if they disagreed with the way and manner he removed them they should go to court for proper adjudication on the matter”.
“Genesis of Obaship came from the tradition , culture and customs ,he stated that the suspension stands and when they are ready to explain the reason their position should be reinstated they need to come back to the Ilawo palace for that purpose and not anybody’s palace” .
The traditional ruler further noted that the fundamental tenet of a Chief is loyalty and subordination to a king but in their own issue reversed.
He added that they were also allegedly involved in criminal activities of selling two thousand six hundred hectares of land .
“They have wiped out over 6 communities in Ilawo through their conduct, majority of atrocities happened before my emergence , they have hurriedly perpetuated the act and still continued after my emergence” .
‘I am fighting to prevent the genocide of my native community”. all this atrocities are committed at the villages in Orile Ilawo , I cannot sit here as the king and watch handful of people committing genocide. He said
‘The argument they are making is that they are Chief in Ile- ogboni located in Abeokuta north local government where the Osile area of authority is domicile but in as much as it is for the people of Ile Ilawo , the Ile -Ogboni is within the authority of Ilawo jurisdiction, the suspension is indefinite and in the meantime , I will ask the other Chiefs to start the process of their replacement.
