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By Samuel Adegoke
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has waded into the crisis rocking the Ekiti State Traditional Rulers Council.
Newspeakonline reliably gathered that the foremost monarch will be in Ado-Ekiti on Monday to meet with Governor Kayode Fayemi, the 11 aggrieved obas, and the Alawe of Ilawe-Ekiti Oba Adebanjo Alabi for a final resolution of the crisis.
Newspeakonline gathered that the aggrieved monarchs had reported the case to Oba Ogunwusi after which Fayemi also visited the Ooni’s palace to explain his position on the crisis. It was learnt that the monarch had appealed to the two sides to embrace peaceful resolution, and that they have accepted his intervention.
Oba Ogunwusi will meet both parties in Monday and broker a permanent resolution. Both parties, it was learnt, have agreed to support the resolution and move forward.
Crisis rocked the council when Governor Fayemi allegedly helped Oba Alabi to become the chairman of the council in August 2019. Prominent members of the council boycotted meetings presided over by the Alawe though five of them later made a U-turn after a while. They insisted that Oba Alabi is not qualified to chair the council. Those who changed their mind are the Onisan of Isan Ekiti, Oba Gabriel Adejuwon; Attah of Ayede-Ekiti, Oba Abdulmumin Orisagbemi; Onitaji of Itaji-Ekiti, Oba Idowu Babalola; Owa of Oke-Imesi, Oba Gbadebo Adedeji and Arinjale of Ise-Ekiti, Oba Ajayi Adetunji.
The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, introduced a new dimension to the crisis when he wrote a letter to Governor Fayemi last week.
In the letter, the Alaafin warned Fayemi against undue interference in the affairs of the council, stressing that obaship in Yoruba land is ancestral and spiritual.
His letter followed a query issued to the 11 aggrieved prominent obas by Fayemi’s administration over their refusal to attend activities of the council and those of the government. He gave them 72 hours to reply.
But the Alawe responded with a letter to Oyo State governor Oluseyi Makinde urging him to warm Oba Adeyemi to stay away from the Ekiti Council of Obas crisis. Oba Alabi emphasised that Ekiti is not part of Oyo empire.