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There was drama at the palace of the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi Ajagungbade 1, when a notable son of the town, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala visited the monarch in company of Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi on Thursday.
The traditional ruler snubbed Akala, who is the former governor of the state, causing him an open embarrassment.
On arriving at the palace at about 4:00 pm with Ajimobi, the monarch refused to attend to the former governor.
Ajimobi had gone into Soun’s inner chamber to pay homage. He was in the town to attend the 50th anniversary celebration of the death of Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola. Akala accompanied him to the palace.
It became obvious that Ajimobi dragged Akala to the palace when he rejected entreaties by Ajimobi to visit IOba Oyewumi in his inner chamber since he refused to come out to welcome the former governor.
Ajimobi openly appealed to his predecessor to save the situation by following him to the inner chamber so he could broker a truce but the former governor also refused.
It is not clear what was responsible for the lost love between the monarch and his subject.
Akala is the most popular politician in Ogbomoso. But one of Soun’s son, who is a lawyer, contested for the House of Representatives under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 election. He lost to Akala’s Labour Party (LP) candidate.
One of his daughters, Princess Olufunke Oworu, also served as Special Adviser and Commissioner during Ajimobi’s first term in office.
The sequence suggests that the traditional ruler might not have supported Akala’s second term bid in the 2011 and 2015 elections.
While Akala contested under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2011, he contested under LP in the 2015 election.
He defected to the APC in December 2015 after losing twice to Ajimobi.