The Osun State government has responded to the allegations of bias and illegality levelled against it by the Aragbiji of Iragbiji.

The position of the state government was contained in a statement on Saturday, in Osogbo, by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon Dosu Babatunde.

Babatunde accused the monarch of twisting facts and playing politics with a matter of justice and equity in the Iragbiji kingship system.

He went on to absolve Governor Ademola Adeleke of any partisan interest in the matter as reprehensibly alleged by the Aragbiji.

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He noted that the administration has all the legal rights and powers to act on State matters including revision of previous decisions if situation calls for it.

The state government posited that the decision of the State Executive Council only reversed a previous state action which apparently denied a ruling house the due rights to be included in the chieftaincy declaration, rebuking the Aragbiji for wilfully and disrespectfully violating protocols by leveling baseless allegations and insults on the state Governor.

The statement which debunked the Monarch’s accusations that the Governor did not like Iragbiji sons and daughters listed several road projects ongoing in the town, the directive of the Governor for upgrade of tourists sites in the town and a recent personal presence of the Governor at Iragbiji for an SDG event.

According to the statement, the Aragbiji is guilty of willful incitement of the public against the State Governor even as it provides the following facts and details on the decision of the State Executive Council:

“The administration of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola in 2010 set up a One Man Judicial Panel of Inquiry into the Aragbiji of Iragbiji Chieftaincy Declaration to include Lagbua Family as a Ruling House. The Panel was headed by a serving Judge of the Osun State High Court of Justice, Osogbo; Hon Justice Dr A.A Aderibigbe and its setting up was as a result of sustained agitation by the Lagbua Family of Iragbiji to the Government.

“The Panel sat between March 8 and 31, 2010 at the High Court Hall, Osogbo and all relevant stakeholders in the Aragbiji of Iragbiji Chieftaincy testified before the Panel. It submitted its report to the Government on 28th July, 2010 but the report was not considered by the State Executive Council until April 3, 2013 when in its wisdom, the then Executive Council rejected the Panel’s recommendation on the basis that the request of the Lagbua Family was in the remote past. The decision was then published in the Government Official Gazette.

“It should be noted that as at the time when the State Executive Council met in 2013, an Iragbiji son was the Chief of Staff to former Governor Aregbesola. Reports then indicated that the Council was largely influenced to ignore the merit of the panel’s report by simply throwing it out.

“However, the Lagbua Family continued its agitation and appealed to the present administration for redress. His Excellency, the Executive Governor later approved the constitution of a Committee to come up with a White Paper on the Report of the One Man Judicial Panel composed of senior technocrats in Government.

“The new Committee recommended that the Government should set aside the decision of the then State Executive Council which rejected the recommendation of the One Man Judicial Panel of Inquiry and implement its recommendations on the basis that:

“The reason for the rejection of the Panel’s recommendation had ab initio been addressed and resolved by the Panel of Inquiry which took judicial evidence from all the parties. The Panel of Inquiry in one of its findings agreed that the claim of the Lagbua Family is not remote because they have consistently been agitating for their inclusion in the Chieftaincy Declaration of Aragbiji of Iragbiji, having written series of letters and petitions to the Governments of Western Region, Western State, Oyo State and Osun State.

“The Panel found that Lagbua Family was included in the draft Aragbiji Chieftaincy Declarations of 1951 and 1956 but was excluded when the Declaration was to be registered in 1958.

“Furthermore, in arriving at its recommendation for the inclusion of the Lagbua Family in the Aragbiji of Iragbiji Chieftaincy Declaration, the Panel found that as recent as 1942, one Oyekanmi, a member of the Lagbua Family was an Elemo, Head of all the Princes in Iragbiji, a position recognized in the present Chieftaincy Declaration.

“Based on these already established facts, the State Executive Council at its meeting of Wednesday 29th January, 2025 vacated the earlier decision of the State Executive Council of April 3, 2013 and approved the recommendation of the One Man Judicial Panel of Inquiry that the Lagbua Family be included in the Aragbiji of Iragbiji Chieftaincy Declaration.

“To ensure that the rights and privileges of the existing four ruling Houses are not jeopardized, the Government further directed that in the new order of rotation, Lagbua should be the fifth and last Ruling House.

“These are the facts of the matter and they are laid bare to the public to show that this present administration does not operate on sentiments but on well laid out facts and in the spirit of justice and fair play”, the statement noted.

The state government reassures the public that its decision on the Iragbiji Chieftaincy Declaration is not targeted at anybody and is not meant to disrupt public peace. The intention as can be seen from above is to enforce equity and fairness, the Commissioner assured.

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are currently in a closed-door meeting at the Delta State Government House in Asaba.

The high-level gathering, which began last night, has brought together 12 PDP governors.

Sources indicate that the meeting is not linked to the party’s internal crisis, though the agenda remains undisclosed.

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Speculation suggests discussions may revolve around national issues and party strategies ahead of the 2027 elections.

Journalists are on standby, awaiting an official statement on the outcome of the deliberations.

More to follow………. 

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria’s 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar has decried the strategic crippling of the opposition by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a statement on his socials on Friday, the former vice president lamented that the APC, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appeared bent on muscling out and silencing all opposition figures and voices in “their grand design for a one-party autocracy”.

He pointed out this the APC has shown itself to be focused on “the systematic harassment, intimidation, and dismantling of the opposition”.

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He cited the travails of Publisher, Sahara Reports and leading critic, Omoyele Sowore and outspoken critic, Prof Usman Yusuf as pointers that the APC was unrepentant in its resolve, despite going to great lengths to attack him when he first “made the clarion”.

In a personally signed statement, Atiku cautioned that “At the pace they are going, it seems they may soon find themselves contending with the incarceration of every one of us.”

Atiku wrote, “When I made the clarion call that Tinubu and the APC were devoting their energies to the systematic harassment, intimidation, and dismantling of the opposition, all in service of their grand design for a one-party autocracy, I became the target of vicious attacks. The arrest and baseless prosecution of Sowore is the latest chapter in this unrelenting campaign. Now, they have seen fit to add Professor Usman Yusuf — an outspoken critic of this administration — into their grim roster. At the pace they are going, it seems they may soon find themselves contending with the incarceration of every one of us. –AA”