Ekiti community demands Monarch’s removal

The people of Iyemero in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State have demanded the removal of the town’s traditional ruler, the Olu of Iyemero, Oba Ebenezer Agboola Ogungbemi.

The members of the community staged a public protest on Saturday before and after a peace meeting chaired by the Attah of Ayede, Oba Mumuni Adebayo Orisagbemi, who tried to reconcile the monarch with his subjects.

The subjects accused Oba Ogungbemi of embezzlement of allowances due to his chiefs, illegal arrest and detention of his subjects, as well as illegal sale of some parcel of community’s ancestral land without their consent.

They also accused him of illegal felling and sale of community’s economic trees, use of divide and rule tactics, highhandedness, dictatorial tendencies and lack of interest in the development of the town.

The Iyemero people carried placards with inscriptions including, “Gov. Fayose, we don’t want Ebenezer Agboola as Olu of Iyemero Again,” “We are tired of our Oba, he must go,” “Iyemero youths reject Ebenezer Agboola as King,” “EFCC, come and probe Olu of Iyemero,” “We reject to die in prison, Agboola must leave,” “Agboola is not fit to be our Oba again.”

They called on Governor Ayodele Fayose to initiate steps to depose the monarch before the already tensed situation went out of hand.

The peace meeting, which was also witnessed by the Olu of Itapaji, Oba Abdulkareem Adebanjo, collapsed as the Attah was making his closing remarks when the youths, who had sat quietly throughout the proceeding, brought out their placards and chanted war songs against Oba Ogungbemi.

The traditional chiefs, union leaders, women leaders, youths, students, some of whom were arrested and detained for challenging Oba Ogungbemi’s alleged excesses, who spoke at the parley, said they could no longer guarantee peace in the community if he remained the king.

When he was approached for his own side of the story since he did not utter a word throughout the meeting, Oba Ogungbemi threatened to slap reporters.

“What do you want to interview me for? You better go away or I will slap you,” he said angrily.

President of Iyemero Progressive Union, Lawrence Fatoyinbo, complained that, “The Olu of Iyemero is running a one-man show, he doesn’t take advice and he is not ready to work with IPU. Even though he was not the rightful person to occupy the throne, we still accepted him and gave him the benefit of doubt, but he has failed to justify our trust.

“He has not been paying the chiefs under him their allowances for the past ten years despite collecting the money from the government. We want him to know that we have a way we can report him to EFCC and it is unfortunate that many of the chiefs had died without collecting what is due to them.”