Students protest removal of monarch by Appeal Court, Olugbense Ruling House wants Kwara govt to install new Olofa

Students under the aegis of Offa Students Leaders Forum (OSLF) staged a peaceful demonstration yesterday at Offa, Kwara state protesting the recent Appeal Court judgment ordering the removal of Oba Gbadamosi Esuwoye as the Olofa of Offa.

  Coming out in their hundreds, the OSLF through their spokesman, Salahudeen Lukman, said the removal of the Oba would hinder the alleged tremendous socio- political and economic developments the people of the town had witnessed since the enthronement of Esuwoye some three years ago.

  They had converged on the sprawling Palace of the Olofa as early as 8.00am, displaying unprintable placards before the motley crowd in sympathy for the Oba.

  Lukman, who described the recent judgment of the Court of Appeal against the Oba as being insensitive to the wish of the majority of Offa people, said that, as youths, they would always prefer a monarch who would guarantee their future "as we own the future."

  Besides, he sharply criticised the judgment especially in the area of its enforcement, noting that its enforcement would cause Esuwoye and the entire people of the town serious embarrassment.

   Already, some stakeholders in the Obaship tussle has said that Kwara State government did not act wrongly in the installation of Esuwoye, and that its action was based on the recommendations of the four kingmakers in the ancient town.

  Speaking with reporters in Offa yesterday a prominent chief in the town, who was also the former council chairman when the Olofa was installed, Chief Segun Olawoyin, said the state government was not wrong as at the time it picked Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi.

   "I think the state government has no problem and they were not wrong as at the time they picked Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi. It was based on the recommendations of the kingmakers here in Ojomu, Eesa, Sawo and Balogun, they are the kingmakers in the town.

   "Government had no hand in picking anybody. It was the kingmakers themselves that nominated Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi and the Council of Chiefs from Ilorin deliberated on the issue and they forwarded their own recommendations as well to the Kwara State government before announcement was made.

   "So we don’t have a hand in whether somebody was picked rightly or was unjustly picked. We specifically relied on the gazzete which was available and that was the instrument for the picking of whoever becomes Olofa of Offa", he said.

  Other people, made up of youths, thronged various roads in the town with placards saying dethronement of a traditional ruler is a setback to any community in all ramifications.

  The people also appealed to both ruling houses of Anilelerin and Olugbense to settle the Obaship matter outside court, and with involvement of all reputable indigenes of the town, for the interest of generations in existence and yet unborn.

  The Offa people said the reign of Oba Esuwoye has brought more recognition and development to the town, adding that Oba Gbadamosi would have had the people’s unanimous mandate if the stool of Olofa were an elective position.

 Meanwhile, the Olugbense Ruling House in Offa, which won the appeal court case against the incumbent Olofa of Offa, has appealed to the Kwara State government to enforce the Court of Appeal’s judgment by installing Prince AbdulRauf Adegboyega Keji as the new Olofa in the interest of "peace, justice, fairness, equity and adherence to the principles of the rule of law which forms the bedrock of democracy."

  The spokesman of the ruling house, Prince Saka Adebayo Keji who spoke at a news conference in Ilorin, yesterday, noted that, "there is no Oba in Offa until the state government does the needful by enforcing the court judgment", stressing that, "this is necessary to ensure that peace continues to reign supreme in Offa."

  Prince Keji explained that the landmark judgment, which stated that it was the turn of Olugbense to fill the vacant stool of Olofa of Offa, following the demise of Olawore Olanipekun of the Anilelerin Ruling House in 2010 had put the Olofa Chieftaincy status in proper historical perspective.

 "Offa has been very peaceful and, as a matter of fact, many people, including those on the side of the deposed Mufutawu Esuwoye have been trooping to our ruling house to congratulate us and to wish us well as we take over the mantle of leadership."

  "It is astonishing, disgusting and naïve that some uninformed people out of mischief have even suggested that the Olugbense ruling house should allow the sleeping dog to lie and allow perfidy to continue, we say no to this."