We the Concerned Mopa Senior Citizens Worldwide (CMSCW), an organization that is duly registered with Mopamuro LGA and Corporate Affairs Commission at Abuja, is committed to upholding the unity, heritage, justice, and development of Mopa. We as an organization have been monitoring the events around the Elulu selection process, which has generated
and still generating a lot of acrimony in our community today. We are at a point now than ever before where we must act before things further deteriorate and polarise our dear community due to individual untamed ambition. Some of our observations that are disturbing and unsettling to us include the following:
I. Mopa can be rightly considered as a war zone currently undergoing unprecedented divisions and disunity: communities are divided against other communities; clans against clans; families against their clans; brothers and sisters against their families, and brothers and sisters against each other.
2. The aggrieved Iloke community is currently in court regarding their right to the Elulu stool, which is expected of a civilized society.
3. Various Mopa social media platforms (including our prestigious Mopa Welfare Society platform) have become war zones for and against the purported installation of Chief Muyiwa Ibeun as Elulu of Mopa by a section of Mopa Traditional Council in breach of the existing rotational system established by our forebears and without a valid appointment letter from the Kogi State government.
4. Several Mopa citizens are daily threatened and harassed because of their opposing views and opinions about the illegality and secrecy surrounding the Elulu selection processes. Any opposition against the illegality is tagged anti-developmental move against Mopa.
5. The Mopa traditional elders’ silence are not helping matters; they have been conducting everything about the issues on Elulu stool in secrecy thereby increasing the frustrations of Mopa people.
6. The amount of disinformation, deception, and harassment that are daily being unleashed against our poor and illiterate people at home are alarming and astronomical and we want Mopa people and the public to be aware of the following:
a) That Otunba Saul Olojo, the Acting Chairman of Mopa Traditional Council, has continued to defy and disregard with impunity a lawful court order/ injunction of the High Court Koton Karfe concerning the coronation of Elulu until the substantive matter before the honourable court is heard and fully disposed off.
b) Chief Muyiwa Ibeun has, up to date, not been able to provide the purported approval letter (in original hardcopy) issued to him by the Kogi State Government, as the Elulu of Mopa. Instead, he has been using this purported approval letter as a license to:
i. Deliberately attempting to re-write the history of Mopa to fit his narratives and world view.
ii. Restructuring Mopaland by creating the so-called Elulu Advisory Council and unilaterally making it the highest advisory council in the land over and above the Mopa Traditional Council.
iii. Unilaterally creating an alternative community development platform called Elulu Policies and Projects Implementation Committee to reduce the efficiency of Mopa Welfare Society, which traditionally has been responsible for the coordination of development programs for Mopa.
iv. Unilaterally renames and recreates the ruling houses in Mopa to suit his own narrative.
v. Creating with some of his chiefs a so-called “Kingmakers of Mopaland,” which is never heard of in the history and traditions of Mopa.
vi. Use his office to cajole Mopa citizens to pay him homage.
vii. Selfishly using few individuals to downplay or render inconsequential the past developmental initiatives by Mopa citizens, including those initiated by Mopa Welfare Society over time.
viii. Politicize the developmental initiatives of our silent long-term patrons and benefactors, which have always been the backbone of our union.
ix. Allowing his proxies to disrespect clan heads that did not honour his solidarity meeting, referring to them as “useless for Mopa” and that they are “to be automatically and naturally replaced!”
7. Mopa as a metropolitan community is made up of many clans with their associated cultural heritage, traditions, and histories, with the right to preserve same as they deem fit.
Recent events have shown that Chief Muyiwa Ibeun has unilaterally taken it as personal responsibility to rewrite the history of each clan and restructure the traditions of Mopa without consultations with component parts making up Mopa, and this is concerning and disturbing to us as concerned citizens.
8. Mopa community traditional elders seem to have lost the confidence of the people for some reasons, which include:
a. Lack of meaningful engagement and connectivity with the people even amid all these confusions and uncertainties.
b. Possibility that some of these elders are aligned with the highest bidders and cannot be trusted.
c. Lack of transparency and sensitivity in the performance of their duties.
Based on the foregoing observations, we are recommending the following for the purpose of reducing tension and its effects on the peace and unity of our community:
(a) All parties involved in the dispute over the Elulu stool must respect the court injunction, allow the judiciary to adjudicate in the Iloke case pending at the High Court Koton Karfe and wait patiently for the court judgment.
(b) Mopa people in general should desist from escalating the current problem by maintaining the status quo ante as per the court injunction of February 2024 and be patient for the outcome of the court case in Koton Karfe.
This is to say that Mopa town currently has no Elulu or Oba and no one should be seen parading himself as the Elulu or Oba of Mopa since this will continue to infuriate others. This, however, should not negate any developmental initiatives of any individual or groups of individuals since developmental initiatives and the controversy surrounding the Elulu stool are independent of each other.
(c) Mopa community development issues must be seen by all as a collective responsibility of all Mopa citizens and must not be politicized to the point of irritating or embarrassing anyone. Every Mopa indigene is hereby encouraged to participate in the development of our community, where credit should appropriately be given to whom it is due.
(d) Mopa people have the right to know the truth of every matter relating to their traditions. We are disturbed by the amount of disinformation, deception and harassment that are being unleashed daily against our poor people at home, and we advise our people to be aware of this and take personal precautions to verify every information that is passed on to them.
(e) Mopa cultural heritage, traditions, and history must not be unilaterally altered without the inputs of the generality of all component parts of Mopa.
(f ) Anyone intending to unilaterally alter the existing rotational agreement established by our forebears must take a pause at this time until the court has decided on the matter.
(g) Mopa community traditional elders should start demonstrating by their actions that they are aware that their existence depends on their people who deserve to be well-informed and consulted about traditional matters relating to them.
(h). Every form of intimidation and harassment of Mopa citizens who have contrary opinions about the processes leading to the enthronement of Chief Muyiwa Ibeun must stop forthwith.
(i) The use of the police to intimidate our people must stop henceforth.
In conclusion, we would like to remind Chief Muyiwa Ibeun and others that we members of CMSCW are committed to our mission statement, which is to uphold the unity, heritage, justice, and development of Mopa. With this, we would like the public to know that we are ready to legally fight any form of autocracy in Mopa and stand behind any Mopa citizen who is oppressed in any form in the exercise of their human rights. We are also ready to work with anyone who agrees with our mission statement towards making our community better.
God bless Mopa.
Sincerely,
Signed:
Brig. Gen. SA AYO (rtd)
Reuben Taiwo FAMODILE (mni)
