We the under signed are Traditional Chiefs and Elders in ljalu Community Egbe. We particularly represent lwoye Group of Families in ljalu made up of Oke Iwoye lgbase and Odo Iwoye whose turn it rightly is to produce the candidate to fill the vacant stool of Ighare of ljalu and Asalu of Egbeland. We wish to say that we have gone through the publication of a group of Chiefs and Elders titled “ljalu Community Egbe Cautions Chief Adedoyin Bolaji and his group over war mongering……… We wish to say with emphasis that the signatories to the publication do not represent the entire ljalu but only the group loyal to Mr. Sunday Oluokun who belongs INTA group of families to which the late occupant of that stool, His Highness Oba JB Adeyemi who occupied the stool for over 35 years.
While we do not intent to dissipate energy defending the sterling qualities of HRH Oba Adedoyin Bolaji and his immense contribution to the development, progress and stability of Egbeland, it is enough to state that Oba Adedoyin Bolaji has been an Ighare for over 35 years and lghares are the custodian of the traditional Chieftaincy system in Egbe from time immemorial. It is on record that apart from building Heritage College Egbe from the scratch and actively participated the building of Egbe Central Place; Ajaforunti Triangle, Egbe Airstrip Egbe, Revitalization of Egbe Hospital and College of Nursing Sciences and many other land mark projects bear the signature of this notable man of many parts. The blind loyalty and support of Oba Adedoyin Bolaji to HRH the Elegbe of Egbe, Oba Ayodele Irukera for the past 24 years is undisputable. The man they are casting in negative light coordinated the installation of His Royal Highness and Egbe Unity Day for 6 years during which he developed the template that is still in use till today
Back to the main issue in contention, it is obvious that the writers of the publication in question intends to pull wool over the eyes of the reading public by concentrating on denting the shining armor of Oba Adedoyin Bolaji rather than telling the reading public how they come to be sponsoring a candidate who has not lived in Nigeria for over 40 years and still as we are writing is not in Nigeria. How they find it possible to promote double succession from a family that has occupied the throne for over 40 years. How they can live with their conscience by denying the entire lwoye group of Families from where the title rotated tot heir section all because Mr. Oluokun has access to Dollars and the other section does not.
For the records, the stool under reference until 2018 was only a traditional Chieftaincy title (the Asalu of Egbe). It belongs to the Ighare Chleftalncy Class which is the highest chieftaincy class in Egbeland. The Ighares are 6 in number (Owa, Asalu Odunro, Olu Agba Olu Kekere and Ajagun).They head the 6 ruling Clans of Egbe. In historical times and until the colonial introduction of the Obaship, the ighares ruled Egbe in turn beginning with the Owa. When an Owadies, the Ighares move up the ladder. The Asalu becomes the Owa while the Odunro becomes the Asalu. The OluAgba becomes the Odunro and the OluKekere becomes the OluAgba. The Ajagun becomes the OluKekere. The vacancy that occurs on the Alagun title is filled by the Clan of the late Owa. It is therefore obvious that the title of Asalu that is now vacant is not an ljalu title exclusively but an Egbe title to be occupied by an ljalu person. It is different from the Ologun, Agbana or other titles that are exclusive for ljalu Community.
From historical times and until the present, the ighares are the custodian of traditional titles. They process all nominations and undertake all installations of candidates nominated by the various clans with participation by the Chiefs of all the 12 Clans of Egbe. The Elegbe of Egbe and the Baale of Egbe, with due respect, plays no role in the nomination, selection and installation of traditional Chiefs. It is only recently that some of the tradition Chiefs including the Ighare of ljalu who doubles up as the Asalu of Egbe became recognized by the Government and have their stools graded stools. However the process of nominating and selecting the Ighares remains the same as it had always been from time immemorial. All nominations must pass through the Ighares of which HRH Adedoyin Bolaji the Ighare of Okoa and OluKekere of Egbe is a ranking member having been an ighare longer than any currently in position including the Owa. Casting aspersion on the integrity and immense contribution of Oba Adedoyin to the progress and development of Egbe within the last 30 years is only being clever by half.
With respect to the case in point, the lghares in performing their traditional duties, called on the Chiefs and Elders of ljalu to present a candidate for the refill of the lghare title sometimes in February 2024. The meeting was held in the premises of the Ighare of Okoa HRH Oba Adedoyin Bolaji in Okoa during which they were given the guidelines for the exercise. All the signatories to publication were present and at the expiration of the time they were given, all of them returned to meet with the lghares at the premises of Oba Adedoyin Bolaji in Okoa where they presented the name of Mr. Sunday Oluokun while we presented the name of Pastor Abiodun Daodu. They were told by the lghares to go back home and consult further to present only one candidate. All the preliminary meetings regarding this matter were held in the premises of HRH Oba Adedoyin Bolaji. It is only because the majority of the lghares stood by the truth and due process by rejecting the candidature of Mr. Oluokun on the ground that the tenure of his family on the title has expired that they are now assailing the laudable contribution of Oba Adedoyin Bolaji to the progress of Egbeland
For the records, ljalu is made up of two parts-Iwoye group of families (OkeIwoye, OdoIwoye and Ogbase) and INTA group of families (Laofin/Kulete, lleNla, lleOwa and OdoAaye). The two sections ascend to the lghare title in rotation. Until the early part of this century, the title of Asalu was with the INTA group (lleOwa to be precise). Chief Oni Olu ascended the title. He progressed to Owa in accordance with the extant tradition. After he passed on, the Ighare title (Ajagun) came to us in lwoye where our father OshaOlu took the title of Ajagun. He progressed to OluKekere and OluAgba in his lifetime. After him the title rotated back to the INTA group where Babalola Odunro took the title. He passed on before the Owa under whose tenure he was installed and his Cousin, HH Joseph Bamidele Adeyemi replaced him in accordance with our tradition. Both of them occupied the Ighare stool for a total of 41 years. HH J B Adeyemi passed on in December 2022 and automatically, the stool should rotate back to us in lwoye.
When the Ighares called on us in February 2023, we consulted among ourselves and selected Pastor Abiodun Daodu who we presented to the lghares. The signatories tothepublication under reference also presented their own nomination to the lghares in the house of the same Chief Adedoyin Bolaji. It is only when the decision of the lghares and majority of Egbe Chiefs was not favourable to their candidate that they resorted to thuggery and smear campaign as contained in the publication under reference.
Signed:
Elder Ayodele Asala
OdoIwoye (lwoyell)
Elder Dayo Olori
OkeIwoye (lwoye I)
Elder Oluwole T. Osasona
OkeIwoye (lwoye I)
Elder Abayomi Babatunde
OdoIwoye (IwoyelI)
Chief (Eng.) Sunday Ogungbemi
OkeIwoye (lwoye I)
Chief DayoArifayo
Ajagbona of Ijalu
