Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Sen. Lekan Balogun, CFR, Alli Okunmade II on Tuesday wielded the big stick again on recalcitrant leaders discomfiting their community members over land matters with the suspension of Baale Folarin, a village in Akinyele Local Government area of the state, Chief Kazeem Olayiwola.
It would be recalled that Mogaji Wale Oladoja was derobed a couple of months ago over similar situation, when he went to a community in the same Akinyele Local Government to seal houses with the intention of reclaiming the land upon which the houses were built. He was later pardoned upon showing remorse and promised to desist from such act.
In a press statement made available to journalists in Ibadan by the Personal Assistant on Media to the Olubadan, Oladele Ogunsola, the suspension order was handed down by an adhoc committee constituted by the monarch to hear the case.
The Committee was composed of the Oniroko of Iroko, Oba Ismaila Abioye Opeyemi, Alakinyele of Akinyele, Oba James Oluyemi Odeniran JP, Personal Assistant on Chieftaincy Matters and his Media counterpart, Chief Lateef Alade and Oladele Ogunsola respectively.
Before the matter came to the monarch, Chief Olayiwola had been summoned to the palace when his report of tormenting the community was brought and every effort to dissuade him then from his perfidious path failed.
At Tuesday’s meeting with him and his community (Folarin) members, he was openly accused of selling a large portion of the community land among others to a developer without inputs from them and his explanations fell short of credibility. Not only that, his response as to what to do as a remedy for his transgression was non-committal, stressing that he would have to consult a particular Mogaji .
The said Mogaji, according to the community “is a non-native of the place in the real Yoruba traditional set up because he is a son to a female child”. The report was thereafter presented to the Olubadan who pronounced his suspension and directed that his membership of the Akinyele Traditional Council be withdrawn henceforth.
Olubadan equally commended the committee for doing justice to the matter reiterating his commitment to the peaceful living of his subjects wherever they may be, recalling his admonition at every installation of Baales and Mogajis that whatever their fathers might have done as regards land sales or gifts should not be revisited.
He appealed to the members of the community to remain calm and peaceful and shun anything that may cause disaffection among them promising to always stand by his words not to pamper anybody that goes against his directive.
