Grand Chief Imam of Ogbomosoland Sheikh Teliat Yinus Oluwasina Ayilara
Can Chief imam Ogbomoso survive this? As family drags him to Soun
Khalid ABRAHAM
The noose round the neck of the Chief Imam of Ogbomosoland, Sheikh Teliat Yinus Oluwasina Ayilara, has in recent time gets more tightened as the Ayilara family which he claims to belong to has dragged him to the Palace of Ogbomoso again to allow him prove he is a true born of the family.
It’s the turn of Ayilara family to produce the next Chief Imam following the transition of the last occupier Sheikh Asafa Sanusi in 2021. After a controversial contest Imam Yinus Ayilara emerged, that was during the reign of late Oba Oladunni Oyewumi Ajagungbade III who later died that year, on December 12.
But not long after insinuations began to whirl that Yinus Ayilara is not a true member of the family that he is an usurper.
The matter has dragged for over one and a half years now during which the Soun-in-Council headed by the Areago of Ogbomosoland High Chief Sobalaje Otolorin asked him to step aside pending when the matter would be resolved. But he obtained a court injunction restraining the chiefs.
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He has continued in the capacity but with tension refusing to subside and which saw him moving around with security agents’ escorts. Also, Jumat services on Fridays also began to unfold under security agents’ watch as there were fears opponents could disrupt the service.
But with the installation of a new Soun (Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye), under whose purview the Ogbomoso Central Mosque is and whose predecessors appointed the Chief Imam, the Ayilara family has renewed the onslaught insisting he is not of the family. There have even been claims that he is not altogether from Ogbomoso that he is from Ogun state.
“Those who backed him previously in the family have also withdrawn after ascertaining the truth,” an informed source told ogbomosoinsightonline.com. “So, there is a sort of unity in the family now with the majority wanting him out.”
The family has thus inundated the Soun-in-Council and top Islamic groups and leaders in the city with petitions that he is “an impostor,” demanding his removal forthwith.
The Soun-in-Council now headed by Oba Ghandi Olaoye has waded into the matter and has, it is learnt, extended invitations to all the parties including his mother to defend their positions again.
While Imam Teliat Ayilara is insisting he is a true born of the family majority other members of the family said “no.”
A closed door meeting to resolve the matter reportedly took place today at the palace, which at the time of filing this report is still ongoing.
How the matter will end remains to be seen.
More details to come.
