Adesina Amao is our Oba – Aaje Ologo people amid rumours of police arrest, visits Soun
Jeremiah OYELEKE
Amid rumour of his arrest by the Oyo State Police Command, the Alaaje of Aaje Ologo, HRH Reuben Adesina Amao Osunbiyi 1, has been declared as the authentic traditional ruler by the people of the community.
The people of Aaje Ologo including the mogaji and chairman of the ruling house, Pa Isaac Adeleke and Sunday Adegoke respectively, affirmed HRH Amao as their monarch during interview sessions by ogbomosoinsightonline.com at the community recently at which they also debunked the rumour of his arrest.
The rumour had it that the Soun of Ogbomosoland Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye ordered his arrest during a visit by the Alaaje to the palace and was consequently picked up by the police, handcuffed and taken to Iyaganku, Ibadan, and detained.
This is as Alaaje Amao, his wife (Olori Rebecca Olabisi Amao) and his subjects paid a scheduled courtesy visit to the palace of Soun last week Monday (October 23) where they were warmly received.
Recall there are two claimants to the newly created Aaje stool, who incidentally are cousins and formerly on good terms on the basis of elder brother – junior brother, boss-subordinate relationship. The two, Reuben Adesina Amao (a retired DSS state director) and Sunday Ademola Ogunmola were very close, it is learnt, with the latter indeed being the alter ego of the former.
After the state government approved the creation of the Aaje chiefdom in a struggle championed by Adesina Amao in 2020 and he got approval for his installation as first Alaaje from the government which was subsequently effected, Ademola Ogunmola nonetheless got installed at the palace by the late Soun of Ogbomosoland shortly after. This has been the bone of contention.
Reacting to the alleged arrest of Amao, Pa Sunday Aremu, who identified himself as Baba Baale (head) Aaje family home and abroad, told Ogbomoso Insight he rushed to Aaje when he heard about the arrest but found out it was a fluke.
“I came here when I heard about the so-called arrest, and I called kabiyesi when I did not meet him in the palace that day, but he said he was in Lagos to rejoice with his child who just gave birth. Upon investigations we discovered it was (HRH) Demola (Ogunmola) who came to spread the rumour that kabiyesi (Oba Olaoye) had asked the police to arrest Ademola and that he was taken to Ibadan in an unmarked vehicle. But it is not true. HRH Adesina is our Alaaje.”
Also, Mr. Sunday Adegoke, chairman of the family, notes, “They said Oba Ghandi ordered his arrest but it is not true.The rumour created a stir though, because the Olugbon called, the Aresa called and others phoned to find out the truth. But we found out it was not true.”
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Revd J.G. Fadeyi (rtd), secretary of retirees Ogbomoso Baptist Conference, affirms, “Oba Amao has the support of the people. He means well for his people. It is God that put him there and he has triumphed. It is conspiracy weaved by his enemies that he was arrested, but nothing like that happened.”
Mr. Olu Adesina Jokodolu, a resident at Aaje homestead, states, “We knew him (Adesina Amao) as Alaaje. He fought for the autonomy of Aaje, going to Ibadan to meet with government officials. His chieftaincy is approved by the state government. But along the line we started to hear that the late Soun had installed another Alaaje – Ademola Ogunmola, However, this is someone who never stays here, he just comes and goes. But all what we hear and know is Adesina is Alaaje. I never heard anything like his being arrested or handcuffed. If there is something of that nature definitely I would have heard from him, he would have told me so, I don’t think anything like that happened and there is nothing to warrant it. So, to my knowledge there was nothing like that. There is no tension in the town.”
Fadare Johnson declares, “Alaaje is my father, my boss, he helped me find the job l am doing today. He is our Oba today at Aaje. Nobody arrested Kabiyesi, he is at his palace. It is regrettable those rivaling him have not done anything to lift this town but to vandalize the properties of the town. People should ask them about the garri factory built in the community by the Ogbomoso North local government.”
In similar vein youths in the community assert, “The youths of Aaje Ologo are with Kabiyesi Oba Adesina Amao 100 percent. He is working to lift this town. Nobody arrested him. Nobody arrested Kabiyesi, he was in church yesterday. The two of them are siblings, they should settle their differences.”
Everybody in sight as Ogbomoso Insight moved round the town wanted to talk. So, Joseph Akanji (Bobajiroro Aaje Ologo), Alao Balogun (Balogun Aaje Ologo), Mrs Serah Alabi, Dorcas Ajayi, Alagbe Emmanuel, Kehinde Adisa, Sunday Abasa (Basa tribe from Nassarawa state), Emmanuel Ajayi, James Mosobalaje, Ojuolape Adigun, Ruth Adegoke and Muftau Oloyede all submit, in separate interviews, “Reuben Adesina Amao is our Oba. Nobody arrested him. He is always in the palace except if he has things to do outside like when he went to Lagos to rejoice with his daughter on the birth of a new child, his grandchild. It is a plot to smear him and make his support base wane but it has failed as others failed.”
Wife of HRH Amao, Olori Rebecca Amao, who resides more in Lagos to manage their businesses, also says, “He was with me in Lagos to rejoice with us over the birth of our grandchild. It was a surprise that our people could descend to this level. They are cousins..My husband paid for his rent, paid his child’s school fees, funded him. So, I am surprised he is acting this way. Is it the elder that is entitled to chieftaincy or junior In Yorubaland? It is primogeniture (megbonmegbon) system that is prevalent in Yorubaland. We should unite and cooperate for progress to be attracted,” while commending the Aaje people for their “steadfastness and support for my husband, they are great people, hardworking, loving.”
Oba Reuben Adesina Amao was in the palace to react as well. Hear him, “I was in Lagos to rejoice with my child who had a new baby. They said when I went to pay homage to Kabiyesi (Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye) I was arrested and bundled to Ibadan. But it was not true. I was appointed by the late Soun but I was still in service at the time. Meanwhile, I did all I was asked to do. But when I retired from service and went to be installed some people there started saying ‘he is a police, he is DSS, that I was used to bring down Tafa Balogun, that I was dismissed.’
“When the formal installation was unnecessarily being delayed I took time to study the process of installation of a traditional ruler and I discovered I could route it through the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters after all the family had chosen me, and so, I approached them, and the government approved me, seeing that the people of Aaje support me. He (Ademola Ogunmola) now went to the Kabiyesi’s palace to lobby some chiefs, who started to contrive some lies and conspiracies. What happened now, I would not have reacted, it is what he has been doing but this time around he weaved the name of our revered father Oba Ghandi Olaoye in the plot to tarnish his image that is why I took the step.”
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Amao discloses he has good intention for the community saying, “I have good intention for this community. I have spent my pension to repair the access road to Aaje several times. I have an NGO that assists the widows and the orphans and other indigent people. I am working on having a public secondary school here, i have even donated building and applied to the state government. I want this place to be like a small London.”
The retired Department of State Service director consequently urges his people to remain calm. “I want our people to be calm. My selection by our family and the people was approved by the government after the late Soun approved it and I fulfilled all obligations to the late Baba Soun. I was nominated by the family. But on his own he quickly got installed on a Wednesday instead of a Friday that such is carried out. I was ready to be installed at the Soun palace but they were not willing, the late Baba Soun had advanced in age and so some people hijacked the process.
“But government approved me after their findings. He was my secretary, I supported him, I sponsored him back to Ogbomoso from where he was, a form two drop out. He was living in my house, I put him in a three bedroom flat. After that he went to rent an apartment at Oke-anu. He has no house here, his father’s house is even dilapidated. He just ventures here once in a while to foment trouble. My mogaji is 95 years old, he has adopted a 54 year old mogaji. I am sixty something years old, how will a 54 year old man be mogaji for someone like me? The authentic mogaji and the elders and the whole family are behind me.”
Meanwhile, he last week Monday, accompanied by his wife and many of his subjects, paid homage to the Soun, Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye Orumogege III, who it was learnt received them warmly. Subsequently, the Soun held a closed door meeting with him and his wife, attended also by the chiefs and HRH Ademola Ogunmola. However, the outcome of the meeting was not made public.
