Chief Imam Ogbomoso saga: This what actually happened at police hdqtrs Ibadan
Khalid ABRAHAM
More facts have emerged regarding what actually transpired at the Oyo state Police Command Headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, between the Soun of Ogbomosoland Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye Orumogege III and his Chief Imam Sheikh Teliat Yinusa Olushina Ayilara, earlier this week.
Various reports have put it that amicable resolution was brokered between the two by the Oyo state Commissioner of Police Ayodele Shonubi in his office.
“Peace is good, those reports helped calmed tension but people need to know the truth of what actually transpired,” an authoritative source disclosed to ogbomosoinsightonline.com Friday.
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It is noted some people applauded the turn of events “but it is misinformation and misrepresentation. The account that had circulated is misleading. Some of it is concocted to mislead the public,” the impeccable source added.
So the source strongly debunked the narrative that the Commissioner of Police convened a meeting to settle the “rift” between the Soun and the Chief Imam.
“It was actually an impromptu encounter, and never planned at least to the knowledge of Kabiyesi. What actually happened was that Oba Ghandi Olaoye instructed his lawyer to write a letter to the Commissioner of Police when the actions of the Chief Imam became uncontrollable and suffused with hate speeches and was on the verge of igniting breach of peace in the town.”
So, based on this petition, the Imam was allegedly invited to the police headquarters at Eleyele, Ibadan, for interrogation.
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“You know how police do their work, the Chief Imam wrote a statement and was thoroughly interrogated, Assistant Commissioner of Police Martins Bamigboye the OC, State Intelligent Department (SID), was in charge of the matter,” the source added.
Meanwhile, the Soun was also said to be at the police headquarters on the day, Tuesday July 2, to throw more light on the imbroglio and more particularly discuss security concerns in Ogbomoso.
“l will like to describe what happened subsequently as an ambush against the Kabiyesi because the police officers perhaps out of goodwill brought the Imam to beg the Oba for forgiveness. The police officers also joined to plead with kabiyesi enjoining that the Imam’s pleas be accepted.
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“So that is what happened it is not that a meeting was convened to settle the matter by allowing the two parties to state their cases. Never! That is condescending to the status of Kabiyesi even though he is a man of peace.”
Another source revealed that when the Soun wanted to speak, the police urged him not to “but to just forgive the Imam pleading on his knees. But Kabiyesi insisted he needed to clarify the narrative being pushed out that he wanted to remove the Imam.”
“The Oba explained he had no business removing the him but that he was the one at loggerheads with his family over the disclaimer issued him on the ground that he is not a bonafide member of their family and that the Muslim leaders in Ogbomoso also demanded his removal also based on the foregoing reason.
”The police was told the imbroglio had been raging before his assumption as Soun, saying he had tried to settle the matter to no avail. The monarch therefore highlighted the panacea for peace. He emphasized the only path the Imam could take is to resolve his paternity controversy with his family.
“The Oba alluded to his being woven into the melee as a diversionary tactic, insisting the matter had nothing whatsoever to do with him and that he had clarified this unwavering position to the Chief Imam from the beginning. The Oba informed in his presence that if he didn’t resolve the paternity imbroglio the problem would persist.”
The Imam, it was further alleged, tendered apology but the Soun reportedly declared he was not really impressed having been aware of his “volatile and irascible nature” but noted he would continue to watch his actions if truly he is remorseful.
The source also disclosed, “It is true the Imam was advised, and not that they agreed as insinuated, to withdraw the plethora of court cases he instituted against the Soun, but the Oba pointed out that the Imam’s emphasis that as Chief Imam he is not under Soun does not resonate with reality, and as a result, Kabiyesi stressed the litigation on that must subsist. His Majesty declared that if the Imam insisted on being independent from the Soun institution he would have to leave the position because he is Chief Imam in a worship centre belonging to the Soun.
“His Majesty made it clear indeed that if he insists on a free rein, the only option is that he vacates the Ogbomoso Central Mosque because that mosque belongs to the Soun and that it is because he is in the Soun’s mosque that he’s regarded as the Chief Imam.”
Further, it is said, “it was impressed upon the Imam that he needed to stop his combustible and offensive posts which are considered hate speeches in the social media and other platforms. In fact, he was unsparingly and seriously castigated that he’s the one pouring fuel to inflame the feud through his reckless, unguarded, inflammatory and seditious rantings,” while the Oba’s composure in the face of provocation was “generously commended.”
The source asserted with confidence, “That is the account of the Ibadan encounter. I repeat it was never a deliberate thing, it was a chanced, impromptu encounter.
“The Oba had said on several occasions he had no problem with the Imam or had any interest in who the Imam is, that it was the Imam’s people and he himself giving it the colouration of religion because he is a Christian and a pastor in order to attract sympathy. So, I challenge anyone to contradict this account of what transpired at the police headquarters.”
Some other sources at the state police headquarters Eleyele confirmed the event. This is as Pakoyi of Ogbomoso Alhaji Sirajudeen Alimi corroborated the story in a sermon on Friday.
In another development sources at the Soun palace punctured the news also going round that the Imam had visited the palace for rapprochement, stressing, “the Imam never visited the palace.”
