BREAKING: Commotion as rival Alaaje is picked up by anti+kidnapping police unit
Khalid ABRAHAM
There was palpable tension in Aaje homestead (at the outskirts of Ogbomoso) in Ogbomoso North local government area of Oyo state Friday morning as one of the claimants to the stool of Aaje HRH Sunday Ademola Ogunmola, was picked up by operatives of the anti-kidnapping unit of the Oyo state command of the Nigerian Police Force.
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It was not immediately known why he was picked up but investigations by ogbomosoinsightonline.com revealed that it is not unconnected with a petition written by the Aaje community to the Oyo state Commissioner of Police over recent announcements made on a radio station in Ogbomoso in respect of the Aaje chieftaincy crisis.
According to the petition later obtained by ogbomosoinsightonline.com, on January 16, separate radio announcements were caused to be repeatedly made by two individuals loyal to HRH Sunday Ademola Ogunmola, one Oladele Idowu and T.B. Oyeleke, that the Oyo state governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, had anointed Ogunmola as the authentic Alaaje and consequently raised his hand in affirmation.
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Ogunmola it is recalled is at loggerheads with his elder cousin HRH Reuben Adesina Amao, a retired Director of Department of State Services (DSS), as the authentic Baale of the community.
Amao was said to have initially been approved by the late Soun of Ogbomoso Oba Oladunni Oyewumi Ajagungbade III, following his alleged selection by family members in 2015 and subsequently fulfilled the necessary obligations.
The installation was however put on hold till after Amao would retire from service. But perceiving his installation was being unduly delayed after he eventually retired, he led the struggle for the creation of Aaje chiefdom from the state government, which was successful and so, later obtained government approval to be pioneer Baale of Aaje and was consequently installed by the family in August 2020.
But shortly after, Ogunmola, who was said to be his former alter ego, sprang up; seeking also to be made the Alaaje and so got installed instead by the Soun.
Since then, the two brothers have been parading themselves as Alaaje with Amao adding the suffix “Ologo” to the name of the community to obliterate the former nomenclature “Aaje-Ikose.” Aaje and Ikose are sister communities with the latter however producing the traditional ruler as Baale Ikose, even though Aaje people claimed their community is the original settlement, prompting the struggle for the creation of Aaje chiefdom.
The Aaje chieftaincy qmatter had resulted in litigation and several skirmishes, and many efforts instituted to resolve the matter but to no avail.
Recently however, the new Soun Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye was said to have summoned the two claimants for a peaceful resolution.
Aftermath the intervention of the Soun, the outcome of which was not officially made public however was the contentious separate radio announcements by Idowu Oladele, said to be a car dealer in Ilorin, capital of Kwara state, and T.B. Oyeleke, a staffer of Federal Government College Ogbomoso, in which the two were said to have congratulated Ogunmola for being the anointed.
The petition, with copies also sent to the governor, the commissioners for local government and chieftaincy matters and justice, other security agencies among others, is titled, “Criminal conspiracy/deceitful public announcement/defamation of character capable of fomenting trouble and violence at Aaje community in Ogbomoso North local government,” and signed by Sunday Adegoke, Abel Ajao and Dayo Adigun, chairman, secretary and PRO of Aaje Descendants Progressive Union (ADPU) respectively.
Claimed to have been written on behalf “of the entire people of Aaje,” the petition notes “That on January 16, 2024, the Soun of Ogbomosoland Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye summoned the two claimants to the stool of Aaje – Reuben Adesina Amao (dss rtd) and Sunday Ademola Ogunmola – to a peace meeting.”
“Sequel to the meeting two self-serving individuals – Idowu Oladele and T.B. Oyeleke – went on air with separate radio announcements, to deceitfully misinform the public as the content of their paid announcements did not reflect what transpired at the meeting.
“The separate announcements made repeatedly on Ajilete F.M. Gambari Ogbomoso, on January 16 and 17, 2024, were provocative and if not for the quick intervention of elders in the community, riots could have been ignited.
“The said Idowu Oladele, a car dealer in Ilorin caused an announcement to be made that the revered Soun of Ogbomosoland had anointed and appointed Ademola Ogunmola as the authentic Baale of Aaje and Adesina Amao dethroned. This was not so.
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“This ran concurrently with that of T.B. Oyeleke, a staffer of Federal Government College, Ogbomoso, who also caused a misinformation in the name of Joint Landlords Association to be aired that the Governor of the State, Engr. Seyi Makinde, had approved Ademola Ogunmola as the Baale of Aaje, and that the Soun of Ogbomosoland had raised his hand. This is another lie. The two can be asked to produce the letter of approval by the Governor and photograph showing the Soun raising the hand of Ogunmola as Alaaje. Their action is erroneous and contemptuous against the two revered personalities involved since the matter is in court.
“Thus, we felt we should bring this contemptuous act to the awareness of your office before it degenerates into anarchy because arising from the misinformation Ademola Ogunmola has been making forays into the community to foment crisis. This we frown at and we want nipped in the bud.
“We hereby plead that necessary investigations be activated into this act of provocation by the two individuals – Idowu Oladele and T.B. Oyeleke, and possibly get them charged to court if found necessary.”
It is in respect of this petition that Ogunmola was said to have been invited by the police, with the invitation also extended to the two sponsors of the announcements.
