One of the royal families vying for the Owa Obokun of Ijeshaland throne in Osun State, the Ofokutu Royal Dynasty, has strongly criticized Governor Ademola Adeleke over the installation of Oba Clement Adesuyi Haastrup as the Owa Obokun.
In a statement released on Saturday, the chairman of the Ofokutu family, Prince Adebanji Obembe, expressed displeasure with the selection process, calling it “unacceptable.”
He maintained that it was the Ofokutu family’s turn to present a candidate for the throne, emphasizing that other ruling houses had previously occupied the position.
Another member of the family, Princess Oluwatoyin Faloye, voiced her objections to Haastrup’s installation, questioning his qualifications.
She said, “The state requested that each contestant get a form worth N10m to contest the throne. I challenge Adesuyi Haastrup to get into the room known as ‘Ipebi’ for traditional rites if he knows he is qualified.”
The Ofokutu family also accused the state of disregarding a court injunction and going ahead with Haastrup’s installation, alleging that the process had been politicized.
The statement further lamented the erosion of traditional customs, stating, “Our tradition and culture are being assaulted and eroded on all fronts, no thanks to some politicians and some of the custodians of our culture. No wonder, our value systems and morals which were built on these norms have diminished substantially.”
In response, the state’s Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dosu Babatunde, dismissed the allegations as “barefaced lies and a distortion of facts.”
He insisted that the state government adhered to due process in the selection of Haastrup and rejected the claim of politicizing the process.
Babatunde also clarified that the court injunction had been “long set aside by the same court that granted same.”
