Violence rocks the sleepy Iperindo town in Osun State over the choice of its new king
By Gbenro Adesina/Iperindo
In Osun State, the small, rustic town of Iperindo hardly gets a mention in national, state or even local government discourse. Iperindo is in Atakumosa East Local Government Area of the state. On Saturday 30 January 2010, indigenes of the town thrust it into prominence, even if violently. The indigenes took to the streets, burning and vandalising properties, in protest of the installation of the town’s new king. The crisis lasted many hours and although no death was immediately confirmed, there were victims with serious injuries. Many residents fled into the bushes and neighbouring towns, leaving the town virtually deserted.
This magazine, on that Saturday afternoon, observed a wide spread of mobile policemen drafted in from Ilesa and Ile-Ife, keeping vigil on the town. Commercial activities were completely paralysed as all markets and shops had been hurriedly shut on the outset of the crisis. Offices at the Council secretariat and other government agencies were also locked. The roads were deserted and the entire community calm like a graveyard.
The protesters were rejecting the new Tirimi of Iperindo, Oba Folorunsho Akerekoro Otoogun, whom they referred to as Folorunsho Olowu and claimed was imposed on the town by Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola and the Atakumosa East Local Government Chairman, Sanya Omirin. Olowu emerged king after the demise of his predecessor, Oba Samson Oyekanmi Ogunrinde, the Apon-Omu-Osan 11 who ruled between 1987 to 2008. The palace of the new king was not spared in the mayhem and he is believed to have fled the town.
Some elders told TheNEWS they were not accepting the new monarch because he does not, they maintained, hail from the Olowu family of the Otoogun ruling house whose turn it is to produce the king of the town. They said the new king was unknown to the town’s six kingmakers - the Lori Otun, Lori Osi, Lorikan, Lori Agba, Orisa Tirimi and Loyin - until he was picked and installed on 22 December 2009 by Oyinlola. They alleged the governor hopes to use Olowu in Iperindo to rig the 2011 election for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and that contrary to the town’s custom and tradition that mandates only the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran to instal a new king in his palace, Olowu was installed in Oshogbo at night by Oyinlola and brought into the town by Omirin, accompanied by over 200 thugs shooting sporadically and brandishing cutlasses and other dangerous weapons.
Those who volunteered this information included Baba Ijo of St. Mark Anglican Church, Elder David Obadare Komolafe; head of vigilante, Awoniyi Opetosi; Olori Awo, Chief Eniola Opetosi and Amos Adebanjo. Komolafe affirmed that it has never happened in the history of the town that a king would be installed in the night in the absence of the indigenes. “It is not in the history of our land that installation of an Oba will be performed in the night. Kabiyesi Aromolaran was not even aware of it because the installation was not performed in his palace, contrary to the tradition and custom of Ijesaland. After the installation, when he (the new king) came to the town in the night with thugs, we reported the problem to the town’s Divisional Police Officer. We even told the DPO that the thugs were sleeping in the palace,” the cleric explained.
Opetosi claimed he saw Omirin and some security agents, including policemen, bring Folorunsho into town as the new king, although he could not immediately identify who he was. “I turned back and entered my house. In the morning, we tried to find out who the new king they had imposed on us is. We don’t know him. We don’t know where he comes from. We don’t know his compound. He is not from this town. He is Olowu. Owu is very close to Itapa. He doesn’t have the right to be the king of Iperindo,” he said.
Olori Awo insisted that the person that the oracle picked and is acceptable to the people of the town is from the compound of Olule Orioke. “If Folorunsho loves his life, he should not return to this town,” he declared.
Though declining comments on the ground that a suit has been instituted against the fleeing king, Oba Aromolaran corroborated the claim of the protesters that as he did not instal Olowu as king, he couldn’t have been the authentic king of the town. As he narrated, “According to the Ijesa tradition, the town called Iperindo belongs to Owa Obokun of Ijesaland like all other towns throughout Ijesaland. Owa Obokun is the paramount ruler in the entire Ijesaland. But in this instance of Tirimi of Iperindo, everything was done by the governor without reference to the Owa Obokun, without reference to me as a paramount ruler. So you have to see the governor and government of Osun State, he will explain to you why the traditional ruler was installed without my knowledge, consent and authority. Continuing, he said “I didn’t instal Folorunsho Olowu as the king of Iperindo. He was installed by the government. I didn’t oppose him but I didn’t install him in this palace as the tradition demands. Majority of the people of Iperindo have been here and they have done the right thing by coming here to complain about the role being played by one Chief Lere Adebayo, who is parading himself as Obanla of Iperindo. There is no such title in Ijesaland.”
However, Omirin, the council chairman disagreed that due process was not followed in the selection and installation of Olowu as the new Timirin of Iperindo. He expressed disappointment that the indigenes drove the new king out of the palace and out of town. Omirin stated that after due process was taken by the Otogun family, Olowu’s name was forwarded to the council as their candidate for the position of the vacant stool. He subsequently forwarded the name to the state governor for approval before the eventual installation.
He said: “Oba Folorunso was an unopposed candidate. That was the only name forwarded to the local government and I forwarded the name to the governor for approval and the governor approved it. It is unfortunate that touts in the town who do not belong to the ruling house caused this problem.”
Contrary to the allegation of the indigenes, Omirin claimed that the fleeing king was installed at 10a.m. in his palace in Iperindo and not at night.
Members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, have vowed that peace would not return to the town except the state
government rebuilds the houses of their members that were burnt. NURTW Chairman, Atakumosa East Local Government, Mr. Olatunbosun Abiodun Onireti who described the mayhem as disheartening
identified one Femi Ilesanmi, a member of Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, as the leader of those that fomented the trouble and burnt houses in the town.
Residents have been counting their losses. Among them were two brothers Adebamigbe Ogunmokun and Adesoji Ogunmokun whose have houses were burnt.
Adebamigbe, a farmer and commercial driver, husband of two wives and father of five children wept that apart from his house that was burnt, he lost about N2mn worth of property and cash. “The king has destroyed me and my family. We don’t have cloth, no property and money. My cocoa store was also burnt. I now sleep anywhere night meets me. I have sent my children and wives to my family members,” he lamented.
Adesoji, a farmer, furniture maker and commercial driver claimed he lost over N500,000 to the chaos. “I just sold 14 bags of cocoa at N500,000 and kept the money under the chair in the house. But everything has been burnt,” Adesoji stated.
Osun State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Solomon Olusegun, said 13 people have so far been arrested in connection with the incident.
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