There has been palpable tension in the sleepy town of Awo over illegal appointment of warrant chiefs thus negating the compound and house that used to produce the High Chiefs.

Awo, the headquarters of Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State and the community, had alleged that its outgoing Council Chairman, Mr. Olayiwola Abiola, of complicity by planning to impose a monarch on the town through the backdoor.

They further alleged that the local government boss was using his position to set the town on fire by bringing confusion into the whole selection process, while calling on the State government to stop the process forthwith in order to avoid break down of law and order in the area.

Speaking on the issue, a Crown Prince from Abioye ruling house, Prince Abubakar Adeniyi, said that the Council boss mislead the State Attorney-General, Barr Femi Akande, to approve the illegal selected five nominees for Warrant Chiefs which was picked by one of the contestants for the Alawo stool, one Taye Adegboye.

He added that Adegboye is the outgoing leader of the Legislative Arm of the Local Government, saying that the action of the Council boss negates the sanctity of justice, equity, fair play and transparency on the selection process, asking rhetorically, how a player in a game would appoint referee.

Prince Abubakar stressed that the three of the five nominees were from Adegboye’s extraction of Abioye ruling house and they are; Memunat Oladepo, Adeyemi Hassan, and Muhammadu Alimi and the remaining two were Lagos-based blood relations of Taye Adegboye while the only partial neutral person is Mr. Jimoh Adisa.

He urged the State Governor, Alhaji Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola, to wade into the matter by directing the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to stop all the process in respect of Alawo stool with immediate effect and as well initiate the stakeholders meeting where everyone would express his or her mind on the subject matter in order to avoid communal crisis in the ancient town.

Prince Abubakar who is Akanfe Adeniyi’s extraction of Abioye ruling house, also urged Governor Oyetola to caution Mr. Abiola not to use his remaining two months tenure of office to cause mayhem in the ancient town, adding that the royal family would soon write the State Governor on the subject matter.

The crown Prince suggested that in the interest of neutrality and if the State Government believed that neutral people should be appointed, the two remaining Kingmakers should be allowed to have input and leader of the two prominent modern religious; i.e. Muslim and Christian, should be appointed to be part of the Warrant Chiefs and the Local Oba of a village in the area, the Onigbanla of Gbanla, should be incorporated into the Warrant Chiefs.

The State government should also ensure that the remaining appointment reflected the compound that used to produce these High Chiefs including; Iyalode, leader of the women.

It would be recalled that the Alawo stool became vacant when Oba Musa Olatunbosun Adebayo from Akinsilo ruling house, joined his ancestors on 24th of June, 2020.

Abubakar, therefore, called on security agents including; Police, Department of State Security (DSS),Civil Defence and Osun Amotekun Security outfit to investigate the allegation of complicity on appointment of those five) nominees in order to unravel the hanky-panky game of the Council

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