People of Jebba, Shao and other Yoruba in Moro Local Government Area, Kwara State have decried their continued subjugation to the Ilorin Emirate system.

They particularly lamented that their traditional stools are being relegated and coerced to serve under the Ilorin Fulani feudalist-oligarchy.

The people spoke in Shao at the 2nd Saka Adeyemi Memorial Lecture organised by a group known as Millennium Initiatives on Societal Values (MISSAVS).

The late Adeyemi, it was gathered, was one of the arrowheads of Moro Redemption Movement.

The lecture was entitled “Rape and nationhood: salvaging the fate of Moro and other raped victims.”

The people warned that if something urgent is not done to remedy the anomaly they might be forced to go back to the trenches as done by their forebears in the 70s.

In his opening remark, MISSAVS Project Coordinator Dr Reuben Akano, said the lecture is geared towards the renewal of “our agitation for freedom of Moro, as its people is still suffocating under the yoke of Ilorin Emirate system.”

Dr. Akano, English Language teacher of the Kwara State University (KWASU), alleged that “both Ohoro of Shao and Oba of Jebba had previously been elevated, promoted and graded but, sadly, on the instruction of the Emir of Ilorin demoted, degraded and relegated.

“Moro towns and villages have over 200 Baales and Mogajis and as traditional rulers they are restricted by the Ilorin Emirate system. Moro does not have a separate traditional council. The people are still being ruled by district heads called Daodu in local parlance.

“The Emir of Ilorin still collects five percent of monthly allocations that are meant for Moro Local Government and this has been on for decades. We need freedom in Moro for our people and traditional rulers.

“The Ilorin Emirate system is alien to Moro Yoruba tradition and context. Ilorin Emirate system is an aberration for us in Moro. Ilorin Emirate kingpins daily assault our psyche. Who will bail us out of the

rapacious grazing of Ilorin Emirate herds and cattle on a continuous basis?”

He urged Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to rescue the people from the stranglehold of the emirate.

He said: “We voted out Senator Bukola Saraki because he was believed to be a willing tool in the hands of Ilorin Emirate kingpins and voted for Mallam AbdulRazaq. What should we expect?

“Any dividend of democracy under the administration of Governor AbdulRazaq devoid of grading of our traditional rulers and creation of separate traditional council for Moro will be termed ‘as usual.’

The guest lecturer Elder Toyin Alabi agreed with the first speaker, saying, “This oppression is evident today in the deficient development experienced in our local government and it is as old as the creation of the state itself.

“Moro is the second largest local government in the state in terms of land mass but there is virtually no development to show for it.”(New Telegraph)

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