The traditional ruler of Jebba community, in Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State, Oba Abdulkadir. A. Adebara yesterday urged Governor AbdulRaman Abdulrazaq to pay his 21 years of unpaid personal emoluments and other allowances.

Speaking with reporters in Jebba, Oba Adebara, who is 101- year-old, urged the governor to obey court judgment ordering the restoration of his third-class status stool.

“I am begging the government to do the needful by giving me my needed position on the throne. I beg him to do the right thing for me by paying my 21 years’ unpaid salaries,” the monarch said.

Aligning with the monarch, the Eesa of Jebbaland, Chief Jaiyeola Omotosho, demanded the upgrading of the stool from third class status to first class as was the case of his other colleagues in parts of the state. Omotosho recalled that a Kwara State High sitting in Ilorin on January 29, 2014, upheld Oba Adebara’s appointment and grading as 3rd class monarch, describing it as legal, valid, and subsisting.

He added that past governments in the state made unsuccessful attempts to appeal the judgment.

“Ever since the judgment, several letters have been written to both past and present governments for the implementation of the court judgment, starting with the payment of all withheld salaries, allowances, and other personal emoluments, all to no avail.

“The last straw that broke the camel’s back is the Oba of Jebba’s letter of appeal to Governor AbdulRaman Abdulrazaq dated August 31st, 2023 requesting the payment of his emoluments and the implementation of the court judgment.

“We have strong reasons to believe that some officials of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs working in cohorts with one or two traditional rulers are out to frustrate the payment of the accumulated salaries and allowances of our monarch.

“These traditional rulers had vowed that as long as they lived, the Oba of Jebba would not earn any salary. That perhaps, is their second worst option having failed to dethrone the Oba through malicious criminal charges.

“We, therefore, request that Governor Abdulrazaq direct his searchlight on the state ministry of local government and chieftaincy affairs over the alleged removal from circulation of the relevant subject file on Oba of Jebba’s request.”

He called on the state governor to “immediately constitute a separate traditional council for Moro Local Government and an immediate upgrading of the stool of Jebba to first-class status in line with his contemporaries of 1983.”