Operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS), Ikeja branch have grilled the Oba-elect of Ikeja, Alhaji Samsondeen Adeleye for two hours over a petition it obtained that the monarch-elect was trying to crown himself.

Adeleye confirmed his travail in the hands of the DSS operatives to THISDAY on Friday, saying he was invited to the DSS office at the Ikeja Local Government Area to clear himself over a petition that he was trying to crown himself.

He said, “The DSS said someone wrote a petition that I had begun the traditional rites for self-installation as the Oba of Ikeja, and that such a move could cause disaffection in the community.

“I laughed when I heard this, because the accusation is strange and unfounded. We all know that it is only the state government, through the local government, that has the power to approve the choice of any traditional ruler and also, to issue out a letter that he be installed. “Though the Body of Ikeja Kingmakers had unanimously elected me as Oba-elect four years ago, we are still waiting for the state government to issue a letter of approval. So, there is no way I can jump the gun; to do so is to dare a moving train.”

He said his detractors who wrote the petition possibly mistook the ongoing periodic traditional rites for the peace and tranquility of Ikeja, to mean that he was about being installed as Oba.

“For your information, such rites, which include masquerade parades, must take place annually for the progress of our community; it doesn’t necessarily have to be linked with the installation of an Oba,” Adeleye stressed.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of Ikeja Council of Kingmakers, Chief Olufemi Titi-Thomas, has disproved the speculation that an Oba was about being installed outside the knowledge of the state government.

According to him, is it possible for such a thing to happen outside my knowledge? We have not received any letter from the government giving us the go-ahead to install an Oba; so take it as mere rumour.

•Sourced from THISDAY report

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