Tension in Ile-Ife over Selection of Second-in-Command to Ooni

Tension enveloped  Ile-Ife, Osun State, yesterday  as the controversy surrounding the selection of the new second-in-command to  the Ooni of Ife caused mayhem among the supporters of the 10 contenders from the Aga ruling houses of Ile-Ife.
The position became vacant due to the death of the late Obalufe of Ile-Ife, Oba Solomon Omisakin.
The Obalufe is the traditional ruler of Iremo in Ile-Ife; head of Ife kingmakers and next to the Ooni in hierarchy according to the tradition of the ancient town.

THISDAY learnt that the process of selecting a new Obalufe started with the inauguration of a committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Ayoola Olafiranye.
The committee was responsible for the screening of all  the contenders for the stool and report its findings to the ruling house.
Consequently, the committee invited all the 10 aspirants and they were screened but before it could submit its reports, majority of the contenders accused the committee of planning to announce the name of an aspirant from the female lineage, Elu Abayomi and that Elu was not even qualified to contest.

This led to rancour in the ruling house on Sunday as the supporters of the contenders threatened to shut down the town if Elu Abayomi was announced as planned.
However this development  caused serious tension in Ife yesterday.
One of the contenders, Fatai Adiyeloja, expressed sadness  over the action of the committee and cautioned the aggrieved youth in Ife to remain calm, assuring them that the matter would be resolved.
A traditional Chief in Ife, Chief Atimi Bada, Logun Apata of Ile-Ife, Informed THISDAY that the contenders for the vacant stool of the Obalufe must come from male lineage and that those from female lineage could contest only if there was no competent person from the male lineage.

According to him, “this rancour was avoidable if the committee had done the right thing in a transparent manner.
We all know that the female lineage can contest only if there was no competent person from the male lineage. But in this situation, there are nine contenders from the male lineage, yet, the committee attempted to pick the only one person that came out from the female lineage. It is not right.”
A lawyer who hails from the same ruling family, Alaba Awoseemo, also faulted the committee for favouring the contender from the female lineage when there were many contenders from the male lineage and cautioned against anything that could threaten the peace of Ife and Osun State.

The Head of the Ruling House, Chief Bello Adiyeloja, noted that  since the contenders could no longer trust the committee members, it had become imperative to dissolve the committee to prevent avoidable trouble in the town.
He enjoined the people of the town to remain calm and assured that the will of the people would be respected.
“Stating  the current situation at the stage of the selection process of the Obalufe, I have directed that the committee should be dissolved and we will take the appropriate step subsequently. We will ensure the emergence of our new monarch without bloodshed in Ife.”
The Chairman of the committee, Olafiranye, declined comment on the report of the committee.

He said since the contenders, their supporters and other people had passed vote of no confidence on the committee, he would prefer not to talk on the outcome of the screening of the aspirants.
“I cannot say anything  when they have already crippled  everything we have done  and they have dissolved the committee when we have not even presented the reports of our findings to the ruling family. I cannot say anything on the issue,” Olafiranye noted.