Obaship Stool: Youths, Diaspora Indigenes Petition Abiodun Over Imposition

Teeming youths, as well as other indigenes in the diaspora of the ancient Remo town of Isara-Remo in the Remo local government area of Ogun State, have petitioned the Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, over what they described as a wrongful process in the selection of the traditional ruler of the town, Odemo of Isara-Remo.

The petitioners, under the aegis of Concerned Indigenes of Isara-Remo, both home and in diaspora and the Concerned Youths of Isara-Remo, all pleaded with the state governor to exercise his powers by declaring the process that produced Bashorun Oluwole Ogunbayo as the oba-elect of the town illegal and order the kingmakers to follow the known due process and traditional methods of selecting a traditional ruler for the town.

In their petitions, signed by the diasporan president and secretary of the Concerned Indigenes, ‘Wale Odetola and Kola Okusanya, respectively which they forwarded to Governor Abiodun, the Isara-Remo Indigenes in Diaspora alleged that the obaship selection process that produced Ogunbayo was fraught with irregularities that included fraud, intimidation, coercion and impersonation of the town’s Council of Kingmakers, among other allegations.

The two separate petitions, dated September, 9 11, 2025 and copy of which were obtained by LEADERSHIP Sunday, the Diaspora Isara-Remo Indigenes and the youths of the town appealed to the state governor, who himself is a bonafide Remo-Prince, to use his office as the state governor to institute a probe into the alleged incidences of bribery in the process.

“As one of the critical stakeholders, deeply invested in the peace, progress and cultural continuity of our homeland, we cannot remain silent while the process is being compromised by intimidation, fraud and disregard for tradition. To disregard the divine Ifa Oracle’s verdict is to undermine the very foundation of the Yoruba kingship tradition.”

Emphasising that the Odemo stool of Isara-Remo remains a symbol of the unity and covenant between the living sons and daughters of the town, Odetola and Okusanya in the petition emphatically declared that the Diaspora Community would not relent in defending the sanctity of the stool.