Crisis Brews Over Obaship Tussle In Ogun

Barely three months after the Olu of Orile Ilawo, Oba Alexander Olusegun MacGregor, was installed by the Ogun State government, a crisis is brewing in the agrarian community of Odeda local government area.

It was gathered that an aggrieved indigene, Lawrence Ogunsanya, has mobilised his people against the Olu calling for his immediate ouster.

Ogunsanya, who was one of the contestants to the Orile Ilawo stool but lost in the race, allegedly directed some members of the community, particularly those loyal to him, neither to accept nor recognise Oba MacGregor as their traditional ruler.

Describing himself as a true born of Orile Ilawo, Ogunsanya blamed his ancestors for the grave mistake they made with the honouring of the forefathers of Oba MacGregor with a chieftaincy, lamenting that the singular error is now haunting the community.

Ogunsanya said it was that chieftaincy bestowed in error that the MacGregor family is standing on to lay claim to having legitimacy to the stool.

In a viral video obtained in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Ogunsanya allegedly disparaged Oba MacGregor, who was crowned on April 26, 2023 at the Elegunmefa Village, the headquarters of Orile Ilawo at a ceremony attended by Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun who presented the paraphernalia of office to him.

LEADERSHIP also gathered that Ogunsanya’s meeting with some indigenes of the community loyal to him has resulted in a near breakdown of law and order at Orile Ilawo community as one of the youths identified as Omotosho Muyideen was attacked last Thursday.

But reacting to Ogunsanya’s actions, Oba MacGregor and his kinsmen, both at home and in the diaspora called on Governor Abiodun, the security agencies and other concerned authorities to wade into the crisis.