A coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Ogun State on Tuesday applauded the steps taken by the Prince Dapo Abiodun-led state to suspend the Oloorile of Orile—Ifo in Ifo Local Government Area, Oba Semiu Ogunjobi, for six months for subjecting a septuagenarian, Chief Arinola Abraham Love, to a public disgrace on a highway.
The CSOs also commended the state command of the Nigeria Police Force for arraigning the embattled monarch on Tuesday on a three-count charge of “conspiracy, assault, and conduct likely to lead to a breach of peace.”
The Ogun chairman of the coalition and activist lawyer Comrade Bankole Solomon, who spoke with LEADERSHIP in Abeokuta, the state capital, commended the state government’s proactiveness and also urged that the matter should not be allowed to die at the preliminary stage in the interest of the victim’s life.
Bankole expressed disgust at the role played by the monarch, Oba Ogunjobi, wherein the monarch superintend the public humiliation of the fragile-looking 73–year–old man, whom he forced to kneel for him on the highway, in addition to several physical assaults he received in the hands of the palace aides.
Emphasising that Oba Ogunjobi’s display of hooliganism belittles the status and standard of any monarch in the “Káàrò, O ò Jí’re” land, the Ogun CSOs chairman stressed that the punishment should not be limited to his suspension only. Still, he just must be done by ensuring that the power-drunk monarch is thoroughly prosecuted.
“As a Yoruba man, to start with, it is not in our culture; it is against our tradition and values to have children physically assaulting the elders, talk-less of having a traditional ruler supervising such public humiliation of someone old enough to be his father.
“I have watched and listened to that video, which has gone viral, and I must say that it was too horrible and unacceptable in our society.
“Watching a 73-year-old man helplessly on his knees, facing a downpour of curses and absorbing a hot slap by a palace slave was a gory sight and a nightmare.
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