Ogun Monarch Threatens Litigation Against Community Leaders Over Illegal Sales Of Land

A frontline traditional ruler in Ogun State, the Olu of Ikija Orile, Oba Babatunde Kolawole Ayorinde, threatened legal action against nine community leaders at the weekend for selling community land without securing approval from his palace.

This is just as the Ikija monarch appealed to traditional rulers, particularly in Ogun State, to restrict their efforts to activities that always preserve societal norms and values rather than engaging in domain haunting, which often leads to prolonged communal wars.

With particular emphasis on land grabbing activities for which one of the traditional rulers in the state is standing criminal trial at an Ogun State High Court,

Oba Ayorinde said monarchs must always promote and be good custodians of the people’s ways of life rather than desecrating the traditional stool of their race.

The Ikija monarch stated these while addressing journalists yesterday at his palace in Ifo Local Government Area of the state on the state of the traditional institutions in Ikija Kingdom.

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Òba Ayorinde’s threat of legal action was coming on the heels of illegal installations of the 9 Palace Chiefs in his domain by another traditional ruler in the state, the Olofin of Isheri, Oba Sulaiman Adekunle Bamgbade, whom he accused of encroaching on the Ikija Kingdom to sell community lands in his domain.

The monarch, whose action came barely a week after an Ogun monarch, Oba Alexander McGregor, earlier sacked seven of his palace chiefs, listed the 9 Palace Chiefs allegedly installed by Olofin of Isheri on Ikijaland to include Akibu Olanite, Lateef Sanyaolu, Kolawole Olowo-oto, Saheed Omotola, Rasaki Ekemode, Tajudeen Ekemode, Akeem Alaska, and Jimoh Olanite.

The Olu of Ikija Orile, however, berated the Olofin of Isheri foe for allegedly embarking on a domain hunting expedition into other kingdoms, stressing that such an expedition could ignite communal feuds that could degenerate into a full-blown crisis.

He also warned traditional rulers against illegal land sales, stressing that the purpose of their installation as kings was to continue to move for the development of their domains.