Osun State government has justified the recent appointments of some warrant kingmakers.
It said the move became expedient over the refusal by the surviving kingmakers to honour the invitation extended to them by the government to perform their statutory role.
Defending the recent appointment of some traditional rulers by state government in a statement issued by the commissioner for information and public enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, he said consequent upon the deliberate refusal of five surviving kingmakers of the six recognised by the Owa of Igbajo Chieftaincy Declaration, the government was left with no other option than to appoint warrant kingmakers to perform their functions.
“After refusing to attend several meetings to which they were invited by the local council, the government had no other option than to invoke the provisions of Section 17 of the Chiefs Law of Osun State which permitted the revocation of the performance of any delegated function by any one and the appointment of other persons to perform such a delegated function.
“Thus, warrant kingmakers appointed according to law performed their duty and selected an Owa of Igbajo-elect whose appointment is to be ratified by the State Executive Council.
“We call on the public to recall that the present administration at its inception set up a number of committees to review the activities of the immediate past administration particularly towards the end of its tenure in response to the yearnings of the people of the state who felt some of the activities were detrimental to the progress of the state.
“One of such committees was the one that reviewed activities on chieftaincy matters from July 16 to November 26 2022. The committee held public sessions and received several petitions on which it wrote its report. A White Paper Drafting Committee reviewed the report of the committee before it was further reviewed by the State Executive Council and a White Paper was issued.
“The White Paper touched upon several chieftaincy matters handled by the immediate past administration towards the end of its tenure and gave succor to the people in line with their yearnings. Prominent among the chieftaincy matters are the stools of Aree of Iree, Akirun of Ikirun and Owa of Igbajo.
