Ijebu Igbo Waits On Abiodun As INLG Submits Adebajo As Orimolusi-Elect

The ball is now in the court of the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, to complete the official process of announcing and crowning Prince Lawrence Jaiyeoba Adebajo as the Orimolusi of Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State following Prince Adebajo’s recent election as the Orimolusi-Elect and the official submission of his name to the state government through the statutory channel of the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

   Impeccable sources who pleaded anonymity informed The Dread Daily Newspaper that the Executive Chairman, Ijebu North Local Government, Mr. Omobolaji Odusanya, had promptly transmitted the name of Prince Adebajo to the state Commissioner Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Afolabi Afuape, on Thursday 6 January 2022 after the 11 Warrant Chiefs empaneled by the local government on the directive of the Ogun State Government had elected Prince Adebajo as the Orimolusi-Elect on 4 January, 2022, in Ijebu Igbo.

  A source confirmed to The Dream Daily newspaper that “the Honourable Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Afuape, is in official receipt of the letter from Odusanya as chairman of Ijebu North Local Government informing him, and of course Governor Dapo Abiodun, that we have successfully elected a widely accepted Orimolusi in the person of our amiable Prince Lawrence Jaiyeoba Adebajo. That letter was received in the commissioner’s office on Thursday. I believe the government is working on it.”

  Another source who is also in the know of the development and the inner workings of the state bureaucracy also confided in The Dream Daily Newspaper on condition of anonymity that Afuape had received the letter and pulling out all stops to get Governor Abiodun and the state executive council to act on it promptly.

   The source said: “Hon. Afuape has the letter and he is acting on it expediently. He needs to take it before Governor Dapo Abiodun to inform him officially that Ijebu Igbo now has an Orimolusi-Elect. Now, the attorney-general of the state has a crucial role to play in the matter also. The attorney-general needs to study the letter and certify that the process of electing Prince Adebajo as the Orimolusi-Elect has substantially complied with the Supreme Court judgment which initiated the process.

 “Thereafter, if the trio of Governor Dapo Abiodun, Honourable Afuape and the state attorney-general agrees that the process is in order, Afuape would have to get the matter listed on the agenda of the larger state executive council meeting for the final approval and official announcement by the state government recognizing Prince Adebajo as the Orimolusi-Elect would be issued.”

   While the source stated that the state bureaucracy can be relied upon to deliver on this process in record time, he identified the irregular nature of the state executive council meeting as the snag which might delay the announcement and picking a date for Prince Adebajo’s coronation, “which is an affair that has to be arranged between the state government and the Orimolusi-Elect and other stakeholders”.

 The Dream Daily Newspaper learned that the Ogun State Executive Council Meeting has lately become irregular and only held at the behest of Governor Abiodun. This, sources stated, is a curious departure from the norm of the past, including the immediate past administration of Governor Ibikunle Amosun when the executive council meeting was held every Wednesday “and even twice in some weeks”.

  Meanwhile, the initial wide jubilations which greeted Prince Adebajo’s emergence as the Orimolusi-Elect appear to be morphing into anxiety and trepidation in Ijebu Igbo. This turn of event is evidently connected with the state’s government’s delay in issuing the official proclamation affirming Adebajo’s new status.

 While the older generations of Ijebu Igbo indigenes, especially those familiar with official bureaucracy, are unperturbed, the younger generations who have never witnessed any Orimolusi coronation in their time, especially the youth who do not even know any Orimolusi following the 27-year hiatus which ensued after the demise of the last king of the town, are increasing apprehensive.

 Such is the state of affairs in the ancient town currently that it has elicited a public communication intervention from Special Adviser to Orimolusi-elect on Media & Strategy Mr. Jide Seun Fowode. The statement from Mr. Fowode reads in full:

“Good people of Ijebu Igbo,

“I greet you warmly. I salute our collective resilience and determination to break the wall of stagnation and position our dear town on the map of the progressives.

“Your observation on the need to put in place an information management structure for effective communication on issues concerning the coronation of our amiable Orimolusi-elect is noted. 

“Please be informed that the statutory process is currently being followed. It is actually the State Government that has the right to formally and officially announce the result of the process to pick our Orimolusi-elect. Right now, efforts are being made to get every statutory authority to do the needful so that the official announcement by Ogun State Government can be formally made in earnest.

“Meanwhile, I shall, on or before Thursday, this week, share on this platform and other known platforms of worthy sons and daughters of Ijebu Igbo, various regal and befitting pictures of our Orimolusi-elect. 

“The Orimolusi-elect, a believer in due process, appreciates you all and urges us to continue to pray for the unity and progress of our cherished town Ijebu Igbo.”

Relatedly, a source informed The Dream Daily Newspaper that plans were afoot to officially  inform the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, of the election of Prince Adebajo as the Orimolusi.

As the paramount monarch in Ijebuland, Oba Adetona has a statutorily role to play in the official and traditional rites needed to coronate the Orimolusi-Elect.