Tension rose in the ancient town of Ile-Ife, Osun State, yesterday as the controversy surrounding the selection of the new Obalufe of Ile-Ife, the second-in-command to the Ooni of Ife caused rancour among the supporters of the ten contenders to the throne from Aga ruling house of the town.
The position became vacant following the death of the late Obalufe of Ile-Ife, Oba Solomon Omisakin in October last year.
The Obalufe, who is the traditional ruler of Iremo in Ile-Ife is the head of Ife kingmakers and next to the Ooni in hierarchy according to the tradition of the ancient town.
The process of selecting a new Obalufe started with the inauguration of a committee under the chairmanship of Comrade Ayoola Olafiranye.
The committee was saddled with the responsibility of screening all the contenders for the stool and report its findings to the ruling house.
It was gathered that the committee during its sittings invited and screened all the 10 aspirants but before it could submit its reports, majority of the contenders accused the committee of allegedly planning to announce the name of an aspirant from the female lineage, Elu Abayomi saying that Elu was not even qualified to contest.
This led to a rancorous session at the ruling house yesterday as the supporters of the contenders threatened to shut down the town if Elu Abayomi was announced as planned.
One of the contenders, Fatai Adiyeloja expressed worry over the action of the committee and cautioned the aggrieved Ife youths to remain calm, assuring them that the matter would be resolved.
Speaking on the development, a traditional Chief in Ife, Chief Atimi Bada, Logun Apata of Ile-Ife said that the contenders for the vacant stool of the Obalufe must come from male lineage, adding that those from female lineage could only contest if there is no competent person from the male lineage.
According to him, “This rancour was avoidable if the committee had done the right thing in a transparent manner. We all know that the female lineage can contest only if there was no competent person from the male lineage. But in this situation, there are nine contenders from male lineage, yet, the committee attempted to pick the only one person that came out from the female lineage. It is not right.”
The Head of the Ruling House, Chief Bello Adiyeloja said since the contenders could no longer trust the committee members, it has become imperative to dissolve the committee to prevent avoidable trouble in the town.
The Chairman of the committee, Comrade Ayoola Olafiranye declined comment on the report of the committee.
He said since the contenders, their supporters and other people have pass vote of no confidence in the committee, he would prefer not to talk on the outcome of the screening of the aspirants.
