For the records: Re: Olu of Igbogila Stool: Council of Chiefs accuses lawmaker of meddling in selection process

Being a text of speech delivered at the press conference held at iwe-irohin house, Abeokuta on Thursday 6th November, 2025 by Hon. Adegoke Awoso, member representing the people of Isokan State Constituency at the Ogun State House of Assembly on the lingering chieftaincy tussle and installation of new monarch in Igbogila Yewa.

Gentlemen of the Press, I welcome you to this Press Briefing.

Let me start by saying that, as a law maker and someone who believes in the sanctity of our judicial system, I will be very cautious in commenting on some of the salient issues and subject matters of this briefing. This is because some of these issues are already before the court.

But, as constraint as I am, I find it quite compelling to address you today in order to put some of the issues in proper perspectives after which I shall leave them for your kind, discerning consideration.

In response to the above false narratives, misrepresentation of facts, put forward at a Press Briefing organised last Tuesday, November 4, 2025 by a section of duly suspended factional council of Chiefs, titled, “Igbogila Council of Chiefs Debunks Claims of Suspension”, tantamount to defamation of my character and destruction of my reputation as a law maker,  it has become quite expedient and important for me to, through this briefing, set the records straight on the devilishly concocted, malicious and wrong allegations levelled against me, Hon. Adegoke Adeyanju Awoso, the Sobaloju of Igbogila Land.

Let me begin by saying emphatically that, there is no any iota of truth in all what discredited chiefs said at the press briefing.  These elements have only embarked on face-saving mission and tactics to redeem their already battered reputation. Having been unmasked and exposed for their inordinate ambition, shenanigans, corruption, domineering and uncompromising attitudes, they now stand naked and discredited in views and opinions of our people in Igbogila land, who have woken up from their slumber and standing up against injustice.

First of all, on the false allegations that Honourable Awoso was the one masterminding and sponsoring the protests held within the town and the at the Governor’s office, this is far from the truth. It is equally a lie from the pit of hell. The truth of the matter is that our people have realized that the suspended chiefs are trying to draw the progress of Igbogila backward, using the vacant stool of Olu of Igbogila as an opportunity to unlawfully reinstate themselves after they had been duly suspended and deposed by the late Olú of Igbogila, Oba Ebenezer Olanloye, Osingade I.

Let me make it clear that before the people started staging peaceful protests, there had been series of peace meetings held and consultations made by different groups and stakeholders such as, the Igbogila Stakeholders Forum, (ISDEF) Igbogila Youths Association, Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) Igbogila branch and other notable personalities of the town to mediate in the process of selecting a new monarch following the demise of the late Oba Ebenezer Olanloye of blessed memory.

The aggrieved suspended Chiefs have, however, unfortunately embarked on nefarious activities, using court cases and unlawfully using the police to harass and intimidate perceived opponents with a view to scuttling and halting the selection process. The worst part is that whenever any youth or indigene says anything on the matter, they will start threatening them with petition, using Police at FCIID Alagbon and the DSS to harass and intimidate them.

Again, before the emergence of the late Olú of Igbogila, Oba Ebenezer Olanloye, Igbogila has never had a King. It took a harrowing 20 years of legal and spiritual battles, delayed progress and development for the town to actualise the transmutation  of the reigning Baale to a substantive King, Olu of Igbogila.

With the demise of the Oba Olanite, the people of Igbogila land are afraid of a repeat of the past long waiting, and justifiably so, they are not willing to allow the suspended chiefs use the usual endless legal battles to delay the process of selecting a new monarch.

It may interest you to note that for the past 4 years, Igbogila has been without electricity. This is, of course due to the regular and persistent acts of vandalisation of electric cables and power installation equipment. As a result of this, economic activities have been greatly affected and there has been an upsurge in crimes and criminal activities within and around the town.

While the absence of a monarchy has had its grave impact on the town, the suspended Chiefs have, quite sadly, found a safe haven in the void to arrogate powers to themselves, throwing the whole community into great confusion.

Even when the late Kaabiesi was alive, these chiefs were the ones usurping his powers and authority to advance and promote their selfish interests.

They didn’t allow the King to be in good/total control of the town which led to divisions which led to divisions within the town. They were the ones in charge of community funds and assets, sharing same amongst themselves with impunity!

Yet, after their removal from office by the late Kaabiesi, they began desperately seeking for means to be reinstated through the back doors. They have thereafter embarked on protracted court injunctions, harassment and intimidation of perceived enemies and those they felt cannot be binned and controlled.

These, amongst others, are the very reasons the people of Igbogila rallied behind the youth to demand an end to court unnecessary litigations. They with writing letters to the Government and also staging public rallies to press home their demands for a new king to avoid the pitfalls of the past.

Though I am an indigene of Igbogila and an Honourable representing the state constituency at the Ogun State House of Assembly, I cannot be the one asking the youths to go on the streets. It is their fundamental human rights under Sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

I have never facilitated anything for them towards the staging of the protests. Besides that, those protesters, the youth you see on the streets are very educated and intelligent people. They know their rights. In fact, if you see the protesters, they were very peaceful and their conducts throughout the protests were applauded by most people in Igbogila. During one of the protests, I was at home and when they passed through my area, I came out to grant a press interview.

During the second round of the protests at the Governor’s office, I was not even there as I was away on an official assignment.

It must be emphasized that the suspension of the Chiefs was done by the late King himself with the approval of state and traditional authorities (having realized the level of gross misconduct/corrupt practices they have perpetrated in the community.

Their suspension also followed a due process, because they were first suspended after due investigations.  When they were invited to the panel of investigation, they all refused to appear. They were also said to have been holding nocturnal, separate/secret meetings in their own private palace (a duplicate to Oba Olanloye’s palace, as well as forming their own Council of Chiefs, different from the one in the King’s Palace).

All efforts to make them appear before the disciplinary committee also proved abortive. The panelists eventually sent their reports to the Paramount ruler of Yewa Land and the Yewa Traditional Council subsequently affirmed their suspension. This process completed their removal from office.

All these couldn’t have been done without the late Olu Igbogila’s active participation, yet these discredited chiefs lied that, the late Oba Ebenezer Olanloye was “bedridden”. Why are these chiefs showing themselves to be desperate liars at their age?

Again, I need to say the obvious that the state of health of the Kabiyesi as alleged by them was not true. The Kabiyesi was hail and healthy. In fact, during the 23rd anniversary of the Kabiyesi, when the he was installing new chiefs to replace the removed ones, late Oba Ebenezer actively performed the installation ceremony, covered by OGTV and other TV stations. Also in attendance were dignitaries such as the Deputy Governor of Ogun State, (ably represented by

Otunba Odewale Idowu), the Paramount ruler of Yewa Land, Secretary to the Yewa North Local Government, Hon Mathew Adeshina, BUA cement company representatives etc The video of this event is available on the internet.  (There are corroborative motion and pictorial evidences to support the veracity of these claims).

On the allegation of increasing the Kingmakers of Igbogila from 5, to 7, it was the declaration of the Yewa Traditional Council, headed by the Paramount ruler of Yewa Land, HRM Ọba Kehinde Olugbenle and approved by the Ogun State Government, as contained in the Obas law of Ogun State. The funny thing is that these same removed Chiefs still filed legal suits against the Olu of Igbogila, the Governor of Ogun State, Attorney General of the State and others over this.

On the issue of enthronement, the process of selecting new Oba has commenced when the removed Chiefs wrote petition to the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to stop the ongoing process. The copy of their petition is attached.

On the allegation of threat, I Hon. Awoso has never threatened violence on any platform or physically against anyone. Whenever I speak, I speak the truth about what is happening in Igbogila and how the former Chiefs have been cheating the town and always using Police, DSS and Court to harass anyone who dare say the truth.

On the issue of money, the Chiefs received money meant for Igbogila development from the management of BUA Cement, who has declared an intention to cite his cement company in Igbogila. The tranche of money was paid into the personal account of Mr Ajibade Akinlolu Atanda First Bank account who called it PR.

They sent a share of the money to my account and immediately I approached them to ask for the source and reason for the money. They said it was PR from BUA. I sought further clarifications to know how much was the total money and how much was given to Kabiyesi and I also asked about who ordered the sharing of the money. They could not answer these questions. Only what they told me was that I should not inform anyone how much they gave me. I left and started my underground investigations.

One thing in my life is that I believe that any matter that you tell me that I should not let anyone know about has an element of deceit and injustice.

I later detected that the money they collected was 30 million naira and they sent 3 million naira to the late Kabiyesi, Akogun received 2 million to his first bank account and they sent 1 million naira to my account. Other Chiefs were given between 70 to 20 thousand naira. I then challenged them that why did they not disclose this at the Council of Chiefs meeting. They declined. I then kept the one given to me with a plan of using it for a developmental project in the town which I eventually did by donating the money to Igbogila Stakeholders Forum for the community electrification project.

Ever since my assumption of office as the Honourable representing Isokan State Constituency at the Ogun State House of Assembly, I have always been active on the floor of the house and I have been doing a lot of community engagements. I also carry out my oversight functions without biased or compromise. I am the leader of the Members of the Ogun State House of Assembly Committee on Works and Infrastructure and I have been leading the team across the state to carry out the monitoring exercise of the projects being executed by His Excellence, Prince Dr Dapo Abiodun, CON. I have equally facilitated a lot of projects, within the available state resources across many towns within my state constituency.

Some of these live changing projects include:

– In Igbogila alone, I have facilitated a Patrol Vehicle to Igbogila Divisional Police Headquarters

– Modern Primary Health care centre

– 2 borehole with power generating sets

– 3 blocks of classrooms at UNA High School, Igbogila.

– 4 Units of modern Toilet at Baptist Day Primary School Igbogila

– Free Health Insurance cards for over 50 people within Igbogila

– Solar powered Street lighting system across the road within Igbogila township

– In Ayetoro, 3 borehole with power generating set

– Borehole at Ilakan Village with power generating set

– Borehole at Ijaka Isale

– Solar Street light at Ijako Oke

– In Ibese town, Solar Street light

– Solar light in Imasayi

– Distribution of Hospital equipment such as iron beds, mattresses, baby scales, adult scales, Oxygen with cylinders, blood pressure measurement kit, fancy plastic chairs across all the Primary Health Care centres in the 7 wards in Isokan state constituency.

– I also have a Foundation known as Idunnu Obi foundation where I have been doing various empowerment program. – and many more

Lastly, I have always been appealing to the youths to be patient and allow the rule of law to prevail. I am a law maker and not a law breaker. The progress of Igbogila is my concern. I will not end my submission without appreciating His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dr Dapo Abiodun, CON, and all members of the Executive Council, the Speaker, OGHA, Rt. Hon. Oludaisi Elemide and all members of the Legislative Council for their giant strides in Ogun State. Igbega ipinle Ogun, Àjọṣe gbogbo wa ni.

SIGNED

Hon. (Chief) Adegoke Adeyanju Awoso

The Sobaloju of Igbogila Land.

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