Osun monarch denies power tussle with Oluwo

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Osun monarch denies power tussle with Oluwo

The Olowu of Kuta, Oba Adekunle Oyelude, has denied having any rift with the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, over the appointment of minor chiefs.

Oyelude said he never applied for such authority from the state government and described reports that he was denied the privilege as untrue.

He said, “There was nothing like that. Consenting authority in the Iwo Traditional Council is vested in Oluwo, but anybody can have prescribed authority, which is the authority to appoint lesser chiefs in your domain.”

The monarch spoke on Friday while reacting to reports that the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, had stopped the request for prescribed authority, which would have enabled him to appoint head for some villages, earlier granted him and the traditional ruler of Ileogbo, Oba Abeeb Adetoyese.

A source in the governor’s office, who spoke to The PUNCH, said the history of the villages listed under Ile Ogbo and Kuta, was not duly checked before the letters were issued.

The source explained that further inquiry revealed that most of the villages belonged to Iwo land.

“Consenting authorities have two stages. The first stage is a letter issued to the affected Obas. But the letter does not have a legal effect until it is gazetted. The gazetting, which is the second stage, is what the governor has now stopped because most of the villages listed fall under Iwo land; they are not villages that belong to Ile Ogbo or Kuta,” the source added.

The source told The PUNCH that the governor had “warned the chieftaincy ministry that no one should issue any letter or gazette the document.”

“The ministries involved were supposed to have met with the Oluwo because he is the existing consenting authority for all Iwo land, so if you want to do anything under him, you have to contact him,” the source said.

The spokesperson for the governor, Olawale Rasheed, could not be reached for comment.

Oba Adetoyese did not take his calls or respond to a text message sent to him on the matter since Friday.