The Olofin of Ado-Odo, Oba Olusola Lamidi-Osolo and the Olota of Ota, Oba Abdulkabir Obalanlege, both in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Area of Ogun State, are locked in a supremacy battle over the Awori kingdom.
Olota in a recent interview (not by Daily Trust) had claimed to be the Chairman of the Awori Obas Forum in Ogun State.
“The Obas within the forum are answerable to me,” the monarch, who’s a Professor of Mass Communication, reportedly said.
Obalanlege also claimed that the Olota was the only stool in the area until 1972 when the Ifo stool was created.
“You don’t just create a traditional stool for political reasons… It was only the Olota that we had in all these areas until 1972 when the Ifo stool was created. It is the proliferation of stools that has led to all these nonsense and shameful acts among traditional rulers. We have too many traditional rulers, and when you have too many of anything, it becomes uncontrollable,” Olota said.
But the Olofin countered Olota’s position in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday.
Lamidi-Osolo said Obalanlege whose kingdom is being controlled by the Alake of Egbaland could not be claiming superiority over Aworiland.
Going down memory lane, Olofin said Ado-Odo is traditionally an Awori territory, but for administrative convenience, the kingdom was positioned under the Yewa Traditional Council, where the Olofin currently serves as a permanent member and is next to the Paramount Ruler.
According to the monarch, at the time Nigeria was operating the regional system of government, in the Western Region, Olofin was the Vice Chairman of the Western House of Chiefs, while the Ooni of Ife was the Chairman.
“In the same vein, both the Oba of Ado/Olófin of Ado-Odo and the Alake of Egbaland were the representatives of Abeokuta Province at that time.
“It is therefore amusing that a monarch whose installation requires the consent/approval of the Alake of Egbaland is now claiming leadership of a forum that includes the Oba of Ado/Olofin Àdìmúlà Oòduà of Adó-Odò, who co-led Abeokuta Province with Alake of Egbaland in the Western Region era.
“We wish to state unequivocally that the Awori Obas Forum in Ogun State is merely an association of Awori Obas who seek a platform to channel their requests from the government. The fact that the Awori Traditional Council does not have a divisional status of any kind, substantially recognised by the government, makes it presumptuous for anyone to arrogate leadership capacity to himself without considering the historical details and facts,” the monarch said.
Lamidi-Osolo added that the Olofin is not answerable to anyone at the forum, saying the stool is superior to any other in Aworiland.
“For record purposes, no occupier of the exalted stool is answerable to anyone at the Awori Obas Forum in Ogun State. This is not only because his domain is administratively under the Yewa Traditional Council, but also because Olófin Àdìmúlà Oòduà’s stool is traditionally and historically superior and, as such, not answerable to anyone,” Olofin warned.
He said the coronation pamphlet of the current Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo in 2005 contained details about the Egba people’s interactions with neighbouring territories, including Ado-Odo.
“Ado-Odo was never conquered by the Egba forces. Specifically, it recounts how the Egba forces besieged Ado-Odo for several months but were unable to subdue it. Reverend Henry Townsend intervened, entered Ado-Odo, and facilitated a reconciliation between the parties, after which the Egba forces withdrew.
“This account is supported by S.B. Biobaku’s work, ’The Egba and Their Neighbours (1957)’, which states that Ado-Odo “could not be hemmed” or “starved into surrender” as the Egbas were accustomed to doing with other territories.
“Additionally, J.F. Ade Ajayi and Crowther (eds.) highlight Ado-Odo as a significant obstacle to Egba power in southern Egbado and their route to the sea via Badagry.
“It is misleading for any monarch from a territory historically under Egba dominion to claim supremacy over Ado-Odo. A minute of a meeting held at the Olota’s Palace on Wednesday, 10th April 1935, further corroborates this fact. The then Oloregan of Ota, Chief T. T. Dada, was quoted as saying, ’In 1839, Egba waged a war against us, and we (Ota) were conquered in 1841 with our surrounding villages’.
“The same military forces attempted to subdue Adó-Odò, but they were vehemently repelled.
“These statements confirm the reality that Ota remained under Egba control, governed by resident representatives such as the Karunwis, Carrs, Cokers, Sorinolus, and the Oyesiles. The readership should also note that the previous Olota of Ota did not have direct access to the Alake of Egbaland until the mid-eighteenth century, and it was only in 1900 that the Alake of Egbaland began to rule them directly,” the Olofin asserted.
The Ado-Odo monarch argued that the Olofin was among the rulers who were qualified to wear beaded crowns by the Oni of Ife in ancient times.
“As early as 1917, a document from the Secretary’s Office, Southern Provinces, Nigeria, dated 27th January 1917, titled ’List of Recognised Crowned Chiefs in the Western Province’, explicitly included the Oba of Ado among the selected Yoruba Obas recognised as crowned chiefs.
“This pronouncement, supported by archival evidence, invalidates any self-proclaimed leadership over the Awori Kingdom by a monarch whose historical reality remains subjugated to Egba dominance,” the monarch stated.
He added that the historical trajectory proves that the Olota of Ota’s territory was “subdued and remains subordinate to the Alake of Egbaland.”