By Demola Atobaba, Ado-Ekiti
The Omo Owas of the other Ruling Houses in Ebi – Oke Owa Royal Lineage of Ilogbo-Ekiti in Ekiti State, have denied the claim by the Isape dynasty that Owa of Ilogbo-Ekiti stool belongs to only Aofin compound.
The Isape dynasty had recently alleged that the Isape people untruthfully and fraudulently constituted themselves as Ile Aofin which they alleged was unknown to the town’s history, saying they have an exclusive right to the Owa of Ilogbo-Ekiti stool.
Ilogbo-Ekiti community is one of the towns in the Ido/Osi Local Government Areas of Ekiti State.
Debunking the claim of the Isape people, representatives of the Aofin Royal Houses, Prince David Agbetuyi (Olori Ebi Oke-Owa), Prince Adebayo Ateji, Prince Oluwaseyi Olorunfemi, Prince Ajayi Omoleye, Prince Oladipo Orisalade, Prince Ayo Faponle Oreyemi, Prince Olusegun Bakare, Prince Olufemi AlabI and Prince Ayeola Ajayi in a joint statement made available to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, said the claim was malicious.
Its reads “Aofin is the official residence of the Owa of Ilogbo-Ekiti and it is only when an Omo Oye (the Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti Designate) is chosen from amongst all the Royal Families of Ebi Oke-Owa which constituted various ruling houses to the Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti Stool that the chosen and selected Omo Owa is now taken to reside at Aofin to govern the entire community accordingly.
According to the statement, the Isape people of Ebi Oke-Owa falsely laying claim to be Ile Aofin are people notoriously known as the Isape People who were latter day migrants to Ilogbo-Ekiti and they have their Head as Chief Abaisape just like other Ruling Houses in Ebi Oke-Owa have their own Heads/Chiefs too such as :Abaluroye, Abaluare, Abajisun, Abalaginringan, Abaiye.
They further ststed that the last known Head of the Isape People was Chief Daniel Akeju (Abaisape) popularly called Aba Dani.
“The Aofin (Palace) is different and distinct from the area occupied by the Isape people just like Igbolofin and Upara {Ule Abaluroye) which also embarked the Aofin and are regarded by the entire Community as part of the Aofin Compound”.
The said representatives further stated that all the historical literatures and Oral tradition on Ilogbo-Ekiti history are all agreed that the first settler on the lands now known as Ilogbo-Ekiti Community was EJEMU OKUNBOBUA, a Crown Prince of the Owa Obokun, Ilesha in the present Osun State.
They said the First ever Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti was OBA AYIKAAIYE AKA OMO OYE who came to Ilogbo-Ekiti with other families members.
“Supports and references on the statement above can be found in the Book: THE CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF ILOGBO – EKITI BY BUSUYI OLUWASANMI Published in 2010. The above statement was equally to the knowledge of the present Owalogbo – Oba Dr E.O. Ajayi who was also acknowledged in the Book by the Author under Acknowledgment and whose photograph is on page III of the aforesaid Book. In addition, Prince Hon. J.E Jegede of blessed memory, a staunch member of the Isape People was also acknowledged for his contribution to the publication of the Book (See Pages 6-12).
“Equally, in another Book titled SOCIO-POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF EJEMU LINEAGE IN ILOGBO – EKITI published also by Busuyi Oluwasanmi in 2018 at pages 6 – 8, OBA AYIKAAIYE AKA OMO OYE was equally acknowledged as the 1st Owalogbo of Ilogbo – Ekiti.
In another authored Publication ULOGBORO – FACTS ON ILOGBO – EKITI, NIGERIA published by Egbe Omo Ilogbo – Ekiti in 2016 at pages 5 – 8 OBA AYIKAAYIE AKA OMO OYE, was clearly acknowledged as the First Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti and the current Owa of Ilogbo Oba Edward Ajayi was listed as the 16th Owalogbo of Ilogbo – Ekiti which he never contradicted. And as a matter of fact, the fact stated above was duly authorized by the present Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti, Oba Dr. Edward Ajayi even wrote a Message from the Throne therein at pages vi – viii thereby endorsing the contents.
“Even in the Memorandum filed by the current Owalogbo of Ilogbo – Ekiti, Oba Dr Edward Ajayi to the Chieftaincy Commission of Inquiry headed by the Hon. Justice Oyewole dated 19th March, 2018, he acknowledged OBA AYIKAAYE AKA OMO OYE as the First Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti.
Also as far back as earlier May, 1961, the LATE JOSIE A. ABE, a known and widely recognized prolific Writer of Ilogbo-Ekiti Origin also acknowledged OBA AYIKAAYE AKA OMO OYE as the First Owalogbo of Ilogbo – Ekiti in his Published Work, ITAN ILOGBO. The Foreword to the Book was written by Pa Sam Bamisaiye who praised the Author and acknowledged him as the First Ilogbo-Ekiti Indegene to write the History of the Community.
“The Isape People have never, at any point in time, challenged the clear facts in any of these Publications and consequently, it is crystal clear that it was this OBA AYIKAAYE AKA OMO OYE that met THE FIRST EJEMU with both agreeing to co-habit together and also with a solid Concurrence from the latter allowing the former to rule over Ilogbo-Ekiti as King (Owalogbo) despite the fact the said EJEMU was also a Prince with authority to also rule as king over the Community.
“The Great Descendants of the FIRST EJEMU are still very much around and bubbling within Ilogbo Community and they know clearly the Descendants of the OBA AYIKAAIYE AKA OMO OYE amongst the Ebi Oke-Owa that their Progenitor had the aforementioned Pact with.
“It is widely known within the Ilogbo-Ekiti Community that it was not the Progenitor of the AJAYIS, JEGEDES, ADELEYES AND ADEBAYOS i.e. THE ISAPE PEOPLE that met the FIRST EJEMU and with whom the above pact on the Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti Stool was had then.
“Consequently, the claim by the Isape people to OBA ARUGBO ABANEFUNFUN as the First Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti is completely false, misleading and a blatant distortion of facts relating to the Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti Stool, having regards to all the literatures above”.
The representatives further stressed that OBA ARUGBO ABENUFUNFUN to whom the Isape People are also laying claim to as their forebear is utter falsehood as the said Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti was one the Persons in the entourage of OBA AYIKAAIYE popularly known as OMO OYE and a clearly Old Man, but not their Progenitor.
The Isape people constituted by the AKEJUS, JEGEDES, ADELEYES AND ADEBAYOS families are latter days Migrants from ORA EKITI and they are the people who brought GBEGBEDUDU (Calabash Drum} AND OOHO (Buffalo Horn) to Ilogbo-Ekiti being of the Ejio traditional religious Stock practicing the Oro Ereju.
“They constitute the only family in that traditional religious sect out of all the Royal Lineages in Ebi Oke Owa who belong to the Imese Sect.
“The Isape People are not in any way related to the First OWALOGBO – OBA AYIKAAYE A.K. A OMO OYE. As a matter of fact during the Celebration of their Oro Ereju, direct reference is always made to the Original Place of Settlement via the rendition of the Song:
EREJU ORA………….AIYE LOORO;
AIYE LOORO………..EREJU ORA.
“The OKE IKUTEMILARA Royal family are of the OWALESA LINEAGE and they also hailed from Ilesa in the present day Osun State. They are neither related to the Isape People nor are they related with OBA AYIKAAIYE AKA OMO OYE, the First acclaimed Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti”.
“They noted that the first Owalogbo from the Owalesa lineage was OBAADUGBOKOJUOGUN, the Twelfth Owalogbo from all the literatures on Ilogbo-Ekiti history and tradition and it was through him that the Isape people from Ora-Ekiti and the Owalesa family accidentally had their way to the Owalogbo Throne.
“Consequently, the Isape people and the Owalesa people are not directly or indirectly related to the First to Eleventh Owalogbos of Ilogbo-Ekiti.
On the issue of the Morgan Chieftaincy Commission of Inquiry into the Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti Stool, the Isape people were not at par with the Owalesa people and the entire Community.
“They were represented, at the Commission by Prince Adelola Omonigba Akeju, Late Prince Jonathan Ebunola Jegede and Late Prince Agbelusi Omoju. Their Memorandum was filled of serious half-truths and distorted facts on Ilogbo-Ekiti history. The Trio clearly admitted that the Kingmakers, other members of Ebi Oke-Owa and the entire Community were not aware of their Memorandum, which obviously was self-serving.
“Admittedly unrelated to the 1st – 11th Owalogbos of Ilogbo-Ekiti, they contended that there was only one Ruling House in Ilogbo-Ekiti thus tried to put into the dark the other Ruling Houses in Ebi Oke-Owa who had produced the First to Eleventh Owalogbos of Ilogbo – Ekiti.
They also deliberately and falsely denied OBA AYIKAAIYE AKA OMO OYE as the First Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti. Whereas the said OBA AYIKAAIYE AKA OMO OYE was the person that brought Egungun, Osanyin, Orisa and Osokia to Ilogbo and planted all these in the current Aofin after he moved from the first habitat where he was being disturbed by Flood. He was always carrying his Egigun on his shoulders and that earned him the Appellation, AGBEGUNAYEBONI JAGUN”.
The other Omo Owas said, ” Isape People on their Sojourn from Ora- Ekiti came to meet the Egigun, Osanyin, Osokia and even the Ile Orisa at the Aofin Compound well established thereat and definitely were not the establishers of them.
“The Isape people are being
deceitful, misleading and propagating falsehood in their claim to him as they have nothing to do with the Appellation, AGBEGUNAYEBONI another name for OBA AYIKAAIYE AKA OMO OYE.
“Even at the Tribunal Proceedings, the Late Hon. J.E Jegede admitted in his several answers that any Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti must be related to the First Owalogbo, who clearly had now been established to be OBA AYIKAAIYE AKA OMO OYE and which relationship the Isape people do not have and cannot prove or laid claim to going by Ilogbo traditional customs and oral history.
They further stated that Late Hon. J.E Jegede also admitted during the Tribunal Proceedings the existence of the Head of the Omo Owas i.e Olori Omo-Owa which they are now disclaiming. The Owalogbo is a distinct Office while the Olori Omo-Owa is also a distinct Position. The Olori Omo-Owa is usually the eldest of all the Omo Owas and can come from any of the Royal families constituting the Ebi Oke-Owa.
“The said Late Hon. J.E Jegede further admitted before the said Tribunal that he does not know who and who those Obas listed in their Memorandum were and which of them begat who. He also admitted further that that all the Omo Owas are descendants of the first Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti, now dully established to be OBA AYIKAAIYE AKA OMO OYE. He later broke down and could not proceed further when he knew that he was peddling falsehood, which situation made the then Late Chief Abasaafin, a descendant of the Fourteenth Owalogbo – OBA OKE IKUTEMILARA to jump into the Proceedings to declare that all what Late Hon. J.E Jegede had been saying were not only lies, but utter falsehood.
Unfortunately however, the Memorandum filed by the Late Chief Abasaafin which encompassed the recognition and inclusion of the other Royal families in Ebi OkeOwa who are descendants of the First to Eleventh Owalogbos of Ilogbo-Ekiti and which the late Chief Adesegun Olufemi Orisalade fully supported was filed very late and could not be accommodated by the Tribunal, on account of the Late filing”.
They described as fallacious the claim that Chief Adesegun Olufemi Orisalade ever prepared any Memorandum on behalf of the Kingmakers of Ilogbo-Ekiti as it is crystal clear from the Proceedings that the Memorandum on behalf of the said Kingmakers and the Community was prepared by the Late High Chief Rufus Kayode, the then Enurin of Ilogbo-Ekiti.
The maintained that memorandum was annoyingly withdrawn by the said Late High Chief Rufus Kayode when the Late Oba Elijah Jegede lied against him and denounced any knowledge of the Memorandum when in actual fact they jointly prepared the Memeorandum and he had knowledge of same.
They opined that Owalogbo initially only deliberately and falsely denied knowledge of the said Memorandum because the Late Enurin Chieftaincy gift was not shared to him as an Oba as captured in the Tribunal Proceedings.
The representatives said Late Chief Adesegun Olufemi Orisalade could not have filed a separate Memorandum on behalf of his family as regards the Owalogbo stool when the unheard Memorandum of Late Chief Abasaafin, contrary to the selfish and self-centered Memorandum of the Isape people, had accommodated the interest of the other Ruling Houses of EbiOkeOwa.
“The fact remain also that the Late chief Abasaafin, during the Tribunal Proceedings voiced out loudly and declared that the Memorandum of the Isape people, being then presented by the Late Hon. J.E Jegede as consisting of lies and falsehood.
“The Morgan Chieftaincy Review Commission’s Proceedings and Report of 1981 leaves a lot of unanswered questions and missing links and was just in a hurry to get Ilogbo-Ekiti moving. Obviously therefore, the Report is a complete negation of Ilogbo-Ekiti history and tradition as it is evident that there are more than two Ruling Houses in Ilogbo-Ekiti and there is equally nothing like Ile Aafin as being peddled by the Isape people. The Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti remains the Ruler of the Community and does not double as the Olori OmoOwa.
“The land at Odoroye Farmlands belongs to the entire Omo Owas which is the reason why every family had their deities there such as Orisa, Aginringan, e.t.c and each family has access to the land which was the main reason they built a big hut (Aherelila) where they meet, eat and wine together with the spirit of unity and oneness. It is equally established by Tradition that whoever becomes the Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti would have a separate portion to farm thereupon.
“The Isape People have however cunningly and by stealth taken over large portions of the farmlands and unfortunately Areas occupied by some other Royal Families of Ebi OkeOwa, such as Oke-leji after Omi mimu all at Odoroye were lost during the Ilogbo-Ekiti – Ijurin Ekiti Land Litigation.
It is patently untrue that the Isape people only have Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti as their only Chieftaincy and that this distinguishes them from other Royal Families of Ebi Oke Owa.”
They said that, it is on record that the Isape people have produced the following Princes as Chiefs to Abaisape – Daniel Akeju aka Aba Dani, Abasaafin , James Oke,
Obalua – Adebayo Odejirin,
Abasaofin – OkeOluwadare (Olowe/Isape family, Asalu – Daniel Akeju aka Aba Dani (was later upgraded to Abaisape.),
Asalu currently Chief OjoAjayi (UleAtogun),
Ajirowacurrently – Chief Tafa Ogunleye (UleAtogun)
, Ajirowa past – Ajirowa Eriokan (father of Yemisi Eriokan (UleAtogun).
They said it is also on record that the alleged exclusive privilege of non-initiation to either the Awo and Ode Cults being peddled by the members of the Isape Family is most untrue as examples abound that their members went through such rites, irrespective of their Royal Status.
“The List of such royal Princes are as follows: Abasaafin James Oke (who was Oluwoof the Iledi) was initiated,
Omo Oba Agboola Alokan was also initiated into the Awo Cult, Prince Alaba Oke was equally initiated into the Awo Cult, Prince Odejirin Adebayo was initiated into the Hunters Cult, Prince Ayodeji Oluwadare was initiated into the Hunters Cult.
“It was the acclaimed Progenitor of the Original Omo Owas, AYIKAAIYE A.K.A OMO OYE who was always carrying his Masquerade on his shoulders and a Sword in his hand that first settled at Upole before meeting EJEMU OKUNBOBUWA who gave him a parcel of land to settle very close to his AKODI EJEMU. This was before he migrated to the present Aofin (Palace). The Isape People and their alleged Forebears can never lay any claim to having occupied any Settlement around the AKODI EJEMU.
“There are established facts in Ilogbo History that it was equally OBAAYIKAAIYE a.k.a OMO OYE and his Original OmoOwas that brought the DEITY CALLED ORISA UROYE alongside other gods to Ilogbo-Ekiti and this Deity belongs to the whole Community who participated in its Worship. Its other names are Orisa Agbaaye and Orisa Obatala. The Deity, which originated from Ile-Ifeis being superintended by OLUROYE who is a prominent Royal Prince of the EbiOkeOwa and his Predecessors-in-Office are called Oba Oluroye at Ile-Ife.
“The Owalogbo, the Iwarafas and some selected Senior Chiefs dopay homage once a year to the OLUROYEat his personal Akodi in the Aofin Compound.
The secrecy that surrounded the Morgan Chieftaincy Review Commission prevented members of the Community from the on-goings and having regards to the developmental Situation then, its commencement and existence which ordinarily would be brought to the attention of the people through the Town crier approach was never done.
“The Morgan Commission was also only interested in brokering peace in Ilogbo-Ekiti and only rushed into conclusions based upon the falsehood, lies and distortion of facts as presented to it by the Accreditted Representatives of the Isape People.
It is a blatant lie that the Progenitor of Isape people is from Osun in Moba Local Government Area. They are originally from OraEkiti in the Ido/Osi Local Government Area and their relatives are still there till today. It was never the Progenitor of the Isape people who was the Twelfth Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti i.e OBA ADUGBOKOJUOGUN or even OBA ARUGBO ABERUFUNFUN whom they are laying false claim to that met EJEMU OKUNBOBUA with the eventual pact of bestowing the Royal Status on Members of the Ebi OkeOwa.
“From all gathered Accounts regarding the Ilogbo-Ekiti Community, the Isape people are from Ora Ekiti, whilst the Owalesa are from Ilesha. The current Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti, Dr Edward Ajayi is clearly from Oyo and his family are not related to the Isape people as his parents and families had the Oyo Tribal Marks on them.
Contrary to the assertion of the Isape People,the reigns of Owalogbos from the Isape Family have never brought peace and tranquility to Ilogbo-Ekiti.
“The late Oba Elijah Jegede ended up engulfing the Community in serious crisis for up to over ten years before his demise when he and his family alone pitched themselves against the entire Community over the Esinkin of Ilogbo-Ekiti Chieftaincy.
“The current Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti, Oba Dr. Edward Ajayi too sometimes in 2018, also through his children predicated a very serious crisis at Ilogbo-Ekiti which led to the death of a Youthful and promising son of Ilogbo-Ekiti– Bolu Adeleye. The said current Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti, Oba Edward Ajayi also without the consent and authority of the Community fraudulently and unlawfully sold one of the Ekiti State Government’s gifted Transformers of the Community.
“This equally fostered a very great crisis with all members of the Community calling for the dethronement of the Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti, Oba Edward Ajayi. The Traditional Trees which are usually felled, upon the normal demise of an Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti”, the statement said.
