The oluwo of Iwo, Abdulrasheed Akanbi on Saturday explained why he physically manhandled another monarch during a peace meeting.
Akanbi was alleged to have attacked Dhikrulahi Akinropo, agbowu of Ogbagba, over a disagreement during a meeting convened by the assistant inspector-general of Police (AIG), Zone 11, to resolve a prolonged land dispute among the monarchs in the Osun west senatorial district.
Justifying his action in a statement made available to newsmen after the incident, Akanbi justified his action, accusing Akinropo of attempting to stick his staff of office into his eyes.
Akanbi said, “At the peace meeting held at AIG office, Agbowu of Ogbaagbaa interrupted me while I was making my speech; he started calling me unprintable names, pointing his staff of office at me while attempting to stick the staff in my eyes; I heavily rejected it with a force which the Agbowu could not withstand.”
“How could a constable openly insult commissioner of police and make an attempt to beat the CP? Can any monarch try such with Ooni, Alaafin?
“He went far as attempting to turn Oluwo to a blind man by pointing his staff of office to my eyes. All affected monarchs in my kingdom should note no one will feed on his subject’s land and go away with it.”
Some traditional rulers in the state, however, condemned the action of Akanbi fand called for his suspension by the state government.
Habeeb Adetoyese, Olu of Ileogbo, who spoke on behalf of six other monarchs, said Akanbi descended on their colleague while making a presentation at the meeting.
He said, “In October last year he wrote a petition against us to AIG Oyebade, that, we are threatening his life and we are selling his land. The AIG said he doesn’t want any issue in our regions, that we should solve it amicably. The governor also gave us the same advice when we saw him on the matter.”
“The first peacemaking meeting that was organised for us at Iwo local government secretariat, but Oluwo disrupted the meeting. He came with thugs saying everybody should go to his domain.
“A letter was sent to us for the invite and we all went for the program…when he (Oluwo) was talking, he alleged that, I, the monarch of Ile-Ogbo, was selling his lands and that, also, the Agbowo of Ogbaa Gbaa, the Onigege of Gege is also selling his land. I am selling only selling Ile Ogbo’s land and not Iwo land.
“In the meeting held, the commissioner said he can’t intervene on any issue pertaining to land. He advised that the court can decide on that or that we meet the governor to sort things out.
“As the AIG was addressing us, the Oluwo started shouting that chaos and war will happen in the community. He stood up and started beating Agbowu. He beat him to the extent that it was the AIG that rescued the king from oluwo. We are still in shock for a king to behave in that manner. When the man started feeling dizzy, we had to rush him down to Asubiaro hospital. He sustained an injury on his cheeks.
“We implore the government to suspend him (Oluwo) so that we can have peace in our domain. We have called our subjects that there is no cause for violence but he should be checked. Only the governor can caution him and if that is not done, he will destroy the entire region.”
Leave a Reply