Selection of new Ipetumodu monarch followed due process – Kingmakers

The head of the kingmakers in Ipetumodu, in Ife North Local Government, Osun State, Chief Sunday Afolabi, has said the kingmakers followed due process in the selection of the town’s new traditional ruler, the Apetumodu of Ipetumodu, Prince Joseph Gbenga Oloyede.

Afolabi said necessary steps were taken during the selection process and expressed worry that some princes were dissatisfied with the selection of the new monarch.

The chief kingmaker said the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, had given his consent to the appointment of the new monarch for the town.

He said the Ooni acted in accordance with a statutory provision that put him in the position to recommend a new king for the government.

The leader of the Aribile ruling house in the town, Prince Taiwo Ayoola, had called on the state government to intervene and prevent the kingmakers from going ahead with the installation process of the monarch to forestall “a full-fledged violence”.

But Afolabi faulted Ayoola’s call and insisted that the nomination of Prince Oloyede followed due process.

He said, “The nomination was done without any manipulation whatsoever. We followed the tradition and age-long process of selecting a new king for the town. There was no monetary inducement as is being claimed by those elements led by Prince Ayoola.

“A few days after the completion of the burial rites for our late king, I was called upon by the local government as the chief kingmaker to start embarking on the process of selecting a new king. The next ruling house (Aribile lineage) was contacted by the kingmakers through the local government to submit names of interested persons for the throne in which 13 candidates expressed interest to contest for the vacant stool.

“We were three in number then, following the death of one of the kingmakers, and we agreed to elevate Chief Kehinde Orosanya (Lofidi) as warrant chief and the fourth kingmaker. Out of the four kingmakers, three of us voted for Prince Joseph Oloyede, while the other kingmaker voted for another candidate.”