After 34 years of long and arduous journey through courts and crises, the Osun State government on Monday approved the amendment of the Ikire Chieftaincy Declaration of 1958, which governs the management of the royal stool of Ikire Kingdom in Irewole Local Government Area of the state
This was disclosed in a press statement by the Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, after the State Executive Council meeting on Monday.
It would be recalled that the Aketula ruling house in Ikire had filed a suit against the installation of the current Akire of Ikire, Oba Olatunde Falabi, on the ground that he was not entitled to the royal stool, according to the provision of the Ikire Chieftaincy Declaration of 1958.
But the approval of an amendment to the Declaration now means that the Aketula ruling house is the next ruling house to present a candidate to the throne of Akire of Ikire.
The statement read in part: “The Council’s approval of the amendment of the Ikire Chieftaincy Declaration was necessitated by the lingering crisis generated by the Supreme Court judgment of 2014 which affirmed that Lambeloye ruling house that produced Oba Olatunde Falabi, had no legal right to occupy the stool of Akire of Ikire when it became vacant in 1987.
“The ancient town had been embroiled in crisis that saw the royal stool entangled in legal and social upheavals. Governor Adegboyega Oyetola stepped in determined that the problem had gone on long enough.
His intervention eventually brought about a resolution and joint agreement by the five ruling houses of Ikire to adjust the rotational order established by the 1958 Akire Chieftaincy Declaration, to afford the Aketula ruling house produce a candidate for the stool when it becomes vacant.
“This act, which lends credence to the commitment of Oyetola’s administration to maintaining peace in the state, marked the culmination of a deliberate and strategic intervention of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in the tussle through a peace meeting with the five ruling houses in October 2020”, the statement read
