Ekiti State government, has placed a kingmaker in Eda-Ile, Ekiti East Local Government Area of the state, Chief Oluwaseyi Sogo, on six months probation to seek restitution over alleged divisive tendencies and insubordination to the traditional ruler of the town, Oba Omotayo Adeniran Oso.
Instead of outright removal being sought by Eleda-in-Council, the deputy governor, Chief (Mrs) Monisola Afuye, pleaded that the chief, who is the Ojomu of Eda-Ile and second-in-command, should be given six months moratorium to seek forgiveness and mend his ways, failing which the government will have no other choice than to strip him of his traditional title.
Mrs Afuye gave the order on Friday in Ado-Ekiti, while presiding over a brewing intra-communal crisis at Eda-Ile community between the monarch and the embattled chief.
The intervention was sequel to a petition written by Makanjuola Esan Chamber, Legal Practitioner and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, on behalf of Eleda-in-Council, raising allegations that Chief Sogo was being divisive, disobedient and disrespectful to Oba Oso.
Following his alleged unbridled misdemeanour and unruly conducts, the town called for his immediate removal to halt his negative tendencies in the town.
Mrs Afuye, in a statement by her Special Assistant Media, Victor Ogunje, directed the embattled traditional chief to seek forgiveness from the monarch and other chiefs for his wrongdoings within the six months window or face outright removal as a kingmaker.
“What the government of Governor Biodun Oyebanji wants is peace in all the communities and it is sad that Chief Sogo has betrayed the confidence reposed in him as a kingmaker and someone who is supposed to be loyal to the traditional ruler. There are enough evidence to show how disloyal you are to the Eleda.
“But there is always a room for repentance. Go and seek forgiveness if truly you want to remain in this your position. We are giving you six months probation to mend your ways, if you fail to do so, then you will be stripped of your title and the town will appoint another person in your place,” Afuye said.
Corroborating Mrs Afuye’s position, Commissioner for Chieftaincy and Home Affairs, Ojo Atobioke, said for Chief Sogo to continue to function in his position, he must reconcile fully with the monarch and members of his council.
Establishing the allegations further during the proceeding, Oba Oso and a community leader, Ademola Adegbamigbe, whose positions were corroborated by other kingmakers, accused the embattled chief of aiding illegal logging at Eda-Ile’s Forest Reserve, contrary to the position of the town that such an economically beneficial area must be preserved.
Oba Oso accused the traditional title holder of allegedly causing division, by instigating the quarters under him to boycott the annual Eda-Ile Day, while also breeding thugs among the youth to disorganise the community.
Chief Sogo in his response, denied all the accusations that he was disrespectful to the monarch, divisive and breeding thugs to disrupt the peace of the town, promising to seek genuine reconciliation with the monarch.
He said he hasn’t acted in any form to suggest that he was plotting to divide the town into two, by creating cleavages among the quarters or tried to instigate the chiefs and youths loyal to him to insult the monarch as claimed.
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