The newly elected Olu of Orile Ilawo, Chief Olusegun Macgregor, has told his opponents to stop dragging Ifa oracle into the selection of a new Oba for the town, saying the stool was created by the Ogun State government and not Ifa.
DAILY POST had reported earlier that MacGregor had been elected by all the six Warrant Chiefs approved by the government to be the kingmakers for the stool.
The selection of Warrant Chiefs became necessary as there is no chieftaincy declaration for the stool.
After his emergence as the Oba-elect, some people had raised complaints that the Ifa oracle was not consulted to select the next Oba, stating that MacGregor is not from a royal family.
But at a press conference in Abeokuta on Wednesday, MacGregor said there is presently no existing ruling house in the community, noting that the Orile-Ilawo stool was a creation of government and not an ancestral one.
MacGregor debunked the rumour that he was not the one chosen by the Ifa oracle, saying the election that produced him was conducted and supervised by the government and Ifa has no role to play in the selection process.
“Five of us came out and contested but I won the election free and fair as it was conducted by the government. Ilawo Obaship is not a traditional crown. There are no ruling houses in Orile-Ilawo.
“The stool of Orile-Ilawo is a government creation around 1999 at a time my father was Oluwo Ilawo and Lisa Egba. We never had a king, the first Head of Ilawo was Balogun Gbadamosi, my grandfather, in 1916-1966. Ilawo never had a crown, we had chiefs,” he said.
While responding to those saying he was not from the community, he said, “it was my late father who started the process to enable Ilawo acquire a crown by virtue of being one of the original settlers in Egba.”
He explained, “Right now, Ilawo is part of Oke-Ona, so the stool in question is not an indigenous stool by our ancestors but created in 1999.
“By the year 2010, Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s government said any township that has over 100 villages should be entitled to an Oba. It was government creation to balance what seems to be a disparity between Egba and Ijebu.”
The Egba leader reminded his opponents that the first Olu of Orile Ilawo was Oba Adedapo Aina; saying although his father fought for the stool, he never showed interest in the stool.
“This stool was created by the government, there were no ruling houses in Ilawo. It was the government that conducted the election and I emerged as the winner and not through the consultation of Ifa Oracle.
“Consultation of Ifa can only happen when two or more candidates from the same ruling house refused to step down for each other but that is not the case here now,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Oba-elect promised to work with all the other four contestants to take the community to enviable heights.
He urged the people to embrace peace and not allow any actions that could breach public peace in Ilawo, Egba and Ogun in general.
