OLORUNDARE ENIMOLA, Lagos
Oba Abdulkabir Obalanlege, the Olota of Ota, Ogun State, has cancelled the election to fill the vacant stool of the Onikosi of Osi to the consternation of a large group of Osi dwellers, citing irregularities against the extant laws guiding conducts of Chieftaincy matters in Ogun State, especially in the election of coronet title holders.
A large group of people, mainly from Osi quarters had thronged the Olota's palace in the late morning of Tuesday to witness the election of Onikosi by five kingmakers, constituting a simple electoral college to elect the next Onikosi, but were rudely shocked to hear that the election result was cancelled by the Olota of Ota.
This is despite an earlier unconfirmed report that emanated from the election hall of five voters, revealing that Waheed Sunmonu had won with three votes while the runner up, Toheeb Onikosi had two of the votes cast, sparking wild jubilation among the crowd outside.
The jubilation was short-lived however, when the crowd later heard about the cancellation by the Olota, flaring up emotions, angst, that threw up speculations of bias, with open remarks accusing those behind the cancellation of having a hidden agenda to impose a preferred candidate.
DAILY INDEPENDENT, spoke to some of the agitating crowd, who said the action of the Olota indicates he is biased and appears to have a preferred candidate, making him to cancel the election when it was obvious that his preferred candidate would not win, stressing that the Olota has not hidden his indisposition to Waheed Sunmonu since the race to fill the vacant stool began.
The first person who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, "I'm surprised that the Olota could cancel a non violent election, having the outcome of a confirmed winner, it's unfair and the entire youth of Osi disagrees with him totally, afterall when he contested for the stool of Olota, nobody cancelled the election and today he is on the throne, why should he cancel the election of another person?" He asked.
Balogun Taoreed, an Osi indigene also expressed dismay at the turn of event, having being informed of the outcome of the votes cast by the kingmakers earlier and could not hide his angst that a hitherto peaceful election, without rancour, crisis or disagreement could be outrightly cancelled, saying, "as for me, I stand by the earlier declaration of the result that Prince Waheed Sunmonu did win the election."
A gentleman who gave his name as Idowu, reiterated the fact that an unconfirmed report had earlier given the victory to Prince Waheed Sunmonu and he believes it to be so, owing to the large followership the said Prince is enjoying above his contemporaries, saying "I can only appeal to the Olota to do the needful by announcing the true result that was won by Prince Waheed Sunmonu."
In her assertion, Alhaja Kike Olarinde, the Iyalode of Osi, "I'm a bonafide citizen of Osi and a member of the Iloti family, myself, our entire family and the Osi people have concluded to give our support to Waheed Sunmonu, it's a collective decision by all and sundry from Osi, it is a decision that cannot be quashed by anyone and it is expected that the Olota would respect this collective decision by allowing our choice candidate take over the Olukosi Seat, because he did win."
In defence of the Olota, Prince Sulaimon Olusesi, the Personal Secretary to the Olota, said the cancellation of the election was not expected, because of the level of resources and time committed to it by Oba (Prof.) Abdulkabir Obalanlege, the Olota of Ota, to ensure that the election holds transparently and peacefully.
He said, "The Olota as the prescribed authority in place to conduct the election has given the Iloti family in Osi quarters, which are next in line to occupy the throne all the necessary guidance and freedom to make sure that the needful is done. But unfortunately, despite the fact that they are well-guided, they still mess up the process
themselves, At the selection point, they brought two persons there, which of
course, were not king kingmakers.
"They all sat together. And of course, when they were asked to introduce themselves, said, were Ifa priests. That is unknown to the law that you have to bring Ifa to that
point. If they needed to consult, they ought to do that before the selection process commences, which I believe lead to to the cancellation of the entire process."
Speaking further, Chief Olusesi urged to be calm, assuring that the Olota as a father of the will not be a party to a
process that is faulty, saying, "so that tomorrow or later in the day somebody will not bring up an accusation that he allowed a process unknown to law to stand."
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