…copy petitions to VP Osinbajo, IGP, others
Concerned Indigenes of Ikenne Remo, Ogun State, have petitioned Governor Dapo Abiodun over the alleged use of the name of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo by the disputed Alakenne of Ikenne, Mosudi Adeyinka Onakade to perpetrate alleged atrocities in the ancient town.
They also accused Onakade of dropping Osinbajo’s name with the police in Ikenne and the state Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, to influence the police in the state to accede to his requests of indiscriminate arrests of the indigenes of the town opposed to his occupation of the throne of Alakenne of Ikenne.
The concerned Ikenne indigenes further alleged that Onakade had been parading himself as the Alakene of Ikenne inspite of the pending case against him over the matter at the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division.
According to the petition jointly signed by seven traditional high chiefs and kingmakers of Ikenne town, including the Oluwo of Ikenne, Chief Babatunde Eki; Olootu Iwarefa, Chief Obasola Solesi; Igbakeji Iwarefa, Chief Afolarin Amuroge; Apena of Ikenne, Chief Taiwo Awolowo; Olootu Lapo, Chief Obasola Soneye; Olootu Ofinran, Chief Soye Edefi and Olootu Lupotu, Alhaji Abibu Sogunwa, Onakade had used the police in the state to illegally take over the ancient grove, popularly called Igboshi, which had been serving as the burial sites of the kings of the town and shrines for making sacrifices and propitiation from time immemorial, and fenced it off to prevent the observance of the various rites by the indigenes of the town.
The concerned indigenes alleged that the decision of the town to stop Onakade from performing some traditional rites preparatory to his plan to install some chiefs in Ikenne in March this year resulted in his supporters attacking and seriously injuring no fewer than 11 indigenes of the town who were shot by the hoodlums, who claimed to be members of the Agbekoya group, during the fracas which occurred in the process of stopping Onakade from fencing in the Igboshi grove.
The petition was copied to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba; Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Area 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos; and the Commissioner of Police, Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID), Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The petitioners claimed that if not for the intervention of the state police commissioner, who personally supervised the restoration of peace to the town after arresting some of the hoodlums allegedly hired by Onakade, the town would have gone up in flames.
The Concerned Ikenne Indigenes, therefore, urged Governor Abiodun to use all means to bring to an end Onakade’s alleged atrocities for peace to reign in Ikenne or risk reprisals from the majority of the town’s citizens, which may result in mayhem.
They warned that the town, whose majority remained opposed to Onakade, have been pushed to the wall and may react any moment from now.
They stated that the governor should be aware that they had been exercising a lot of restraints being law-abiding citizens ready to abide by judgments of the courts, saying that accounted for their decision to file an appeal against the “illegally obtained High Court judgment he is brandishing around.”
The Concerned Ikenne Indigenes, therefore, urged Governor Abiodun to call Onakade and the police allegedly backing him to order, adding, “We cannot tolerate his criminal actions and oppressions which he continues to carry out with the aid of the Ogun State Police anymore.”
The three-page petition to Governor Abiodun titled “Petition against threat to the lives and oppression of Ikenne indigenes by Prince Mosudi Adeyinka Onakade (Otherwise known as Oba Adeyinka Onakade) partly read, “We the undersigned Ikenne indigenes feel the need to bring to your attention the criminal atrocities being perpetrated by Prince Mosudi Adeyinka Onakade who continues to parade himself as the Alakenne of Ikenne based on the judgment of the High Court, Sagamu-Remo delivered last year, but which has been appealed against at the Court of Appeal, Ibadan and is awaiting hearing by that court.
“More recently, Prince Onakade has, in addition to the judgment been using the name of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – Prof Yemi Osinbajo, GCON, SAN to perpetrate the atrocities and the officers at the Nigeria Police Force at the Ikenne Divisional Police Station, the Sagamu Area Command and the Ogun State Police Command at Eleweran, Abeokuta, have been acceding to his requests and have been arresting and prosecuting innocent citizens of Ikenne who don’t support his imposition on them as the Alakenne of Ikenne.
“It is noteworthy that Prince Onakade and his supporters continue to boast that he has the police in his pocket and that all the police want is money and he and his supporters have enough money to go round. That the case of his killer squad who were personally arrested by the Commissioner of Police and have been released is an example of what money can do and that even the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – Prof Yemi Osinbajo, GCON, SAN, is his subject and one of his supporters and he has even given him the go-ahead to do and undo in Ikenne as the recognised Alakenne and has his full backing. He continues to drop the name of the Vice President at the slightest opportunity at Police Stations and everywhere else whenever it’s convenient for him.
“We believe that for peace to reign in Ikenne, Prince Onakade’s atrocities should be brought to an end or else his actions will lead to continuous mayhem as we the Concerned citizens of Ikenne who are in the majority (about 85% of the town) as against his supporters (who are not up to 10%) have been pushed to the wall and we will fight back if need be. We also want Your Excellency to know that we are law-abiding citizens who continue to abide by Court judgments and that was why we decided to file an appeal against the illegally obtained High Court judgment he is brandishing around. We cannot tolerate his criminal actions and oppressions which he continues to carry out with the aid of the Ogun State police anymore. We therefore urge you to call Prince Onakade and his police supporters to order.”