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The people of Akunu community in the Akoko North-East Local Government Area of Ondo State, have appealed to the local government authorities and the state government not to halt the process of selecting a new monarch for the town despite the sudden death of one of the kingmakers.
A group within the community, Akunu Liberal Minds, who stated this in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Babatunde Oluwaseun, said the death of one of the kingmakers out of eight should not stop the process, saying, seven kingmakers out of eight kingmakers have formed a quorum.
One of the kingmakers for the selection of a new Oba for the Akunnu community in Akoko North-East Local Government, Mr Olorunda Agoyi slumped and died during the selection meeting.
Oluwaseun explained that one of the kingmakers who represented the Ima Quarters in the community, Agoyi who slumped during the selection meeting was never a contestant to the stool but one of the Warrant Chiefs who represented his quarters.
According to the group, the late monarch of the town was survived by only two surviving kingmakers out of eight, and the people requested the local government to approve the respective quarters that are entitled to produce the kingmakers to bring forth representatives who would be requested to perform the singular role of overseeing the selection of a new king.
He said this became necessary in order to form a quorum during the selection process ess, saying the Chiefs Edict of Ondo State does not grant anybody, except a king, the authority to confer chieftaincy title on anyone. The penalty is grievous.”
“Such ad-hoc officials are known as Warrant Chiefs whose roles end immediately a new king has been installed.
“The six quarters which had no high chiefs in Akunu were requested to send letters, individually, to the local government council at Ikare in Akoko North-East LGA wherein the names of their respective nominees were stated”
He described it as unfortunate that one of the Warrant Chiefs slumped and died during the meeting to pick a new monarch for the town and halted the selection process.
Oluwaseun however, said the death of the Warrant Chief, Agoyi, should not be misrepresented as one of the contestants for the stool but said “the death of Mr Olorunda Agoyi, on June 10, 2021, generated a lot of misrepresentation of facts, where some media reports claimed that Mr Agoyi was one of the contestants to the stool of Oluwade of Akunu while some erroneously claimed that he slumped when Ifa Oracle was being consulted at the venue of the selection.
“We deemed it imperative to set the records straight about the mysterious and unfortunate death of the late Mr Olorunda Agoyi. He was not a contestant to the obaship stool of Oluwade of Akunu. He was a retired staff of Ondo State SUBEB.
“He was a selected Warrant Chief in a selection process which was organized, supervised, and recorded by local government council officials and witnessed by government security agents. There was no form of divination at the venue of the meeting on the said day.”
The Oluwade of Akunu joined his ancestors in 2019 but a new traditional ruler could not be picked because there were only two surviving kingmakers in the community instead of eight.
Punch