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The Kosoko Royal Family of Lagos has debunked insinuations contained in an online reports that the Lagos State Government is making moves at resolving the crisis surrounding the Oloja of Lagos stool, a first class chieftaincy title in the class of Akarigbere chiefs of Lagos.
According to the family, there is no crisis in the family concerning who occupies the vacant stool and as such, the state government has no crisis to resolve.
The General Secretary of the family, Sikiru Kosoko, who denounced the report, which was based on a purported statement supposedly issued online, hereby declared that only the Olori Ebi, Alhaja Mutiat Ashabi Ali-Balogun or her assigned members of the family has the right to issue statements or engage in official correspondence on behalf of the family.
According to the statement, the purported statement and reports are filled with falsehood and misinformation, adding that contrary to the misinformation in the report, the family, through the Olori Ebi of the entire family and those of the various branches, an Omo Oye, (Oloja of Lagos elect), has been chosen and ratified in the person of Prince Abiola Olojo Kosoko.
The family scribe, Sikiru Kosoko, further added that the Oloja of Lagos Chieftaincy Declaration of 1983 upon which Prince Abiola Olojo-Kosoko was selected and ratified, is the authentic law guiding the Oloja of Lagos stool, as it is at the moment the only recognized law.
According to the family, the year 2000 Government View, an offshoot of a tribunal headed by retired Justice Akin Holloway, is merely an observation and still ‘in view’, which is yet to be promulgated into law, thus, without any effect or force of law. The guiding principles still remained the existing 1983 Declaration.
The statement read in part: “The attention of the king Kosoko Royal Family of Lagos/ Oloja of Lagos Chieftaincy Family has been drawn to a publication purportedly coming from the family which is not true.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the king Kosoko Royal Family/ Oloja of Lagos chieftaincy family has a strict line of official communication, which is through the Olori Ebi of the family, Alhaja Mutiat Ashabi Ali-Balogun or her assigned member of the family.
“It is also important to note that the Kosoko Royal Family already has an Omo Oye {Oloja of Lagos elect} in the person of Prince Abiola Olojo-Kosoko, whose selection has been ratified by the Olori Ebi of the family and the kingmakers from all other ruling houses in accordance with the 1983 Oloja of Lagos Chieftaincy Declaration.
“Contrary to the reports making the round, we declare that the 1983 Declaration remains sacrosanct as the year 2000 Government View referred to in the report is a mere view and not law.
It is also important to note that the cases at the High Court and Court of Appeal referred to in the highly misinforming report were not our cases but issues of the chieftaincy family merely mentioned.
“We are by this statement, informing the general public that there is no crisis in the Kosoko Royal Family of Lagos regarding the filling of the vacant Oloja of Ereko stool as all that is necessary have been done to fill the stool and that those agitating against the choice of the family are mere trouble makers bent of dragging the good and eminent name of the family in the mud.”
“The Olori Ebi, Alhaja Alli-Balogun and the General Secretary of the King Kosoko Royal Family/Oloja of Lagos chieftaincy family, is using this medium to inform the general public and the Lagos State Government of the illegality being put together by some unknown persons to create unrest within the King Kosoko Royal/the Oloja of Lagos Chieftaincy Family and to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere presently enjoyed within the Ereko, Idumota and Balogun area of Lagos Island”.
