By Trouble Looms In Iruland As Hakeem Ajasa, Adesegun Oniru Lay Claim To Oba Oniru Stool
What seemed like a fairytale ride to the royal stool of Iruland for Hakeem Ajasa, the Chief Security Officer of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, may be turning into a long royal tussle, as Adesegun Oniru, the Aremo to the late Oba Idowu Abiodun, is laying claim to the same stool.
Just like Ajasa, the forces behind Adesegun may not be pushovers. Adesegun a British trained Engineer started his public service career as the Special Adviser for Works & Infrastructure to the National Leader of All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu when he was the Governor of Lagos State. He went on to become Commissioner for Housing towards the end of Asiwaju’s administration and at the inception of Gov. Babatunde Raji Fashola’s administration, he was made Commissioner for newly formed Ministry of Waterfronts & Infrastructural Development.
Read also Iru Land Kingmakers Pick Hakeem Ajasa As New Oba Oniru
Though, in a newspaper publication purported to have been signed by the Abisogun ruling house of Iru, it claimed there was an election amongst the obaship candidates and Ajasa won with 9 votes while his other 3 contenders had 1 vote each. But Adesegun Oniru was never part of that arrangement and his not bound by it.
According to Adesegun’s supporters, the Yoruba traditional system had a way of electing a new king and it has never been by voting. It is either the Kingmakers pronounced the next king after due consultation with the Ifa or the late king appoints an Aremo, that is, a successor when still alive.
“The person called Aremo is most likely to be the heir to the throne. There is already one in the Iru palace – Adesegun Oniru, a former Lagos State Commissioner for Waterfront, ” one of those loyal to Adesegun told BlackBox Nigeria.
With the two Oniru-Elects weighing strong influence in Lagos, the royal tussle if not well manage may degenerate into something not pleasant for the Oniru family.
The late Orumbe Oniru Imahin was said to orchestrated the establishment of three ruling houses, namely Abisogun, Akiogun and Ogunyemi which was subsequently stamped in accordance with the Lagos State Declaration made under the Customary Law Regulation Selection to the Oniru Chieftaincy of Lagos of September 14, 1993, and approved by the then Governor of the state, the late Sir Michael Agbolade Otedola.
It was said that the Declaration approved rotation and the procedure to be followed in the nomination of candidates by the local government. Until the reign of the last king, those who have occupied the same stool had use Chief instead of Oba until 1995 a year after Idowu Abiodun Oniru became Chief that he got official recognition as a first-class Oba.
