A concerned indigene of Orile Ilawo, Dr David Ogunsanya has called for the sack of Macgregor as the Oba of Orile Ilawo.
Ogunsanya said the Osile of Oke Ona and Alake of Egbaland should support the son of the soil for the obaship stool and not a Canadian (Macgregor).
The industrialist and Harvard trained Nutritionist who described himself as a concerned son of the soil and who is from the Eleyele and Ariku lineages of Ilawo clan, warned against any attempt to impose an alien on the clan.
"Imposition of any kind is an act against the culture of the Ilawo clan", he said.
Ogunsanya disclosed this in a press statement made available to newsmen, where he spoke extensively with our correspondent on issues surrounding the Ilawo Obaship process.
He said the stool of the obaship and the manner of choosing represents a key construct of the Yoruba tradition, adding that it is a composite aggregation that seeks to entrench fairness and justice within the ambits of the traditional mores.
"I have witnessed all too often how petty bigots can divide otherwise good and rational people, and destroy community relations by playing on unfounded fears. Shame on them", said Ogunsanya.
He further said any effort or action by the local government, to impose McGregor on our clan will not fly and we want to believe that the prescribed authority, Osile of Oke Ona and Alake of Egbaland has no hand or connection to this mess already created by the local government and some minor bad eggs amongst the chiefs, particularly the Osi of Ilawo, Chief Onifade who manipulated the official list of warrant chiefs submitted by Ilawo council of chiefs headed by the Oluwo.
His words: "Orile Ilawo remains the land of our ancestors! An outsider can't come and rewrite our history.
"Macgregor being peddled around and planned to be imposed on communities in Orile Ilawo is not from any of the villages in Orile Ilawo and therefore, cannot rule the people.
"The Obaship and Traditional Institutions should not just care about rituals and traditional worship but should look inward and see how the land can be developed socio-culturally, morally, and in every way possible. And that process starts with doing the right thing in the selection process.
"It is a known fact that Macgregor, the candidate being peddled is not from Orile Ilawo and everyone knows he only wants to impose himself using money to bribe his way through government parastatals particularly the local government offices in other for them to do his bidding."
He noted that the rights of the people must be respected and the imposition of an alien to occupy the throne of Olu of Orile Ilawo must be avoided.
"Our ancestors and certainly the court will do thorough justice. We would subpoena anyone who has hands in this mess for historys sake. This subject is not just a human rights issue but rather an abnormality, which requires psychiatric, psychological, logical, medical, counseling and spiritual interventions to deal with. “How can someone with no verifiable lineage or known history, associated with a clan be an Oba over a clan he has no known history and lacks verifiable historical connection with?.
"Now, the future of any developed Nation and country depends on its preservation of history, culture, heritage, arts and culture.
"The richness of the Yorùbá culture and heritage connects the world just as the Atlantic Ocean connects diverse countries. Its level of wealth is multi-layered, hence, it must be protected at all cost and the role of the Obaship and traditional institutions in delivering this duty is important.
"The evils that befall us in Yorubaland today came as a result of our ignorance and failure to celebrate our ancestors, genuineness of blood as It became our lots because we have abandoned our culture, tradition and heritage.”
Speaking on why the Egbaland monarch and Osile of Oke Ona should support an indigenous monarch, Ogunsanya said, "Orile Ilawo sits at the boundary of Ogun and Oyo State, Alagbagba axis to Omi Adio. It is therefore imperative in view of the strategic position Orile Ilawo occupies in Ogun state to ensure we install a monarch who is originally from there, knows the people there and has lived with them, has his village there, knows and meets with the locals closely and security agencies there to protect and better serve the people as their king.
"Chief Alex MacGregor has lived 90% of his life in Canada and identifies himself more as a Canadian than a Nigerian, let alone from Orile Ilawo. Moving permanently back to Nigeria is certainly a difficult and daunting task as we all know.
“He was named one of one – hundred and fifty extraordinary Canadians in 2015 in commemoration of Canada’s 150 years anniversary. He has built a life for himself in Ontario and not in Ilawo township nor Orile. He does not know anywhere there because obviously he is not from there and does not have any hitstory related to any of the villages in Orile Ilawo. I stand to be corrected.
"Now, If a sitting king, who has imposed himself over subjects there or is imposed by some authorities, is not accepted by majority of the subjects he wants to rule over neither is he available enough to understand the intricacies of how the clan he wants to rule over works, nor their security, let alone get involved on the activities of dwellers in many of these villages, it will be difficult for him to achieve any meaningful results in bettering the lives of the people there.
"Aside that, this person being peddled and planned to be imposed on the people have too many transgenerational sins committed against the clan as a whole. The casualties are still being counted, we probably would never know to what extent the emotional and physical abuse has led to but surely they would never be forgotten by all. Indeed, Alex McGregor has not fallen far from the tree. He has replicated in many folds the actions of his disgraced father who had for decades, moved bitterly against Oke Ona Kingdom, and who had been disgracefully imprisoned for killing at point blank another son of the soil. Perhaps this violent acts are learned before or they are genetically inherited: those we shall leave for now but we have seen their transgenerational violence on us backed by impunity possibly because of a backing of wealth.
He therefore advised and urged the state governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun and particularly, the Osile of Oke Ona who remains the prescribed authority of Oke Ona which Ilawo clan belongs and of course, the Alake of Egba land, the paramount ruler, to not influence this process negatively but look into this closely and urgently to ensure Justice is served and all these intricate issues are not overlooked.
He further said, "Our collective sense of community, freedom, and interdependence in communal living is a great thing of joy for those of us from Ilawo clan.
Don't let bigotry or selfishness spoil our pleasant livelihood in Ilawo as a clan .
"Hence, imposing an "alien" will be an aberration and particularly an insult to us particularly, whose fore fathers, for centuries toiled, fought and protected the land with their sweat and blood for generations.
"My grand father is the fourth generation on that vast land referred to today as Orile Ilawo.… My grand father was over 96 years old when he died. He never went to school; but made sure we knew our history too well. He was born there, farmed all his life there, grew up there, married and gave birth to all his children there. He reached old age and died there. All Seven of his siblings grew up in villages in Orile ILAWO until their hair turned grey and died.
"Orile Ilawo remains the land of our ancestors! it is high time that those who led the clan through its hardship to create the homestead, expanded and created several more villages in the homestead, fought for and protected the land for centuries get to own the crown", Ogunsanya sai
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