Laribikusi Ruling House Protests Adegbola’s Appointment
By Adewale Owoade
The Laribikusi Ruling House is protesting the installation of Prince Adebayo Adegbola from the Akalako Ruling House as the new Eleruwa of Eruwaland.
They claim it’s their turn to produce the monarch, citing the Eruwa tradition and the Eleruwa Chieftaincy Declaration of 1958, which recognizes two ruling houses – Laribikusi and Akalako – that should alternate in producing the Eleruwa .
According to Abolade Ijaola, Secretary of Laribikusi Ruling House, the government didn’t give them a specific timeframe to present their candidate, and the nomination process was unfairly truncated.
They presented Prince Oladejo Akinlade as the eldest person in the Laribikusi royal family, on January 13, but the government secretly planned to return the nomination to Akalako Ruling House.
The Laribikusi Ruling House is demanding that the nomination process be returned to them, and they’re willing to take the matter to court if necessary.
“Our request is that the nomination process should be returned to Laribikusi ruling house and we will approach the court if the government thinks nobody can query him.
“We believe that we have the obligation to respond to a statement credited to the Commissioner for Information, Prince Dotun Oyelade that Laribikusi ruling house was unable to present candidates within the fourteen day-notice given to them by the government.
“And that as a result, government had to shift the nomination process back to Akalako ruling house which was the ruling house that produced the last recognised Eleruwa, late Oba Bolanle Olaniyan (Gbajumola II).
“This narrative from the government can be best described with a proverbial saying that ” If you want to hang a dog, you give that dog a bad name.
“We are here to tell the whole world that only message we received from the government of Oyo State through Ibarapa East Local government was an invitation sent to each of the section within Laribikusi ruling house for a meeting with the Management of Ibarapa East local government on 4th November, 2024. This letter was dated November 1st, 2024.
“The message was signed by the local government Chairman, Hon. Kazeem Arogundade and the invitation letter did not contain the agenda of that meeting.
“We all reported to the local government secretariat on November 4th, 2024 to honor that invitation. In that meeting, the chairman informed our representatives at the meeting to present the eldest member of Laribikusi as required by the Eleruwa Chieftaincy Declaration (1958) for the nomination process to fill the vacant stool of Eleruwa to kick off.
“Unfortunately, that nomination process never commenced as it was truncated by the same local government before its birth.
“To our shocking surprise, we received a letter dated 30th December, 2024 from the local government on January 7th, 2025 stating that they have compiled a report of the unsuccessful meetings with Laribikusi ruling house and have forwarded same to the state government for further directives which will be communicated back to us.
“No further communication received from the management of Ibarapa East Local government till date.
“Furthermore, management of Ibarapa East local government had not explained to us what they meant by unsuccessful meeting,” he said.
They believe the government’s actions are unfair and violate the town’s chieftaincy tradition.