The members of Osun State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under the aegis of Concerned PDP Members in Ifedayo Local Government area of the State, have advised the State Governor, Asiwaju Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke not to allow the members of the State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to turn his administration to lawless government over the controversy surrounding the AsaOoni Stool.

 

The advice came on the heel of the alleged insinuation that Governor Ademola Adeleke has been pressurized by the members of All Progressives Congress (APC) in connivance with the certain members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the State, to approve a member of the opposition APC as Asaooni of Ora-Igbomina by jettisoning the ongoing legal suit in HOS/95/2024 in respect of the said stool.

 

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The said suit was filed by Olomoofe Adebowale Ayantoye Adedayo, the Head of Orolotimoyewa Ruling House,the next ruling house to produce a candidate to fill the vacant stool of Asaooni of Ora-Igbomina over the allegation of the impersonation leveled against the five members of the ruling house including one Johnson Adekanmi Alani Abikoye who has been claiming of been selected as AsaOoni-Elect through the impersonation process.

 

The said five members of the ruling house were also dragged before the Nigeria Police Force over the criminal allegation of impersonation of the head of the ruling house by claiming that the haed of the ruling house had died and buried which made them to submitt an illegal and impersonation letter to the officials of the Ifedayo Local Government area of the State in respect of nomination of APC member(Johnson Adekanmi Alani Abikoye) who is unqualified candidate for the stool of Asaooni.

 

In a statement on Monday through a Letter dated 7th November,2024 and signed by Mr. Ayo Fadeyan,the Coordinator of the Forum and also forwarded the Letter Governor Ademola Adeleke and his cabinet member for their notification and necessary action on the burning issue and the copy of the letter were made available to newsmen by urging Governor Adeleke not to listen to any person that was advising him to result to self-help on the stool,urging Adeleke to resist the temptation from the enemies of due process and rule of law on the matter.

 

Part of the Letter read thus; ” We are using this opportunity to appeal to our amiable Excellency,Asiwaju Ademola Adeleke not to allow APC members in collaboration with certain PDP elements to mislead the Governor to approve anyone out of the candidates contesting for the Asaooni stool when the matter is before the Court of Law.

“We are shown concern because of the interest of the PDP at our heart as some certain elements can decamp to sister party and be shifting blame on our leader, Asiwaju Ademola Adeleke after they might have mislead our amiable governor on certain decisions.

“Your Excellency Sir, we want to draw your attention to certain actions taken by the APC Government during their administration in respect Obaship stool in the State,like Igbajo,Iwo,Ikirun,Iree,Awo, and some other towns which are too numerous to mention and everything is now history.

“We are not saying our amiable Governor Adeleke should politicize the Chieftaincy stool of AsaOoni but it is our believe that any person to be choosing should be a man of unquestionable character and his pedigree must speak volume and such person should not be the one being padded around that was allegedly rusticated from the University over cultism,school result racketing and examination malpractices with unruly and bad behaviours as contained in our said earlier letter.”

 

The Letter further read thus; “Your Excellency sir, we are of the view that Our Asiwaju Ademola Adeleke should know that the same APC would be the same party to be first turn around to criticize him( Governor) by claiming that Ademola Adeleke administration is a lawless government that does not have respect for the rule of law if any crisis occurs as next governorship election is gathering momentum.

“Sir,we are moving to the critical period of the re-election bid of your Excellency, we need to be handling the issue like this with extral careful, “Ki a maa so ori olori,ki awodi maa gbe tiwa o”, in a situation where the Head of the ruling house that supposed to produce the candidate to fill the vacant stool has resulted the matter to Court,it has made the effort of our Excellency to wait until the outcome of the Court like Ikirun Obaship tussle.

“Your Excellency Sir, we do not want our amiable Governor to be seeing as a leader that does not have respect for the rule of law and not to result to self- help on the issue at hand because self-help used to be counter- productive on a matter like AsaOoni issue and the position of law is cleared on it.”

 

The PDP Forum equally argued that ” The position of law on the issue of self- help is very cleared and the law of the land frowns at it by citing the case of : ANIGBOGU V. UCHEJIGBO(200) 10 NWLR(PT 776)472@488,PARAS D-E,the Court of Appeal has this to say; ‘Self-help is primitive and capable of causing breach of the peace.Thus,where there is a dispute,Courts are there to adjudicate,on issues between parties. Self- help cannot resolve the conflicts’.

Adding that, in the case of Registered Trustees,Apostolic Church Vs Owoseni(1990)6 NWLR(pt158) at 537-538,Nnaemeka-Agu,JSC,explained the law thus: “….. once parties have turned their dispute over to the Courts for determination,the right to self-help ends. So,it is not permissible for one of the parties to take any step during the pendency of the suit which may have the effect of foisting upon the Court a situation of complete helplessness, or which may give the impression that the Court is being used as a mere subterfuge,to tie the hands of one party while the other party helps himself extra-judicially.Both parties are expected to await the result of the litigation and the appropriate order of Court before acting further …….In The Military Governor of Lagos State v Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu…..,the Supreme Court gave its stamp of approval to the principle inter alia,that once the Court is siezed of the matter,no party has the right to take the matter into its own hands…..The same principle applies in this Case,mutatis mutandis,notwistanding the fact that the offending party in this case is a Church organization. They are subject to the rule of law, and are expected to obey the law.Once they submitted the dispute to the Court, they ought not have done nothing which gave the impression that they are trying to pre-empt the decision of the Court.They could no longer,pending the determination of the suit,resort to self- help by erecting the fence wall without an order of Court.To have done so amounted to lawlessness……”

 

The Forum therefore advised Governor Adeleke to allow the State Attorney- General and Commissioner, Barrister Wole Jimi-Bada to take over the issue once the head of the ruling house to produce a candidate to fill the vacant stool of Asaooni,has taken its fraudulent members to Court in respect of the stool,adding that they have brought less burden on the State Government until they settled the matter from the Court.