ABEOKUTA – One of the contenders for the Orile-Ilawo throne, Chief Lawrence Ogunsanya has insisted that the Oba-elect, Chief Alex MacGregor has no verifiable tie to the original progenitors of the Ilawo clan, saying MacGregor’s claim to the stool remains fallacious.
Ogunsanya in a statement alleged the Odeda local government of conniving with Alex McGregor to impose him on the people of the community.
Ogunsanya who is the Akogun of Ilawo spoke with newsmen on Saturday, alleging that the leadership of the Odeda LG has been induced with money to impose an alien on the people of the community.
Ogunsanya noted that MacGregor was imposed on the people by the LG despite not being accepted by people of Ilawo clan.
Ogunsanya who many has described as the best candidate for the Ilawo stool lamented that none of the contestants were carried along in the purported meeting and election held by the LG to produce McGregor.
He described the election as “kangaroo that cannot stand the test of time.”
He explained, “On the 12th of August, 2022, the Ilawo traditional council wrote the local government to officially inform them that they were ready to commence the process of filling the vacant stool of our oba, OLU OF ILAWO.
“As a principal head of the ILAWO COUNCIL OF CHIEFS, the Oluwo, Chief Oluwole Dosunmu reached out to us all, the candidates to inform us the process has commenced. Consequently, the formed a plan to screen all the candidates after which they wrote a letter to inform the local government.
“In same vein, on the 1st of September, the council of chiefs had a physical meeting at Odeda local government with the local government chairman where they informed the senior ranking members of chiefs present that they had agreed that the Ilawo council of chiefs should forward the names of warrant chiefs and Chieftaincy title of each of them accordingly to commence the process. They did this and had the letter dispatched. The names they submitted were twelve high ranking chiefs for the local government to decide the nine to be used as the final warrant chiefs.
“However, to everyone utmost dismay and surprise, the local government, having been politically and allegedly financially influenced, unilaterally jettisoned the list of warrant chiefs the Ilawo council of chiefs had submitted and replaced it with a fabricated list of chiefs and even some strange names all in a bid to ensure at least 6 votes go to a single candidate.
“It is important to state again that this was done unilaterally without consultation or notice – which is totally unlawful and unacceptable. Oluwo, who remains the head of the council of chiefs was ignored likewise the Balogun, Jaguna, and even Lukotun. It was very clear something had gone wrong.
“It is as a result of that fraudulent move and unlawful practice by the local government that made the Ilawo council of chiefs, especially the key members of the Ilawo traditional council of chiefs to dissociate themselves from the charade and broad day fraud and malpractice conducted by the local government officials including the chairman.
“In a bid to nip the brewing crisis, the council of chiefs, headed by Oluwo advised the local government not to conduct meetings relating to the matter without the Oluwo who remains the head of chiefs and who is supposed to be the head of the meeting. I learnt Oluwo wrote a letter on the 11th October, 2022 to that effect which was ignored by the office of this same chairman. They still went ahead with conducting the meeting two days after against all stakeholders resolutions to do the proper and lawful thing.
“Many things were wrong with what they did. All the necessary preparations were not done. All the various candidates were not called or informed of the meeting. I was not called nor were any of the other 3 candidates called. Despite all of these, the chairman still went ahead with conducting the kangaroo meeting which we know is never going to stand.
“As time passed, the allegation of financial inducement at the local government level became obvious. I also learnt that one of the candidates, Alex MacGregor who seemed to be behind most of these unlawful practices had truckloads of thugs and armed policemen moved to Elegunmefa village.
“As a result of this, many people couldn’t express their mind peacefully or do anything. We learnt many even complained about the whole charade which the local government representatives ignored. They lied to our people that Oluwo was not available and was having a party therefore couldn’t make it. Just imagine the crude lies.
“They also said , Balogun was not available and many other key members of the Ilawo council of chiefs. Even if that were the case, I am at a loss as to how such a meeting of that magnitude would be conducted without the presence or express approval of these key members.”
When asked of the family origin of McGregor, Ogunsanya revealed,”I can categorically tell you that Alex McGregor is not from Orile Ilawo. History has it that his forefathers were mere drummers from Ilesha who came to live in Ilawo and now are claiming to be from Ilawo. He has also said his own story too many times showing he is not originally from Ilawo until this oba stool came up and he started forming new stories to add to his history.
“MacGregors does not have any verifiable tie to the original progenitors of the ILAWO CLAN. He remains a being with no family tree or geneology traceable or provable with roots in any of the over original 194 villages that make up Orile Ilawo homestead where the stool is originally zoned.
“His father’s role, being an Oluwo at the time cannot be dismissed but the situation here is a clear one. Think about this. Would it not be insane for a gynaecologist to lay claim to a woman’s child just by taking care of her? The gynaecologist in this case is the father of Alex McGregor who forcefully wants to impose himself over the people of Orile Ilawo. His continua claim is a fallacious one. The true story of how the stool came is from a law made by the government of Otunba Gbenga Daniel where it stated that any township with more than 100 villages should have a king and that’s it.
“The true story is the fact that an incident happened many years back. His late father, Captain Macgregor, of blessed memory killed a boy with his gun in broad daylight. That clearly was an abuse of power as many had called it and that made the man run away from the township. Infact, this case even gives life, form and meaning to the word preposterous.
“The absurdity in a man trying to govern a clan that his lineage has been involved in causing harm, sorrow and anguish. The father of Alex McGregor on that joyous day of the Eid-el-fitr point blank shot a member, a bread winner, a would-be father, a brother, a son of the Ilawo clan to death.
“It is also important to state that he used his resources to get away with this. The question here now remains, will he be allowed to add salt to injury by unashamedly coming out to say he wants to rule the same clan? Alex Macgregor should even think deeply about this. Everyday he govern becomes a constant reminder of impunity to the family of the departed and the whole Ilawo clan as a whole.”
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