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Tag: Ogun monarch

  • JUST IN: Suspended Ogun monarch remanded in custody over assault

    JUST IN: Suspended Ogun monarch remanded in custody over assault

    Oba Abdulsemiu Ogunjobi, the suspended traditional ruler of Orile Ifo, has been remanded at the Ilaro Correctional Centre in Ogun State after failing to meet his bail conditions.

    The Ogun State Police Command arraigned the monarch on Tuesday following a viral video that showed him assaulting a 73-year-old man, Abraham Areola.

    According to the charge sheet (MH2b8c/2025), the traditional ruler was accused of conspiracy, assault, and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace.

    The charges read: “That Abdul-Semiu ‘m’ and others at large, on 21st January 2025, at about 1100 hrs at Sojuolu Street, Ifo Magisterial District, did conspire to commit a misdemeanor, to wit: assault and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 517 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006.”

    Another part of the charge noted: “That you, Abdul-Semiu ‘m’, and others now at large, on the same date, time, and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District, did unlawfully assault one Areola Abraham by slapping him on the face and ear, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 351 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006.”

    The charge further detailed: “That you, Abdul-Semiu ‘m’, and others at large, on the same date, time, and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District, did conduct yourselves in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace by forcing one Areola Abraham ‘m’ to kneel and assaulting him in public, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 249 (d) of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006.”

    Oba Ogunjobi pleaded not guilty to the charges when he appeared before Magistrate F. A. Iroko.

    He was granted bail with two sureties set at N5 million each, who must reside within the court’s jurisdiction. The case has been adjourned to March 6 for a hearing.

    The viral video, which drew widespread condemnation, showed the monarch verbally and physically assaulting Areola, forcing him to kneel on the road while hurling accusations and threats. At one point, an aide struck the elderly man and ordered him to prostrate before Ogunjobi.

    Read Also: Ogun monarch arraigned over assault

    Ogunjobi, a retired police officer, boasted about his law enforcement connections, threatening to have Areola jailed.

    In response to the incident, the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Ogun State commended the government for swiftly suspending the monarch. The group’s chairman, Comrade Solomon Bankole, condemned the assault and called for full prosecution.

    The Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) also lauded the government and police for their swift response.

    State PCRC Chairman Samson Kunle Popoola emphasized the committee’s impartial stance and urged the police to arrest the aide who slapped the victim.

  • Ogun monarch suspended for abusing naira notes

    Ogun monarch suspended for abusing naira notes

    The Olu of Owode in Obafemi/Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba Kolawole Sowemimo, has been suspended for two months without pay.

    A viral video in early January showed the royal father decorating a popular fuji musician, Wasiu Ayinde, with new notes of N1,000 . 

    The council moved against Sowemimo for publicly degrading Nigerian currency, an offence that contravenes the law of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN). 

    However, during the Egba Traditional Council meeting chaired by the Alake and paramount ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo on Friday, Oba Sowemimo was suspended.

    The meeting in a joint resolution adopted the suspension of the monarch following the recommendation of its Ethics Committee which declared that during the period of his (Sowemimo) suspension, he should not parade himself as a traditional ruler.

    It was further gathered that the resolution emphasised that Sowemimo should not be invited or seen at any government or public function as a traditional ruler, and for three months should not receive any payments

    The Chairman of a three-member Ethics Committee of the Egba Traditional Council, Oba Saka Matemilola, who read the report of the committee, said that the committee came to its decision after examining the viral video in which Sowemimo breached the ethics of a Yoruba traditional institution by defacing Nigeria’s currency.

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    The committee chairman, who is the Olowu of Owu, said findings revealed that the embattled traditional ruler was seen holding strewn naira as a bead and hanging onto the neck of a musician in public.

    The chairman added that a lot of public condemnation of the act inundated the council with derisive comments on the traditional institution, stressing that the said Oba’s action is in contradiction of Section 21(1) of Central Bank Act, 2007.

    The suspended monarch confirmed the development on Saturday, stating that he was suspended due to the way he spent money on a musician.

    “They said the suspension was due to the way I spent money on one musician.

    “And when I was asked if I had anything to say, I stood up and apologised for whatever I had done wrong and the suspension which was earlier announced to be for three months without salaries was reduced to two months.

    “I totally accept the verdict of the council because it is the person that we love that we chastise, so I am good with the decision,” he said.

    Reacting to the video in a statement signed and directed to the monarch, Director General, NOA, Lanre Issa-Onilu, said the display was an abuse of the national currency that attracts imprisonment, fines or both.

  • Ogun monarch holds anniversary

    The ancient city of Ibogun in the Ibogun-Coker Local Council Development Area of Ogun State will from Monday, November 19 to Sunday, December 16, 2018 play host to ‘who-is-who’ in the Nigerian society when the Olu of Ibogun, Owu Kingdom and the Promoter of Ifa Olokun Foundation, Oba (Dr.) Fakayode Adesina Faluade, will celebrate his first year anniversary on the throne and the 19th edition of his annual Ifa Olokun Foundation festival.

    Unveiling plans on the 12-day twin-programme during a chat with newsmen at his Ibogun palace, Ifo, Ogun State early in the week, Oba Faluade stated that highlights of the celebration will include Olokun worship, conferment of chieftaincy titles on deserving individuals, foundation laying ceremony of Ibogun community school, commissioning of school toilets, market stalls, street lights and transformer and hosting of the final stage of Ayo Opon competition.

    According to the monarch, the grand finale, which will have fuji maestro, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal (K1), on bandstand will hold at Ibogun Comprehensive High School, Egbeda-Ibogun, Ifo, Ogun State on Sunday, December 9, 2018, while special anniversary Jumat service and thanksgiving service will hold on Friday, December 14, 2018 and Sunday, December 16, 2018 at Ibogun Central Mosque and First Baptist Church, Ibogun-Olaogun respectively.

    Throwing more light on the twin-programme, Oba Faluade stressed that cultural dance, courtesy visit to the Ibogun campus of Olabisi Onabanjo University, paying of traditional homage by trade groups and offer of royal blessings for the growth of the town would also form part of the epoch-making event.

    The Ibogun monarch, however, used the opportunity to give gratitude to God Almighty for seeing him through his first 365 days on the exalted throne of his forebears as the Olu of Ibogun, Owu Kingdom, adding that the past one year of his reign had witnessed tremendous achievements, which impacted positively on the quality of life and economy of the people.

    He thanked the people of Ibogun town for showing concerns towards the search for a rapid development in the community’s socio-economic life, noting that without their support and encouragement, his successful 3-day free eye screening and treatment exercise for the people, huge donations to electrification challenges in the community, construction of toilets for primary schools in Ibogun-Olaogun, construction of market stalls in Ibogun-Egbeda and the proposed police post, event centre and health centre projects would have been a mirage.

     

     

  • Robbers steal Ogun monarch’s personal effects

    Three-man robbery gang has waylaid the traditional ruler of Owode-Egba in Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba Kolawole Sowemimo.

    The hoodlums stole his vital personal effects.

    Oba Kolawole, who was jolted by the attack, said providence saved him from being killed.

    The monarch said the hoodlums used tyres to block his car, near Day Water Man stretch of Kobape-Siun Road in Abeokuta, and punched him when he attempted to evade the obstruction.

    The ruler said he was attacked at 8.45 pm on Sunday while returning to his domain in Owode, minutes after he dropped his child at a school in Abeokuta.

    The monarch told reporters that the robbers ordered him out of his Mercedes Benz car, searched it and stole personal effects.

    He said cash, wristwatch, two mobile phones, a ring, a bank debit card were among valuables the hoodlums snatched from him at gunpoint.

    Oba Kolawole added that his position as a monarch meant nothing to the robbers.

    The monarch said he reported the incident to the police.

    He said: “They were a three-man gang and armed. They placed used tyres on the road as a ploy to force motorists to stop. My car ran into them and they ordered me out at gunpoint.”

    Oba Kolawole said the robbers attempted to snatch his car but gave up trying when the engine failed to come on.

    The monarch said the robbers dispossessed occupants of a Volkswagen Golf car, which arrived on the scene at the time, and snatched the car from the friver.

    According to him, he used his car to convey other victims from the spot to Owode Police Station, where the incident was reported.

    Police spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said the command would investigate the incident.

     

  • Court sacks Ogun monarch

    The sun set on the troubled reign of a prominent monarch in Ogun State, the Nloku of Iraye-Ode Remo, Oba Olatunji Kalejaiye.

    He was deposed yesterday by a State High Court sitting in Sagamu, Ogun East Senatorial District.

    Justice Gbenga Ogunfowora, in the judgment that ended the legal action challenging the enthronement of Kalejaiye, declared his ascendancy to the throne as illegal, ultra vires, null and void and asked him to vacate the stool immediately.

    The judge also ordered the Ogun State Government, the Attorney-General, Remo North Local Government and chiefs of the town, to stop recognizsing Kalejaiye as the Nloku of Iraye-Ode Remo town in Remo North Local Government Area of the state.

    Directing the kingmakers to immediately convene a meeting to consider nominees for the throne from the Sugbada ruling house, which is the rightful of the  ruling households in the town, to produce the next king, the Judge averred that their is no mention of any Sugbodo ruling house in the gazette that empowers the selection of the Nloku of Iraye-Ode Remo.

    Mr. Kalejaiye was installed the Nloku in 2009 by the Ogun State Government amidst protracted protests by members of the rightful ruling house after the last Nloku, the late Oba Salau Adesanya, passed on a couple of years earlier. Although his nomination and selection by the kingmakers were challenged by the Sugbada ruing house, which argued that he was not a member of the ruling arm, the state government went ahead to inaugurate him, prompting the legal action.

    Those who challenged the authenticity of Adegbola’s claims to the throne are elders and members of the Sugbada royal family of Iraye-Ode Remo. Joined in the suit besides Kalejaiye are: the Governor of Ogun State, the Attorney General, Remo North Local Government and the Kingmakers.

    The plaintiffs, represented by the lawyer, Tunji Onabawo, sought reliefs in their statement of claims which were all granted by the court. Having summarized all the submissions of the counsel to both sides, Justice Ogunfowora resolved all the issues in favour of the plaintiffs.

    Adressing the court after the judgement, Onabawo lauded the judge for “a brilliant, comprehensive and incisive judgement,” which, he said had confirmed the saying that although the machinery of justice grinds slowly, it grinds surely and fine, considering how long the struggle had lasted. He thanked the judge for his patience and industry.

  • Ogun monarch urges youths to shun crime

    The Alaiye-Ode of Ode Remo, Ogun State, Oba Amidu Adetunji Osho, has called on  youths to distance themselves from criminal activities that may bring them into confrontation with the laws of the land. Oba Osho, who observed the rate at which the lifespan of many youths were been shorten as a result of their involvement in criminal activities, lamented that it was high time all youths stands on their feet to say no to such act.

    The monarch, who was reacting to reports of the discovery of a ritualists’ den in Eposo community of Remo North Local Government Area, also called on governments at all level to go all out and tackle the menace of youth unemployment as a way of discouraging criminal activities among youths.

    He said: ”There is urgent need for youths to distance themselves from criminal activities that may bring them into confrontation with the laws of the land or paint them as enemies of the people. The rate at which the lifespan of many youths are been shorten as a result of their involvement in criminal activities is worrisome. And it is in the interest of these young ones to shun crime.

    “It is also very important to call on governments at all level to go all out and tackle the menace of youth unemployment as a way of discouraging criminal activities among youths. We must also ensure that they have something meaningful doing at all times.

    “On the contributions of traditional rulers in promoting good governance, the monarch said: ”We do try our best to ensure that our domains are calm and peaceful at all times. This is a very important function because without peace, there can be no development. As the state government daily strive to ensure developments across the state, traditional rulers must also provide peaceful atmospheres in their domain.”