Posted by Written by Albert Akpor on
"IF killing my innocent wife and daughter for what they did not know is part of the sacrifice I have to pay for accepting to lead my people, then, I will not be dissuaded.
•Escapes assassination attempts thrice
•Says tragedy would not dissuade him
"IF killing my innocent wife and daughter for what they did not know is part of the sacrifice I have to pay for accepting to lead my people, then, I will not be dissuaded. Their untimely and unwarranted death was meant to cripple me and make me withdraw from the mandate to lead my people to the promised land; but from what you can see now, I am ready to even sacrifice my life to correct the anomalies that had pervaded our community for a long time now."
Those were the heart rendering lamentations of Oniseri of Oseri -Osun, His Royal Highness, Oba Shamusideen Amoo Mojeed who lost his loving wife and daughter in quick succession under mysterious circumstances over his popular choice as the traditional ruler of his community.
Curiously, whereas it is commonsensical for anybody enmeshed in the emerging travail to back out of the race, the 55 -year-old automobile engineer, turned traditional ruler of Osulaigbo ruling house extraction; who succeeded the late Raufu Dada, the Baale of Iseri-Osun, said there was no going back on his mandate. "We have been on this tussle for about four years now so to contemplate backing out is not only cowardly but will amount to misleading my people.
And again, for the purpose of history and with due respect, the late Baale Raufu Dada did not come from any of the ruling houses in Iseri-Osun. He was appointed by the government of the time based on his popularity and influence.
And in fairness, he kept telling anybody that cared to listen, that he was not from any of the ruling houses and of course he never received salary while in office till he died. Even when he died, the government did not give a dime to assist in his burial rites because they said he was not recognized. So, it was after his demise that my people chose me to succeed him and normalize the wrongs which the military administration caused in our land.
Narrating his ordeal after he succeeded the late Baale to Crime Guard, Oba Mojeed who was visibly determined to actualize his cause said, "The whole problem started years back in the mid 90s even when the late Baale was alive and it was rumored that one particular Alhaji of Oke-Imoye extraction (names withheld) was moving round the community and beyond parading himself as the next traditional ruler of our community in the event of the demise of Oba Raufu.
Initially, we taught it was a child's play since the man in question is not an indegene of Iseri-Osun or Osulaigbo ruling class. Like I said, he is a son of Oke-Imoye community, a neighboring community to Iseri-Osun. But when we started noticing some unseriousness in his activities, the late Baale called a meeting of all the chiefs and traditional rulers in the land on the need to checkmate the impending sacrilege. It was then decided that a delegation be sent to the neighboring traditional rulers including the Oba of Igando land to ascertain if they were behind the man arrogating the title as the next Oba of Iseri-Osun to himself.
As event s unfolded, we discovered to our shock that the man in question had even gone to the extent of surreptitiously gotten the approval of an Official Gazette of the state with number ISSN0189-0174 Vol.29, date March 4, 1996 to that effect even before the death of Baale Raufu. The fraudulent Official Gazette was obtained during the administration of Colonel Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Lagos state.
The fraud in the Gazette was more revealing when it was discovered that none of the purported signatories duly signed against their names against the spaces provided. Surprised by this development, an emergency meeting of council of traditional rulers in the area was scheduled at the Alimosho local government office during which we all stated our cases as demanded by history. Of truth, Osulaigbo is the only ruling house in Iseri-Osun and had four children; and so if ascendancy to the throne of Oniseri of Iseri-Osun is to be based on rotational basis, then it should be rotated amongst his children and not between Osulaigbo and Koniba.
The contentious Koniba ruling house that we are talking about does not exist in Iseri-Osun. It is just imaginary! The man going around parading himself as the Oba is a native of Oke-Imoye community and not even of the strange Koniba. Incidentally, Oke-Imoye and Iseri-Osun are just neighbors and that is incontrovertible.
The two communities are geographically different and religiously incompatible. So how come a son from Oke-Imoye who by implication, is a stranger in Iseri-Osun community wants to lord himself over us, to the extent of dreaming of becoming an Oba? That is sacrilegious! And to further buttress our claims, the Koniba chieftaincy family of Oke Imoye in a letter of disclaimer addressed to the chairman of Ikotun-Igabdo LCD Chieftaincy committee dated 23rd September 2008 and signed by chiefs Musibau Giwa and Akibu Giwa clearly stated that the man parading himself as Oba Iseri-Osun claiming to be representing Koniba family is a descendant of Idaoguna, a family in Oke Imoye and not Koniba ruling house.
Based on this and the fact that we are law abiding good people, we sought the interpretation of a court of competent jurisdiction. We took him to court in suit No. ID\1109\2004. Having carefully listened to our prayers and based on the prevailing facts on ground, Hon Justice O. H Oshodi of an Ikeja High court ruled in our favour. As it is normal, they appealed against the ruling and the determination of the out come of the Appeal is what we are still expecting."
Continuing, Oba Mojeed said in the evolving scenario, he had escaped assassination at different occasions in addition to the mysterious death of his wife and daughter. "I have escaped the assassins' bullets at different times. If they perceived that I had left my house either to Isolo or any other place for that matter, they would send assassins after me. The last assassination attempt on my life left two of my aides dead.
The case took us to the SCID Panti. While the assassins were firing ceaselessly, I had to jump into the bush for safety. I called the police and my house from the bush. It took the efforts of eight policemen to rescue me from my hiding place. After that, in the early hours of December 17, 2005, I told my wife that I was traveling only to hear later that she slumped in the bathroom and died almost immediately. Her death caused pandemonium in the entire community because it was shocking to suddenly behold the death of a hail and healthy woman.
Months after, her 13- year-old daughter woke up one morning, complained of head ache, and just before she could get any analgesic tablet she gave up the ghost. As if that was not enough, the unknown killers accosted my first son Kazeem and almost assassinated him also but for quick intervention of those in the area when the assassins struck.
The case is presently at the SCID Panti too. But my happiness is that in all this travail, my people have never abandoned me, God has never abandoned me and that is why I have equally vowed that I will not let them down. We cannot live and watch a stranger rule over us, no way.!"