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courtesy Epochng
Few days back, violence, again, made a whistle stop visit to Idoani, an otherwise tranquil town in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State. The palace of the Alaani of Idoani was its terminus. At the end of the unwelcome visit, many hapless indigenes, including some Oloris and princesses, were left with various degrees of injuries. According to reports, trouble started one Saturday morning during the burial and thanksgiving service of the Chairman of Idoani Kingmakers, late Chief S.O.A Oniye, at the Holy Trinity Church, Idoani.
One of the sons of the deceased, Reverend Gbenga, had invited his childhood friend, Prince Jackson Agunloye Falade, who had contested Alaani’s stool with the present Oba Olufemi Olutoye, to the burial ceremonies only for Falade to be molested by unruly youths lurking around the church. One Ibrahim Agbede reportedly brought out the Oba’s staff of office, mockingly brandishing it before Falade while all entreaties by the latter for him to stop went unheeded. A source told Epochng that youths loyal to Agbede further aggravated the situation by tugging at Falade’s dress which led to a commotion.
Attempts by some of the blue bloods at the church to mediate, however, led to reprisal attacks on the palace where one of them, Princess Folasade Falade, said she was beaten with sticks resulting in blood stains all over her body. Another princess, Adekemi Aladekoba, popularly called Damsel, was also assaulted and stabbed with a knife on the arm on her way from the church. Some Oloris around then were also brutalized. But this wave of violence is not new to Idoani people.
Investigations revealed that since the imposition of Maj. Gen. Olufemi Olutoye (rtd) as the new Alani of Ido-Ani, four years after the demise of Oba Aderemi Atewogboye II on March 3, 2010, the pastoral community has known no peace as the people have made known, in words and deeds, their abhorrence of any form of imposition, much less an émigré like Olutoye. Consequently, prominent traditional chiefs and members of Idoani ruling houses dragged the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), and 10 others before an Owo High Court over Olutoye’s enthronement against the wishes of the people. Alas, so many lives and property are being wasted from time to time while Governor Mimiko continues to wait on the court to validate his alleged manipulation of an age-long tradition
