By Editor
A passionate appeal has been made to the Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji to intervene in the boundary dispute between Eda Oniyo in Ilejemeje Local Government and Obbo Ayegunle, Kwara state over a protracted boundary dispute between the two neighbouring communities in the interest of peace.
HRM Oba J. O Awolola, the Royal Father of Eda Oniyo made the appeal in an exclusive interview with our correspondent at the weekend in his Palace.
The monarch, who alleged that the people of Obbo Ayegunle are the aggressors in the latest bloody clash that led to the killing of one of his subjects and destruction of properties traced the root cause of the recent skirmish in the area to refusal of Obbo Ayegunle people to pay royalty to Eda Oniyo for the farmland leased to them.
Backed by series of documents to buttress his points, Oba Awolola revealed that the name of Obbo Ayegunle could not be found in any government gazette before the creation of Kwara State.
His words; “I wiil give you a document which will reveal the truth. The Nigerian Federal Government of 1954 did not have Obbo Ayegunle in the gazette. They did not have a name as new settlers and the boundary pillar was mounted in 1924. The pillar in question was very far to Obbo Ayegunle but as they relocated to the place, they started erecting buildings close to the pillar and before you know it they began to lay claim that the pillar does not exist”
Continuing Oba Awolola said; “Up till date the Federal Government has not changed the law demarcating north and south. The border pillar was originally between north and west, but today, it is Kwara and Ekiti. There was nothing like Kwara or Ekiti by then. But when they created Kwara State, the boundary Commission came there and put a line there with Kwara and Ondo before the creation of Ekiti State and they’ve been paying royalty to Eda Oniyo. I will give you a bunch of receipts that was issued to them.
” Before I came to the throne, the royalty they paid to Eda Oniyo consists of kolanut, yams and palm oil. But immediately after my coronation over thirty two years ago, I ruled out the system as I insisted that the old system of royalty was not tenable as evidence for using our land on lease. My people agreed and each quarter began printing receipts for their farmlands to Obbo people which they have been paying gladly without any complaints.
According to the monarch, “Trouble however started when the present Obbo Ayegunle’s monarch came on board as he promised before his appointment that he was going to acquire lands for them. So, we noticed that Obbo people stopped paying royalty to Eda Oniyo immediately he was made the Oba laying claims that they were the original owners of the land. The question is how come that their name did not appear inside the 1954 gazette?
On the recent crisis, the monarch said; “How can we be the aggressors when it is Obbo people that crossed the border line, came to our land, destroyed the secretariat of Ilejemeje and unleashed terror on our people leading to the killing of one of my subjects who was coming from the farm? How do you justify this wanton act of lawlessness and brigandage? The distance between our boundary to Obbo is about 7 kilometers radius which they crossed to attack us.
On the government’s intervention Oba Awolola said; “The Deputy Governor was here with some commissioners appealing to us not to retaliate but we are expecting the governor’s intervention” he said.
