GROUP ACCUSES EMIR OF ILORIN OF OPPRESSION, DIVERSION OF COUNCIL FUNDS

By Investigation Media Team of Oluwasegun Abifarin and Olawale Abideen

The Moro concerned Elders Movement has accused the Emir of Ilorin of thwarting every effort to set free the people of Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State from the subjugation of the Ilorin Emirate headed by the Emir.

In a petition signed by Alhaji Isiaka Ayinde Jimoh and fourteen others, the Movement explained that it was “constrained to present the systemic attempt by the feudal lords, in collaboration with the State authority to collectively perpetuate and sustain the oppression, subjugation, denigration and annihilation of the people of Moro Local Government Area…”

The Elders added that “during the period under review, our traditional rulership system under the Ilorin Emirate have been intentionally, wrongfully and illegally sidelined and left out of the recognition and grading benefits, or in some cases degraded after having been graded.”

Moro Local Government Area was created in 1976, comprising of five districts of Oloru, Ejidongari, Lanwa, Malete and Paiye. The area is predominantly populated by people of Yoruba ethnic extraction. The Local Government was at various times a part of the larger Ilorin Native Authority, then consisting of the present Irepodun, Ifelodun, Oyun, Offa, Ekiti, Oke-Ero, Isin, Asa, Ilorin East, West and South Local Government Areas. Moro Local Government Area remained a part of Ilorin Division, when in 1968, Igbomina/Ekiti and Oyun Divisions were carved out of the existing Ilorin Native Authority by the Military government of Colonel David Bamigboye.

“For decades now, we have been struggling to free ourselves from the yoke of feudalism and its attendant oppression, dehumanization, degradation and denial of basic rights. The people of Moro Local Government Area have been victims of a certain alien ‘Emirate’ system imposed on us. It was in order to disengage ourselves from the oppression that we demanded for and got a separate Local Government in 1976,” Ayinde told our team in Ilorin last week.

Ayinde disclosed that “in spite of our persistent resistance and demand through constitutional means and moral persuasions, we are still being subjected to the application of a feudal system which imposes on us alien system of traditional administration where district heads are being posted and forced on us from Ilorin as if we are a colony.”

Ayinde lamented that the Moro people did not have the kind of opportunity the people of Igbomina, Baruba and Nupe had. “On two occasions, they graded the Ohoro of Shao. First in 1983, but in 1984, they rescinded it. The same with the Oba of Jebba. Again, by 2002, Governor Lawal restored the grading, but Governor Bukola came and rescinded the decision. That has been the case,” he said.

He disclosed that when Governor Bukola Saraki came to power in 2003, the Emir manufactured allegations against the Oba of Jebba, simply because he wrote his name as the Oba of Jebba on a letter-headed paper.

According to him, “the Oba was arrested and was imprisoned for 49 days. It was after a lot of struggle before he was brought to court.. The court gave the Oba judgement, but Bukola appealed. The Court of Appealed also vindicated the Oba and ruled that the government must grade him and pay him all his entitlements. Up till today, the order of the court was not obeyed.”

Ayinde recalled that by 1995, when this present Emir was enthroned, there was a decree by General Abacha that five per cent of the income derived from each local government must be given to the traditional ruler’s council in the area. But since 1995 that he has been getting this five percent of the derivation of Moro local government, the Emir has been keeping it.

Investigations reveal that between 2004 and 2015, about N1.977 billion remained the total five per cent deducted from the federal allocation of the five Local Government Areas and remitted to the Ilorin Emirate Council with the Emir as the only graded Oba. Specifically, the Emirate got N280.66 million as five percent deduction from Moro under the same period.

“We have written to the Presidency, the National Assembly, the Chief Justice of Nigeria and others, because we felt this another form of corruption on its own,” Ayinde said.

But Modibbo Sulu-Gambari, the Personal Assistant to the Emir said he is not in a position to comment on the issue and referred us to the Secretary to the Palace of the Emir, Alhaji S.A Lawal.

When contacted, Lawal insisted that there was no substance in the petition and that was probably why it has not been receiving any attention or response from any quarters. He added that if there is any grievances about money or council allocation, the petitioners should approach the EFCC.

Efforts to get the State Government’s reaction was not successful as Rafiu Ajakaiye, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor refused to pick his calls or respond to text messages sent to his phone.