Awujale stool: Adeyemi family protests exclusion from royal lineage
Awujale stool: Adeyemi family protests exclusion from royal lineage
The Adeyemi ruling house of the Anikilaya dynasty has raised objections to their exclusion from the Anikilaya ruling house, one of the royal lineages entitled to produce candidates for the stool of Awujale of Ijebuland in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.
The Anikilaya ruling house had previously produced the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, who passed away last month.
In a statement issued on Sunday and signed by Adedeji Ademola Adeyemi, the family alleged that a few members of the ruling house had deliberately altered history by removing the Adeyemis from the recognised lineage.
Adeyemi explained that Adeyemi Anikilaya was the eldest crown prince of the late Oba Anikilaya Saagun, with Ogbagba and Ademolu being his younger brothers.
He further noted that after the death of Oba Daniel Adesanya, Gbelegbuwa II, in 1959, Prince Ademola Aiyegbajeje Adeyemi was chosen for the Awujale stool but declined the offer. His immediate younger brother, Prince Mubashiru Adedipupo Adeyemi, father of the late Oba SK Adetona, then put forward his son, Sikiru Kayode Adetona, who was accepted by the kingmakers and crowned Awujale in 1960.
The Adeyemi family rejected claims by certain relatives who refused to acknowledge them as descendants of the eldest son, instead attributing headship to the second-born and adding two others, whom they described as outsiders, to the royal lineage.
They clarified that they do not recognise the inclusion of Mabadeje, Adekoya Ofirigidi, and Adeire Adeewu, alleged children of Oba Anikilaya Saagun Figbajoye, who reigned in 1821, insisting that they remain the true descendants of Adeyemi Anikilaya, the eldest son of the monarch.
The family urged the public to disregard the submissions of what they described as “misguided members” of the lineage, saying such claims were false and inconsequential.
