The Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Monsurudeen Oloyede Bello, on Thursday closed the Ejigbo Town’s shrine over a controversy that trailed the proposed Omagbo Festival.
The Nation learnt that the once-in-five-year festival has pitted the town’s monarch, Oba Moruf Adekunle Ojoola, the Ojon of Ejigbo, against a community leader, Prince Jelili Akinfunmi.
The festival, which was supposed to begin on Thursday, if allowed to go on, Bello said, will lead to a breakdown of law and order.
“As a government, we will not sit by and allow a peaceful community to turn into a crisis area. That is the reason for suspending the festival pending the time the parties involved would resolve their matter,” he said.
According to Bello, a former Lagos State Commissioner intimated the council about an impending crisis in the community on April 15.
He said: “Immediately, we called the parties involved for a meeting but the monarch requested it tbe shifted to the following week. The meeting was eventually held on April 23. We were on the verge of reaching a settlement when a chief in the palace uttered a derogatory statement. This made the parties involved postponed the meeting to another date.
“Before that date, I received a call from the police over a petition on the matter and the need to make some arrests. I told the police that we were on the verge of settling the matter but the police insisted that the council should allow them to do their work, which I obliged. After their investigations, the matter was taken to court.
“Justice M.O. Tanimola ruled that a “Status quo” be maintained. While both parties were claiming that the ruling favours them, the council applied to the court for the interpretation of the ruling and sealed the shrine on May 3 pending the response from the court.”
The council chief expressed annoyance that two chiefs in the community went to break up the padlock and entered the shrine on Monday.
He vowed to ensure they face the law for daring the government.
He lamented the audacity of one of the parties to announce the commencement of the festival on Radio, warning that such should not repeat itself.
“We understand that the king is the custodian of the tradition, but when exercising such tradition will lead to chaos in the community, the government must wade in to forestall it. This is what we have done and we have written to the state government on the actions taken so far,” he said.
He warned that on no account should anybody try to unseal the shrine, noting that the security operatives will be parading the area to arrest whoever tries to flout the order.
“We’ll re-seal the shrine and urged the police to arrest anyone that came close to the place. We urged you all to keep a distance from the shrine. Anybody that is arrested will be prosecuted. I am an indigene of this town and Omagbo Festival is an age long festival identified with peace and tranquillity. We won’t allow anyone to truncate the peaceful nature of this town. Ejigbo must develop,” he said.
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