Crisis is about to erupt in the gateway state of Ogun State as the Princes of Egiri Ruling House in Gbagura area of the state have denied Rtd. Justice Ademola Bakre-OON as the Head of Egiri Ruling House, and have asked him to stop parading himself as such.
The princes further distanced themselves from the alleged plan by Justice Bakre to instal Prince Saburi Babajide Bakre, who they alleged was his nephew, as the next Agura of Gbagura.
The Princes insisted in a communique that was released to journalists at the end of a recent meeting, that Rtd. Justice Ademola Bakre-OON appointed himself as a member of the Regency Council before he was administratively relieved of his membership position, but that as a Royal Prince, Justice Bakre was not qualified to be a member of the Regency Council.
They stated that the authorities of Abeokuta North Local Government and the Ogun State Government has been informed of the development
The princes emphasized in the communique that Rtd. Justice Ademola Bakre-OON organized ritual consulation of Ifa Oracle with his “chosen Ifa Priests” and stationed men of the Nigerian Police at the Agura Palace to “effect his aberrant decision of selecting Prince Saburi Babajide Bakre, a nephew of his, being the son of his brother,” as the next Agura of Gbagura.
The communique contained resolutions reached at a meeting of the Princes held at Egiri Ruling House Chambers in Oke-Iddo, Gbagura, Abeokuta, Ogun State on Friday 3rd May, 2019.
Signatories to the communique included Prince Adeola Adeyemi (Ijaade Family), Prince Waheed Adeosun, Egiri Family Secretary (Adeosun Family) and Prince Sufian Soetan (Jamolu Family).
Others were Prince Adam Opeloyeru (Abolade Family) and Imam Prince Jamiu Ogunwoolu (Ijaade Family).
The princes used the communique to draw the attention of the Ogun State Government, the entire citizens of the state and the general public to the ongoing process of selection of the new Agura of Gbagura, Abeokuta following the demise of the late Agura of Gbagura, Oba Halidu Laloko Shobekun 11 leading to the vacancy of the stool.
It was suggested in the communique that the selection process had been “unduly subjected to procedural irregularities in the hands of Rtd. Justice Ademola Bakre OON, who had been elected as the Head of the Egiri Ruling House by his craftly initiated 12 man-committee at its meeting held on Thursday 25th April, 2019.”
The Princes alleged at the meeting that Rtd. Justice Ademola Bakre (OON) has been using his position as the elected Head of Egiri Ruling House to “stage-manage the selection process in all manner contrary to the laid down process.”
“That to foster his stage management antics, the Rtd. Justice Ademola Bakre OON had been parading himself as the Head of Egiri Ruling House even before he was cosmetically elected on Thursday 25th April, 2019, when he appeared on a television interview on OGTV-25 UHF earlier in the year, thereby leading to conflict of interest among the whole family.
“That the eventual cosmetic election of Rtd. Justice Ademola Bakre-OON was therefore a warranted decision meant to douse the tension generated by the conflict of interest within the family even amidst palpable suspicion against his ‘honourable’ character,” the communiqué read.
They insisted in the communique that Rtd. Justice Ademola Bakre OON had not only “lived up to the ugly manifestation of the palpable suspicion, he had demonstrated his stages management antics so fondly by upturning the ethics of the selection process for reasons best known to him, but which his unethical actions had later unfolded though to the detriment of the Royal interests of the Egiri Ruling House in particular, and the entire Gbagura Community in general.”
They stressed in the communique that Justice Bakre presided over a meeting and directed the Secretary to the Abeokuta North Local Government, Mr. Olagokr Kazeem, who they said was one of the Local Government/Local Council Development Area observers at the meeting, to coordinate the preparation of the minutes of the meeting for and on behalf of the Egiri Ruling House, which they stated is against the ethics of the selection process.
“This is because, according to the ethics, it is the Royal responsibility of the Egiri Ruling House to elect the Secretary to the Ruling House for the purpose of keeping the minutes of all the family meetings including other related records, while performing other secretariat functions.
“That the Rtd. Justice Ademola Bakre-OON had remained adamant at rocking the boat of the selection process, when following the tactical election of the Family Secretary, Prince Waheed Adeosun at the stage-managed Egiri Ruling House meeting of Thursday 25th April, 2019, he had chosen to undermine the Secretary’s official roles outrightly.
It was stated in the lettee that the Rtd. Justice Ademola Bakre-OON had been shelving family meetings and post-dating family members, while allegedly “cooking fake family decisions and issuing official correspondences for and on behalf of Egiri Ruling House without the official mandate of the concerned Royal families and the official involvement of the Family Secretary.”