The Ogun State House of Assembly has explained that the proposed bill on traditional council law does not set out to specifically tinker with Obas’ burial rites as being speculated.
The Speaker, Olakunle Oluomo, made the clarification while declaring open a public hearing on the bill at the Assembly complex in Abeokuta.
Oluomo noted that the legislation was initiated to correct existing anomalies in the traditional institution, especially the conduct of installation without following due process, including the absence of declaration for some traditional stools.
The Speaker said such unethical practice had made it very easy for unqualified persons and strangers to lay unmerited claims to the stool, thereby creating distortions in historical records in recent times.
Oluomo recounted such irregularities recorded in the twilight of the immediate past administration in the state, where some unqualified people were haphazardly selected without adherence to due process.
He gave the assurance that the Assembly, with the support of all stakeholders, would ensure the passage of a bill that would put a stop to the attendance of political rallies by Obas, thereby returning the institution to its pride of place and honour.
IN another development, the Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba (Dr) Sikiru Adetona, has cancelled the 2021 edition of the yearly Ojude Oba festival scheduled to hold next week after the Eid-el Kabir celebration.
According to the coordinator of the festival and Baagbimo of Ijebu, Fassy Yusuf, the monarch attributed the cancellation of the yearly fiesta to the detection of the lethal COVID-19 Delta variant in Nigeria.
He stated that rather than exposing people who will converge in Ijebu Ode to avoidable and preventable health hazards, the monarch directed that the 2021 edition be cancelled.
HOWEVER, ahead of the Eid-el-Kabir celebration, the Ogun State Government has read a riot act to traders against converting land spaces in the state to emergency ram and livestock markets.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment, Mr. Ola Oresanya, in a statement, yesterday, said the warning became necessary due to the emergence of various illegal ram markets currently being operated under unhealthy and filthy environments.
He said the illegal markets debase the aesthetic beauty of the surroundings and contravene the Ogun State Environmental Laws.
