Tension is gradually brewing in Ilaje area of Ondo State as the People Of Mahin Descent and Origin, have rejected the appointment of Mr. Oyetayo Ofoaye from Ugbo as the Alaboto of Aboto.
This is contained in a press statement by Pastor Oyekan Arije, the Chairman of Mahin Central Organisation and made available to Newsmen on Tuesday.
According to Mahin People, Aboto is a community in the Mahin Area Of Ilaje Local Government Area, hence the appointment of Ofoaye from Ugbo area is illegal and unacceptable.
The statement reads;
The people of Mahin Kingdom are not oblivious of the age-long desire of the present Governor of Ondo State, to impose a person of his own Ugbo stock as Oba in the Mahin community of Aboto. Only the spirit of justice by late Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu gave us a soothing but what has turned out now a temporary respite.
In spite of our efforts during the just concluded governorship election where we delivered immeasurably wining all Mahin 132 polling units which is also the highest in content by any group among the Ilaje total of 312 units in the spirit of Ilaje unity we are now being compensated with the generational shame of the desecration of our existential culture and tradition.
When the press reported the illegal appointment on the 9th of December 2024 we caused our lawyers to write Government on the strength of which Mahin delegation led by the Amapetu of Mahin, other traditional rulers and opinion leaders were invited by the Governor on the 16th of December 2024 only to be told that Government had made a Chieftaincy Declaration for the Mahin community of Aboto incorporating the Ugbo settlers of Ikohi and that if Mahin was not satisfied, we should go to court. For the avoidance of any doubt the position of the people of Mahin is as follows:
Aboto is a Mahin community established from time immemorial by people of Mahin origin and descent. Aboto is so significant to the people of Mahin being the place the Treaty of Friendship and Protection between Queen Victoria of England and the Amapetu of Mahin was signed on the 24th day of October 1885 which ceremony was hosted by the Amapetu’s appointed Baale of Aboto Chief Idiogbe (Dogbe) who also was signatory as a witness.
Under its customary law the ruler of Aboto shall be of Mahin origin and descent appointed by the Amapetu of Mahin as Prescribed Authority and in connection with which all the Baale and Oloja of Aboto from the inception of the town have consistently been appointed from the Idiogbe Family who originally hailed from the Ikokogbe Quarters in Ode Mahin.
In accordance with the aforesaid customary law, Amapetu Oba Festus Ololajulo Isogun (1997-2003) and Amapetu Oba Lawrence Adetemi Omowole (2004-2017) in conjunction with the then Oloja of Aboto Beniah Adeola Idiogbe applied to government that the Oloja of Aboto stool be upgraded as a recognised chieftaincy as Alaboto of Aboto.
It is important to say that the Executive Council while granting the request that the chieftaincy be recognised noted that “the Amapetu of Mahin (the Prescribed Authority) and the Ilaje Local Government Chieftaincy Committee had consented to the request for the recognition of the Alaboto of Aboto and upgrading to the status of an Oba”. As contained in the Executive Council File Reference CD4/24/40 12th Meeting of 2007 held on 21st March 2007.
The declaration of the Alaboto as a Recognised Chieftaincy was duly finalised by the Akeredolu led Executive Council at its meeting of 15th day of August 2019 with the appointment of Oba Beniah Adeola Idiogbe as the Alaboto of Aboto in line with Customary Law and the Chiefs Law of Ondo State.
The stool became vacant on the 4th day of January 2021 at the demise of His Royal Majesty, Oba Beniah Adeola Idiogbe, consequent upon which his daughter, Princess Olajiire Margaret Odusami- Idiogbe, was appointed on the 20th of January 2021 as the Regent in accordance with the Customary law and has since assumed office and recognised by all authorities.
In the absence of a Registered Declaration, the age-long Customary law of Aboto as part of the larger Mahin Kingdom is applicable to the chieftaincy by which process the appointment of the new Alaboto was finalised with the traditional investiture of Prince Ololade Smart Idiogbe on the 12th November 2024 by the accredited representatives of the Aboto Quarters as Kingmakers in which status he was presented to the Governor of Ondo State His Excellency Honorable Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa as one of the eminent personalities of Ilajeland on his campaign tour of Ilaje Local Government during the recent gubernatorial electioneering.
The appointment of Prince Ololade Smart Idiogbe as the new Alaboto of Aboto is only subject to the approval of the Executive Council as provided under Section 47 of the Chiefs Law.
The history of the Ikohi family of which Mr. Oyetayo Ofoaye claims descent is well settled in Ilaje history and well recorded in archival records including the Ilaje Intelligence Report which describes Ikohi as son of the Olugbo whose descendants upon crisis left Ugbo and ran to Mahin where they are now found at Aboto, Igbokoda and Igboegunrin “which are predominantly Mahin communities”.
It is beyond doubt that Aboto is a Mahin community which chieftaincy from inception and time immemorial is subject to the Prescribed Authority of the Amapetu. No person of Ikohi family has ever ruled Aboto or associated with the Alaboto of Aboto chieftaincy.
The antics of some sections of the stranger Ikohi Family to be part of the Alaboto chieftaincy through violence, false claims and frivolous cases including Suit N0 H0K/55/2004; Suit AK/182/2019 and Suit N0.AK/25/2021 against the State Government, the Amapetu of Mahin and the Alaboto Family of Idiogbe were either dismissed or abandoned in the face of the customary law of the Alaboto.
It goes without saying that this unlawful imposition of persons from Ugbo on Mahin soil as traditional rulers by a Governor of Ugbo extraction will have monumental implications for the chieftaincy architecture and peaceful co-existence in Ilaje land.
There are several communities in Ugbo founded by or predominantly of persons of Mahin origin. They have never challenged the Prescribed Authority of the Olugbo.
Even in new chieftaincies recognised in Ugboland since 2003 including the Olubo of Obe-Nla, Alagho of Odo-Nla and Odoka of Obe-Ogbaro, no person not historically associated, not even members from the female lineage is allowed to be incorporated into their chieftaincy arrangement.
It cannot be overemphasised that it is beyond the authority and powers of government, not even in colonial times, to dictate the customary law. That is why Government only recognises and does not create chieftaincy.
In Mahin the rites of ascension to the Alaboto stool, like other stools of Mahin origin including recognised chieftaincies such as Igboegunrin, Igbokoda and Atijere are only complete at the Mahin ancestral shrine in Ode Mahin into which persons not of Mahin origin, like an Ikohi, cannot have access.
In 2007 after the declaration of the Alaboto as a recognised chieftaincy the stranger Ikohi elements razed the palace of the then Oloja Beniah Idiogbe and displaced some other residents, the same they did during the burial of Kabiesi in 2021 where some people including octogenarian were killed. Some of the identified members of their criminal gangs arraigned and not really being prosecuted are allowed to converge in Aboto openly parading lethal weapons and even appointed security guards by contractors on government projects.
By the illegal appointment of Oyetayo Ofoaye as the Alaboto this Government has now compensated, rewarded or pacified the stranger and violent Ikohi with a Mahin crown which is unacceptable to the people of Mahin of all generations.
Our land and crown remain our inalienable and priceless heritage.We assure Government that we shall endure all pains, indignation, deprivations, including executive arrogance and lawlessness which are transient in the defence of same.
Dated 17th day of December 2024.
Pastor Oyekan Arije
Chairman Mahin Central Organisation.
