The units that make up Ehin-Ogbe community are more or less villages, with each having a Baale
that manages its affairs. Aside from Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru, the others are
Ehin-Ogbe Adesiku, Ehin-Ogbe Eewumi, Ehin-Ogbe Lambo Lasunwon, Ehin-Ogbe
Aro-Efolu, and Ehin-Ogbe Ewujebe.
Elupepe was installed as the Baale
Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru on June 26, 2013. Less than a month after, some people
from the community came to beat him up. Two persons- Elupepe and Mr.
Taiwo Okeowo- had vied for the village’s top position, so naturally,
fingers in the border village pointed at Okeowo for sponsoring the
assault on the Baale.
Four of Elupepe’s supporters that were
with him were also reportedly beaten, while some other residents known
to be loyal to him, fled the village.
Elupepe, who has since vacated the
community for a hide-out following the incident, also identified his
rival, Okeowo, and two of his brothers, as responsible for his ordeal in
the hands of the suspected hoodlums.
Speaking to Saturday PUNCH on the
telephone, Elupepe said he was still afraid for his life and was
unwilling to leave the comfort of his hide-out just yet.
Elupepe insisted that he had no doubt that Okeowo had a hand in the attack.
He said, “The people behind the attack
were Taiwo Okeowo and his brothers -Moshood and Bashiru. They brought
more than 100 land speculators, who were armed with guns, machetes,
sticks and charms into the community.
“The land speculators beat us
mercilessly. We were seriously beaten and physically injured. I was
slapped and dragged on the ground and my clothes were torn. After the
beating, I was unconscious. I was taken to Ijede General Hospital, where
I was revived. My Isuzu Rodeo Sports Utility Vehicle was also damaged;
it was smashed from the rear.
“We were attacked with sticks, machetes
and some of the hoodlums even shot into the air, but they didn’t shoot
directly at us. I had bruises all over my body and a black eye, while
the other people that were attacked sustained various degrees of
injuries. Some shops were also looted and many people fled their homes.
Those people also came with traditional charms, which were used to
attack me. In fact, I’m still recovering from the effect of the charms.”
Elupepe said he was transferred from Ijede General Hospital to Ikorodu General Hospital, but was not fully healed.
“The charms used on me gave me some
abnormal feelings, internal injury and strange body reactions that the
hospitals could not treat. So, I had to engage the services of
traditional healers,” he added.
Since the incident which led Elupepe to
vacate his seat, he said he was yet to set his foot in Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru.
He added that his family members had also been evacuated from the
village for fear of another attack.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru had been embroiled in crisis since the death of its former Baale
in late 2012. The village’s founding family was Lasunwon Royal family.
Claims to the seat of power are determined by the strength of aspirants’
lineage to the royal family.
Some residents, however, explained that
the current crisis goes deeper, beyond honest rivalry for a position.
They claimed the problem arose from a deep animosity in the community
towards strangers nursing ambition to be the ruler.
“And with some prominent families in the
community divided between the two candidates- Elupepe and Okeowo, there
was bound to be trouble,” a source said.
It was also learnt that before now, the
prominent families of the village had been having confrontations with
one another over land deals. With the mainstay of Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru and
the adjoining communities woven around land deals, land speculators are
never in short supply in the area.
A source said, “Another thing here is
that the true indigenes of this place know themselves and the people
whose fathers migrated here. So, they are touchy about that and will
fight to make sure that someone who is not considered a true indigene
does not take up a prominent position here.”
Elupepe was installed as Baale of
Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru by the Igode Royal Family Council, Igode. As a much
bigger community with a 2nd Class Oba (King), Igode reportedly endorses
chiefs for smaller adjoining communities and handles some other
chieftaincy matters.
But in the absence of the King, Onigode
of Igode, who is late, the rites endorsing Elupepe as Baale were done by
the Regent, who was identified as ‘Lawyer Talabi’ and titled as ‘Lisa’.
Shortly after Elupepe was installed,
however, he received invitation from the Area ‘N’ Police Command, Ijede,
following a petition from Okeowo’s camp.
Elupepe confirmed the police invitation in the phone conversation with Saturday PUNCH, saying, “They alleged that I should not be the Baale, and that I owned guns and used to rape.
They made so many allegations.
“The police brought a letter of
invitation and five of us with one Sergeant went to Area ‘N’ to honour
the invitation. From there, we were moved to Adeniji Police Station
where we were detained.
“Later, they let us go when they
realised that it was a chieftaincy matter. I was even coming from the
police station, along with four others when we were attacked.
“After we left the police station, we
were escorted by some police officers who followed us in their vehicle.
But as the police were about to turn back at the entrance to the
village, we started hearing gunshots.
“We asked the police to follow us and
they promised that they were behind us. But when we got inside the
village, we realised that the police had turned back. As we got down
from our vehicle, the land speculators descended on us and almost killed
us.”
However, the source identified the cause of the crisis as starting from the moment Elupepe showed interest in becoming the Baale.
The source continued, “As I said, the
indigenes take their lineage seriously here. So, people may play with
you and deal with you but they never forget where you come from. Elupepe
is already established here, but people know that he was not originally
from here. His father came here to work and then settled down here, so
Elupepe pushed his luck too far when he ran to become the Baale.”
Similarly, Okeowo, who was seen as Elupepe’s rival, said as much when Saturday PUNCH caught up with him at Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru.
Many of Okeowo’s supporters had already adopted the use of ‘Baale’ when addressing him, along with being accorded some of the respect that follows the office.
Okeowo explained that he had been chosen as Baale of Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru ever before Elupepe’s arrival to the community.
“That’s why you hear everyone calling me ‘baale, baale’,” he said.
Okeowo told Saturday PUNCH that
Elupepe had no claim to the seat of the Baale of Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru. He
said Elupepe’s father was a famous bricklayer in Ikorodu, Lagos, who had
come to Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru in search of work.
“He came here to work as a bricklayer
and that was how he went round many communities to build houses. But his
father defrauded our fathers in a land deal and that was how they came
to own land here.
“Elupepe’s father illegally sold out 141
plots of our land. We had a family meeting and at the meeting, the
founding family here, Lasunwon family, of which we are direct
descendants, decided to let the matter go and just collected
ratification on the land illegally sold.
“In spite of this, the family still gave
Elupepe’s family three acres of land here. So that was how they got
here. I was the one who went to show Elupepe the three acres the day he
came, after he was called to take control of his father’s property. His
family was warned not to trespass beyond their boundary. Still, Elupepe
has been trespassing and selling land belonging to our family, using our
letterhead.
“For Elupepe to now say he will rule
over us (original indigenes) is impossible. He is not an indigene and
not a family member. He is an alien here; he sold our lands illegally
and forged documents. He’s not in any way entitled to be our ruler; he
can’t be our Baale.”
On the allegation that he had sponsored
the alleged attack on Elupepe, Okeowo, denied knowledge of the attack in
the village. He countered Elupepe’s allegations with claims that he and
his group were the ones who suffered in the hands of Elupepe’s ‘boys’.
He accused Elupepe’s supporters of being
responsible for the disturbance of peace in the community, and alleged
that they battered one of his brothers, Mr. Muiz Okeowo, into
unconsciousness.
“They (Elupepe’s group) attacked us and
beat up Muiz Okeowo, my brother. They left him out there in a pool of
water and thought he was dead. That was why he (Elupepe) ran away from
the village and couldn’t come back since then.
“Even the families behind Elupepe’s ambition are also strangers in this land; none of them has any claim here.”
Okeowo accused the Igode Royal Family Council of corruption dealings, which he claimed to have led to his rival’s endorsement.
In addition, Okeowo questioned the authority of Igode Royal Council to endorse a Baale for his community.
He said, “Igode council endorsed him,
but they are not kingmakers. Also, their king is late and in such a
situation, the responsibility should fall on the monarchs of other big
towns like Sagamu, Ogijo, and Ikorodu.
“When we heard that they were planning to endorse Elupepe as Baale,
we wrote letters to them, but they still went ahead. I also believe
that other things were involved because Lawyer Talabi once told us to
let Elupepe be because he had spent so much money already for Igode
chiefs. His suggestion was for us to later sue Elubebe for unlawfully
occupying the seat.”
Investigation shows that some supporters
of Elupepe, who deserted their houses were yet to return two weeks
after the incident. Their tenants declined to comment on the issue for
fear of being dragged into the matter and possible attack.
But a resident, who did not give his
name, said his father, who also left the village for neighbouring
Ikorodu town would not be returning anytime soon.
“It also affected my father,” he said.
“He ran to Ikorodu and warned me to leave the house but I told him that
no one would attack me since I didn’t make trouble with anyone.
Although, my brother was wounded the day the assailants came, I think it
was because he tried to defend our father.”
An uneasy calm has returned to Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru, but the presence of the land speculators was still visible when Saturday PUNCH visited.
Residents said the calm could be disrupted any moment the dethroned Baale steps into the village.
A resident, who wanted anonymity, insisted that most residents are safe, in spite of the ongoing crisis in the community.
He said, “The truth is that many people
panicked and ran out of their homes when the hoodlums came, but Taiwo
Okeowo was going from house to house to calm people down. He was telling
residents to go about their businesses, that they didn’t have problem
with residents.
“His grudge was with Elupepe and his
supporters and those are the ones who left and haven’t returned. All
other residents are back in their houses and going about their
businesses normally.
“I know that Elupepe once hit Okeowo too over a land dispute, so it was an opportunity for Okeowo to get back at him.”
At Igode, the regent, Talabi was not
available but the palace scribe, Mr. Rafiu Disu, denied any wrongdoing
on the part of the Igode Royal Council.
Disu said the council only gave its blessing to the candidate presented by the community.
The palace scribe said, “It’s the family that appoints the Baale
and prays for him, then bring him to Igode for our blessing because he
has to come and sit with us at the palace since they are under Igode’s
authority, including other small communities around here.
“The family came with Elupepe and said he’s the Baale.
They came with an elderly woman as the elderly person in the family. We
took him and prayed for him at the Onigode palace, gave him a cap and
beads.
“Then later, they sent a letter and said Taiwo Okeowo is the one they want as Baale
and not Akeem Elupepe. But both parties address letters to us with the
same letterhead, so we called the two of them to a round table to ask
what the problem was.
“We asked the other party if Elupepe was
a killer, rapist or a kidnapper and they said ‘no’. They said he sold
their land, bought a car and built a house. The regent still went to
meet the family at home to resolve the dispute and the aggrieved party
accepted that Elupepe should get our blessing as the Baale. So, we don’t know what they are fighting over again.”
The scribe also denied allegations of
corruption levelled against the council, saying, “Nothing like that ever
took place. It’s also a lie that Igode has no authority over the units
in Ehin-Ogbe. Even when the last Baale of Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru died,
he was brought here for the final traditional rites. The regent has the
authority to perform functions till we have a new king.”
Meanwhile, the rulers of the other five
villages in Ehin-Ogbe community, were not pleased with the negative
attention the community had received lately.
For instance, the representative of the Baale of Ehin-Ogbe Adesiku, Chief Munirudeen Arogundade, told Saturday PUNCH that other villages within Ehin-Ogbe community have been free of controversies.
“No problem in Ehin-Ogbe generally, the
problem is only in Ehin-Ogbe Tuuru, one of the six villages in the
community. We all have our rulers,” he said.
Residents of Ehin-Ogbe claimed that
Lagos and Ogun Police Commands both assume responsibility for the
security of the border community. But the Police Public Relations
officer, Ogun State , Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, did not respond to calls and a
text message sent to his phone.
However, his Lagos counterpart, Ngozi Braide, who spoke to Saturday PUNCH on the telephone, promised to get back on the issue, but she never did.
Culled from Punch newspaper
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