According to a petition the ARG released on Thursday, 23 October,
2014, it accused the APC of disrespect for the traditional institution
of the Yoruba people in the state.
The petition was signed by top members of the group including Asiwaju Joe Olarogun, Alhaji Saka Agboola Raji, and Baba Ba’ako.
P.M News reports that the body also accused the administration of Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed of disdain for rule of law in a petition served on the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs of state, Abdullahi Shaaba Umar, and the Speaker of the state legislature, Razak Atunwa.
It was also gathered that among the grievances the group is holding
against the state government is the government’s recent grading exercise
for traditional rulers which the group called ethnic marginalisation of
traditional rulers from the Yoruba speaking areas of Kwara state.
“All the 70 chieftaincy stools graded by government were in Kwara South senatorial district,” the petition read. “Other memoranda from Yoruba rulers in Central and North districts were ignored because the two districts comprised the Ilorin Emirate.
The ARG also stated that the government’s insensitive act also negated historical and legal accounts in Kwara State.
“Historically, both Oba of Jebba and Ohoro of Shao were graded as Third Class chiefs in 1983 along with Elese of Igbaja (in Kwara South), which today is a First Class chief.
“Both rankings were inexplicably withdrawn in 1984 during the military regime. In 2003, late Governor Muhammed Lawal restored the rankings but Governor Bukola Saraki withdrew them again.
“A High Court judgment in January, 2014 on ‘The State vs Alhaji Abdulkadir Adebara’, ordered the restoration of Oba of Jebba as a graded chief and the payment in arrears of his entitlements for the eleven years that the suit lasted.
“The government only recently appealed this judgment; six months after the statutory 90 days for filing appeal have elapsed,” it said.
The petition added: “Similarly, there is a substantive High Court judgment in suit No KWS/231/89 delivered in 1997 to the effect that Moro is not part of the Ilorin Emirate.”
The group said the law, as in the two cases cited, clearly proves government’s insensitivity in allowing the emirate to use state apparatus to lord it over Yoruba communities.
It warned that the situation in Kwara State should not be allowed to degenerate into violence as the case was in Kaduna where peace remained elusive until Governor Ahmed Makarfi created a chiefdom for the Zango Kataf area.
The group concluded the petition by saying that if Governor Ahmed’s administration and the APC under Senator Bukola Saraki failed to address their grievances, the Yoruba communities in Kwara state will be forced to employ all democratic means to achieve justice.
The petition was signed by top members of the group including Asiwaju Joe Olarogun, Alhaji Saka Agboola Raji, and Baba Ba’ako.
P.M News reports that the body also accused the administration of Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed of disdain for rule of law in a petition served on the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs of state, Abdullahi Shaaba Umar, and the Speaker of the state legislature, Razak Atunwa.
Governor of Kwara State, AbdulFatak Ahmed
“All the 70 chieftaincy stools graded by government were in Kwara South senatorial district,” the petition read. “Other memoranda from Yoruba rulers in Central and North districts were ignored because the two districts comprised the Ilorin Emirate.
"Six monarchs from Asa, Moro and Ilorin East Local Government
Areas – Ohoro of Shao, Oba of Jebba, Alapado of Apado, Baale of Afon,
Dado of Okeso, and Magaji Aare of Ilorin – submitted memoranda for the
exercise but none was deemed qualified even though they all met the
criteria set out in the advertisement,” the organisation said.
“Historically, both Oba of Jebba and Ohoro of Shao were graded as Third Class chiefs in 1983 along with Elese of Igbaja (in Kwara South), which today is a First Class chief.
“Both rankings were inexplicably withdrawn in 1984 during the military regime. In 2003, late Governor Muhammed Lawal restored the rankings but Governor Bukola Saraki withdrew them again.
“A High Court judgment in January, 2014 on ‘The State vs Alhaji Abdulkadir Adebara’, ordered the restoration of Oba of Jebba as a graded chief and the payment in arrears of his entitlements for the eleven years that the suit lasted.
“The government only recently appealed this judgment; six months after the statutory 90 days for filing appeal have elapsed,” it said.
The petition added: “Similarly, there is a substantive High Court judgment in suit No KWS/231/89 delivered in 1997 to the effect that Moro is not part of the Ilorin Emirate.”
The group said the law, as in the two cases cited, clearly proves government’s insensitivity in allowing the emirate to use state apparatus to lord it over Yoruba communities.
It warned that the situation in Kwara State should not be allowed to degenerate into violence as the case was in Kaduna where peace remained elusive until Governor Ahmed Makarfi created a chiefdom for the Zango Kataf area.
The group concluded the petition by saying that if Governor Ahmed’s administration and the APC under Senator Bukola Saraki failed to address their grievances, the Yoruba communities in Kwara state will be forced to employ all democratic means to achieve justice.
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