Group Demands Apology from Akeredolu over Alleged Threat to Ondo Monarch

A group, Club 66 Idanre, on Wednesday demanded an apology from the Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), over alleged use of invective words towards the Owa of Idanre Kingdom, Oba Fredrick Adegunle Aroloye, Arubiefin IV. The group alleged that the governor's abusive words came following a peaceful protest by the community over the alleged sales of their farmland to a foreign company by the state government. The Club 66 Idanre in a statement issued by its President, Dr. Anthony Omolola, alleged that the reports of the governor's insult and threat on the 96-year-old monarch during a phone conversation over the issue of Idanre forest reserve forcefully harnessed and allegedly sold to some companies and people by the state government were an affront to all peace-loving people in the community. Omolola said the governor, as a Yoruba son, ought to have been modest and diplomatic while talking to elders and traditional rulers, who are the custodians of the people’s culture, heritage and values. He said: "An insult on the Owa of Idanre Kingdom is an insult on the Idanre people, and we will reject such entirely. "We believe that the ancestral land/forest of the people cannot be shared or allocated to groups or companies without the proper discussion and agreement with the monarch, community leaders and the people who are the custodian of the land/forest, considering the socio-cultural, moral and economic implications. "We, therefore, demand from Akeredolu an unreserved apology to our king." Efforts to get reaction from the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Richard Olatunde, proved abortive as he didn't respond to message sent to him. However, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Governor on Agriculture and Agro-business, Mr. Akin Olotu, had said the state government as well as his agency would not succumb to blackmail on the part of the farmers or anybody, emphasising that the action of the state government as regards the farmland was in the interest of the farmers and the state.