ABEOKUTA– The baales of the compounds in Itele, Ado Odo-Ota local government area of Ogun State have debunked the news going rounds that the Adogun Atele are real owners of the Itele town.
Speaking with newsmen in Abeokuta, the baale of Ilegbede Itele, Chief Fatai Asabiyi in company of other baales of the town insist that the town has seven known compounds, adding that at no time was the Adogun Atele involved in the structure that created the town decades ago.
“We are here to debunk the news that is going on in Itele, I believe most people would have seen on tv and on radio and that they are the real owner of Itele and they are the ones to install king at Itele. We are here to correct the view being created by these people.
“We are the real representatives of Itele people. The Olota is the only representative, when the Onitele is not on sit. Olota has assessed issues and has been a caretaker and I believe he has done his job very well.
“Itele has been long an existing settlement in the whole of awori in nigeria and we have installed kings before. We stopped installing kings but Baales. It is a long time traditional and established region.
“There are only 7 compounds in Itele according to the structure which are Ilegbede, Isungba, Iliwo, Ilogun,Ipotobo, Ijagbono, Ilekemo. These are the 7 compounds that owned the entire Itele land and they are still there today.
“The structure has never changed . They are going about saying they that they own lands in Itele. Obtaining judgement against Aworolo does not mean they obtain judgment on the whole Itele kingdom”, he stated
Sighting the litigations and judgements received from the High, Appeal and the Supreme courts, Chief Asabiyi maintained that the judgement affirm that the Adogun Atele are either not known to the community at inception or were newly created, and as such can be referred to as trespassers in the town.
In the judgements sighted by our correspondent, the appeal court whose judgement was delivered by Justice Nonyerem Okonkwo JCA on the 11th of December, 2017 and the supreme court, Abuja judgement delivered by Justice Olabode Rhodes Vivour on February 5th, 2020, affirmed that the application for leave of appeal by the Adogun Ateles lack merit and it was accordingly dismissed.
The Supreme Court judgement was delivered before theirs Lordships, Musa Dattijo Muhammad, Kudirat Olatokunbo, Chioma Centus Nweze and Ejembi Eko.
Chief Asabiyi however stated that the judgement being peddled around by the Adogun Atele which hitherto brought confusion to the settlement has therefore been put to rest having gone through the test of the supreme court, which further affirm their victory.
“These judgement that was given to them is confusing and has brought confusion in the settlements and as a result we had to go to court and the founder of the Atele, Jimoh was still alive. we went to court and we succeeded in defeating them we told the court their history and where they came from and the real founder of these Adogun Atele is a stranger in Itele.
“The courts agreed that the Adogun is not a part of Itele compound and it came to existence recently. As a result of that the judge said that they are trespassers on the 7 compound families and Ilegbede which is the head of those families
“Hardly can you find warrant of holden in the judgment that was given to them because there is no how and the whole land in Itele belongs to the 7 compounds families were mentioned.
“We are saying on behalf of every eligible sons and daughters of Itele that Adogun atele is not part of us in itele. The horror they have been committing, people of Itele should not be afraid. They should go about their daily business in peace”, he added.
Other baales present at the press briefing includes, the baale of Lafenwa Itele, Chief Jafaru Tijani, baale of Ilekemo Itele, Chief Monsuru Olatunji Balogun, baale of Iliwo Itele, High Chief Adekoya Adeshina Fashina, baale of Ipotobo Itele, High Chief Rasheed Abdulahi, baale egunjobi Ilekemo Itele, Chief Akeem Dada-Bamisebi, baale of Agbede Itele, Chief Waidi Lawal, and the baale of Olugbode Itele Ilekemo, High Chief Lateef Olayinka
