At an extraordinary meeting of CCII Club Presidents, Secretaries and other Stakeholders on Friday, March 31, 2023, a “vote of no confidence” was passed on the current President-General of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Prince Yemisi Adeaga, CCII Board of Trustees (BoT) and the CCII 2023 Electoral Committee over the disqualification of Barrister Niyi Ajewole who is contesting against the current CCII President-General.
The stakeholders meeting held at Ibadan House, Oke-Aremo.
It was agreed at the end of the meeting that such administrative and financial atrocities as established against Adeaga, as well as other glaring electoral fraud perpetrated by CCII BoT and some members of the 2023 CCII Electoral Committee have become matters of great concern to the majority membership of CCII.
According to various speakers at the meeting, despite all allegations levelled against Adeaga, nothing has been done to checkmate his excesses.
“We are not saying Adeaga should not seek re-election, but he shouldn’t stage-manage the disqualification of other contestants. Our meeting here today is for the progress of Ibadan, we are not against anybody, but we are not happy and we don’t trust the BoT and the Electoral Committe again. The forthcoming election remains sacrosant. Barrister Niyi Ajewole is not stepping down for anybody.”
Members present at the meeting commended the three Electoral Committee members who had earlier condemned the illegal disqualification of Ajewole. CCII Past President Generals were also commended for standing by the truth.
The meeting noted that the extension of the election date beyond 14th of April was advised by Prince Oluyemisi Adeaga. They therefore insisted that there was no cogent reason for any extension.
“Apart from representation, Kabiyesi the Olubadan personally called towards the end of the meeting. He commended our resilience and invited all for a meeting on Monday.
“Adeaga brought over 50 policemen, in about 6 Vehicles, with 10 DSS officials and almost 60 militants to stop the meeting all to no avail as the meeting held successfully.”
The meeting rose with the following decisions:
That Barrister Niyi Ajewole’s disqualification is considered Illegal.
That there is no Ibadan Week celebrations or any other event without the election as scheduled.
That the election must hold on 14th April, 2023 at Ibadan House,
That the stakeholders meeting will be continuous whenever and as the need arises.
In a related development, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun has intervened in the ongoing crisis lingering in CCII over the disqualification of Barr. Niyi Ajewole.
The monarch said the step becomes necessary so as to forestall breakdown of law and order among Ibadan Indigenes home and abroad.
Speaking on behalf of the Olubadan, the President, Association of Ibadan Mogajis, Mogaji Asimiyu Ariori while addressing the “General Assembly” urged the camp of Ajewole to tread softly for peace to continue to reign in Ibadanland.
Ariori said Olubadan as the father of all has called for a meeting where all issues concerning Ajewole’s disqualification would be addressed.
He said, “We are known as pace setters, we should be a role model for others, Olubadan said you should be patient, he sent me here to douse the tension. All your grievances will be addressed at the meeting slated for Monday.
“Also, a petition signed by Kola Fatoye, the solicitors to Oluyole Social Elite Club which was addressed to the Chairman of the 2023 CCII Electoral Committe noted that the BoT lacks power to instruct the Electoral Committe to disqualify Ajewole as a result of the breach by the Club of Section 3.3 (iii) and 8.2(iii) of the CCII Constitution.
“The petition partly reads, “It would appear from the content of your letter under reference that the BoT of CCII is asking your Committee to annul the screening exercise that has been conducted in line with the clear provision of the Constitution thereby rubbishing your Committee’s work which was gladly accepted by your Committee.
“We therefore have our client’s instruction to request that the purported disqualification as instructed by your Committee by the BoT be rescinded and same communicated to our client within seven days of service of this letter on your Committee.
“Please, be advised that unless the above request is complied with within seven days of service of this letter on you including the day of suck service, we may have no other option but to proceed to the appropriate court to determine the legality or otherwise of the instruction handed over to your Committee and this we shall do without further notice to you from our office.”
