The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ojaja II), has debunked the claim on a video and voice note circulating on the social media on his involvement in the sale of a land that has caused a dispute between the Idosun community in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos State and Dangote refinery.
A particular voice note had surfaced on the social media during the weekend in which an unnamed member of the community alleged that the Ife traditional ruler conspired with the Dangote refinery to cut down a tree where the people of the community hold their traditional worship, but a statement issued on Sunday by the Publicity Secretary to the Ooni, Moses Olafare, stated that the monarch never participated in the sale of the land and the reported destruction of the place of worship on it.
The Ooni’s scribe said his principal only heard of the issue when the case was brought to him by the Dangote company.
“I am sure the person that made the video and voice note knows the truth but wanted to tarnish the image of the king since they cannot resolve the issue they had with Dangote on the said land,” he said.
He explained that it was 15 communities that sold the land to Dangote over a decade ago, but the affected community, Idosun, had a rift with Dangote Refinery on a particular section of the land where they had a tree where they worship.
According to him, the community pleaded with Dangote to leave the side of the land where they had the tree for easy access during worship, but the organisation refused and insisted that they must cut the tree because it is lying within their premises.
He explained further that the matter was brought to Ooni after many kings around Epe and Ibeju-Lekki had intervened but couldn’t resolve the issue.
He tried to resolve the matter amicably but the community refused that the land must be exempted while Dangote Refinery insisted the section remains part of its land.
“The Ooni even explained to the community representatives at the meeting that under the law, Dangote is right since he bought the land many years ago but the only way is to shift the place to another part of their land through some atonement but the community still refused. And as they couldn’t resolve the issues, Dangote went ahead and cut the tree,” Olafare added.
