Date: 2019-05-20

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara has presented a staff of office to Alhaji Abdullahi Kolawole, the newly appointed Oluganna of Ganmo in the Ifelodun LGA of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the presentation of the occasion coincided with the upgrade of the stool to third class status by the state government.

Presenting the letter of appointment and staff of office to the monarch on behalf of the governor in Ilorin, Alhaji Habeeb Saidu, the State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, stated that it would put an end to the long dispute in the community.

Saidu, who sued for peace and harmony among residents of the community, noted that there could not be any development in a community full of violence and acrimony. The commissioner, however, urged the new monarch to embrace all the parties and mobilise them to support government programmes and policies.

In his acceptance speech, Kolawole hailed his recognition as the rightful holder of the title of Oluganna and the upgrade to the third class status.

The monarch pledged to maintain peace, unity and harmony in order to attract growth and development into the community. In his remarks, Chief Abdulraheem Oladimeji, the Jagunmolu of Igbomina, appealed to the people of Ganmo community to sheathe their swords and allow peace to reign.

According to him, the new traditional ruler will need to embrace all the aggrieved parties involved in the legal tussle in a plan to lay claim to the title for sustainable harmony and unity. Oladimeji, who is also the proprietor of Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, charged the entire people of the community to support the monarch in taking the community to an enviable level.

NAN reports that midway into the low-key ceremony; some youths stormed the venue to express their dismay over the appointment of the monarch. The aggrieved youths, who carried placards with various inscriptions rejecting the appointment and the upgrade of the stool as against the stool of Oluganmo were chanting various songs.

The chairman of Ifelodun LGA, of the state, Alhaji Fatai Garba, who addressed the protesters, urged them to embrace peace in the interest of progress and development of the community.

NAN reports that the rightful holder of the title of paramount traditional ruler between the Oluganna and the Oluganmo families in the community had been a subject of controversy and litigation for more than 30 years before it was recently resolved by the Supreme Court.