The Kogi State government has shed more light on the imbroglio between it and the paramount ruler of Ebira land, Dr Ado Ibrahim. It explained that the monarch was merely asked why he deliberately refused to grace the visit of the president, President Muhammadu Buhari when he visited the state to commission Bello’s legacy projects.
A statement issued on Monday evening by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Barrister Salami Momodu Deedat Ozigi stated that since the royal father has decided to make the matter which otherwise would have been private, a public one, the state government therefore has a duty to brief the general public on the issuance of the query.
The Commissioner explained that the royal father flagrantly refused to receive the President at the newly renovated and befitting official palace, chosing instead to remain in his personal house.
The statement read “It has become highly imperative to brief the general public on the issues surrounding the issuance of letter of query to His Royal Majesty, Alh. Dr. Ado Ibrahim CON, the Ohinoyi of Ebira land.
This is because, what ordinarily should have been an official process has been made public by the recipient of the query and as such the public deserves to be abreast with the truth and isolate it from falsehood.”
The Commissioner said that “the reconstructed palace of Ohinoyi of Ebira land which was commissioned by the President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces has all along been the official palace/residence of successive Ohinoyi of Ebira land”.
According to him, “It is on record that when President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR visited Okene in the year 1984 as a military Head of State, it was in the same palace that he was received by the then Ohinoyi of Ebira land, late Alh. Sanni Omolori. The palace has been remodeled and reconstructed to a magnificent edifice that every son and daughter of Ebira land could be proud of”.
However, he said that “the current Ohinoyi of Ebira land, His Royal Majesty, Alh. Dr. Ado Ibrahim CON opted, on his own, chose to stay in his personal house and use it as a palace. That does not erase the fact that there is an official palace built over the years for Ohinoyi of Ebira land.
He explained that when the idea to reconstruct the palace to make it befitting for the revered stool of Ohinoyi of Ebiraland was muted, he (Ohinoyi of Ebiraland) was sufficiently consulted, and he gave his consent.
“Upon the completion of the project which has received commendation from far and wide and the date for the commissioning by the President was approved and announced, I personally paid a visit to Ohinoyi of Ebiraland and I duly informed him of the programme of event. Although he responded negatively that he would not attend, I persuaded and entreated him to kindly attend in view of the importance of the project and especially the personality of the President that would commission the project.
It is therefore left for the public to judge if it was fair and appropriate for His Royal Majesty, the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, whose private residence is a few meters away from the venue of the commissioning of the palace and being the principal beneficiary of the project to stay put in his house while all the graded Chiefs within the Central Senatorial District were present in solidarity with him to honour and receive the President.”
