ORIGINS: THE TRUTH ABOUT IKOSI AND KOSOFE THE ONIKOSI OF IKOSI 

Well, to the glory of God, it has not being easy, but I thank God almighty who has always being there for me and seen me through, till this very moment and the unforeseen future. I also thank the people who love and support me. You cannot say that, when you are on the throne, you will not encounter problems, but when God solves the problem, you will be okay. God always solves my problems, internal and external. Realistically, there are many challenges to be encountered on the throne; challenges from family, from the Villagers, the Church and enemies…simply because of the truth, and I will never leave the truth. I will continue with the truth.

Hmmm…let’s look at it this way, if you go to Mecca to serve God, you will never hear or see anybody discriminated against. There is no segregation in the eyes of God. Everybody is equal in the presence of the Most High. For me, I believe that God is the highest, supreme life form in the universe as we know it. The Bible teaches that we, as individuals are like books to be read by people. So, I’ll ask the question, what do people read when they look at you? If people do not see anything to read in you, they cannot learn anything from you. So, basically, I am humble and down to earth with my people, Baales and Obas. You can ask any Oba in Lagos state. I believe that whoever is ruled by pride will be humbled by God. If you are humble, God will lift you up. It is in the Bible. When you walk into this palace, you find us seated together, distinguishing me from my Chiefs becomes difficult, because we are one.

When we talk of which village first got the crown among the seven villages that make up Kosofe today, Ikosi is the first to get a crown and receive the instrument of office from the government in 1996. Meanwhile, this position of Ikosi working with the government and controlling the Chieftaincies did not start today…it started in 1963, with His Royal Majesty, Late Oba Bamgbade Taiwo, the first Oba of Ikosi. In the old days here in Lagos state, the White cap, called Idejosymbolized a crown, until other Obas in the Western region started abusing and devaluing the significance of the cap. This prompted the Lagos Obas to ask the Government to change the White cap to the actual crown that you see today. We, the Idejo here are from the Aromire family. That Idungaran belongs to us.If you go there, ask for Onikoro or Kumoro, he will tell you. That is why we cannot wear a crown without the White cap. We wear the White cap before we wear the Crown. If you wear the Crown without the White capit means you are not an original indigene of Lagos state. This points at the difference between Olu and Oni. Oniis for indigene and Olu is for stranger.Now, we all are working, eating and playing together…there is no problem between us.

Of course…all indigenous Obas have the White Cap, like Oniru, Onilado, Onibeju, Ojora, Saheed Elegushi and the Late Oba of Lagos, Pa Oyekan. Their forefathers and our forefathers are Whitecap Chiefs, before government changed it to the crown.There are also some Baales in the Council of Obas that wear the White cap, that are now Obas.

If you go through the intelligence reports, you will find out that Ikosi is the Tax Collector for the colonial government in 1933. How can they say that Ikosi is not one of the seven villages? I don’t know where they found that story. I have many documents to back up my story.There was a time we, the seven villages formed a Farmer’s Association that was written about in the publication, Kosofe Era. The story was done by a Journalist named Kumuyi in 1957 or thereabout, and three names were prominent in that story; Ikoro, Ikosi and Oshorun alongside pictures showing that they are the acknowledged Land owners and Overlords of Kosofe. Anything I tell you, I will give you the evidence and documents to cover it. If anybody wants to challenge it, let them do so…we will face ourselves. He or they, will show me their own paper.

That Oba is a very, very junior boy. He is saying what he doesn’t know. I wish you had asked him this question what year was Kosofe formed?And what happened before Kosofe was formed?I would like to tell you what’s behind this matter, but I can’t right now. There is a proverb that says Agba to ni omo lehin kin ko ako tan orin. I don’t want to show them that area. It is when we get to the Court or anywhere he challenges me to, I will show them what they need to know.Kosofe was formed by the seven villages. I asked him in my petition, after your last publication based on this matter we are talking about now, to tell me if the Kosofe Baptist school belongs to his father, and to also tell me if the Kosofe Baptist church belongs to his father and what year these two institutions were established? He could not tell me. There are seven villages and Ikosi is the head.Ikosi, Agboyi, Orishigun and Erunkan were involved. Ketu was not involved during the formation of Kosofe. I will tender some documents for you to see the truth. Owode was involved too. Owode was where we sell our harvested crops. We would sit in front of Obanikoro’s palace back then and buyers would come from Lagos to buy crops and anything else they needed. He told you in your last publication that he is not an Awori man, and that he hails from Ile-Ife. This is a bogus lie. I asked him to tell me his compound, their ruling house in Ile-Ife. My ruling house is Olukosi ruling house.After I was crowned, I went to Ile-Ife under the late Oba Sijuade and he recrowned me.After his five years coronation anniversary, he went to Dahomey to pay homage to his father, the Oba of Dahomey. I can show you the picture. Truth does not hide…only lies hide.I will give you documents, so that if anybody challenges you, you let them know. If they take you to the Law Court, I will follow you to the place.

If you mention Awori, don’t mention Ketu. Ketu is not Awori, they are strangers.Intelligence reports will tell you that Ketu was a fugitive from Dahomey who paid homage to Isheri-Ile Chiefs, and Isheri-Ile belongs to our fathers. I will give you the intelligence reports, 1933. After that, the Orile-Ketu was bought by the Oyero at the rate of five pounds from Kalejaiye Onikoro and Onikosi. The document is here.Meanwhile Aiyedere (Oluwalogbon) was a very small village that time, and it existed before Ketu. Orishigun existed before Ketu. That Oluwalogbon was sold by Onikoro and Yusuf Oke, the second Onikosi of Ikosi, Rufai Oloyede and Ade Taiwo to Matthew Adeyinka of Mile 12. Matthew Adeyinka resold the land to Ishola Balogun, one of the Oyero’s sons. Ishola Balogun sold the land to Asubiaro. The other part, the area of Dairo Street was sold by Onikoro and Onikosi to one Sule Abudu of Orishigun.I have the documents. The other side of Ketu was sold by the Kumoro family, Ikoro, Ikosi and Oshorun. Kumoro has three children, Adakano became Onikoro, Onisheta became Oshorun, while Ajayi Oke is a female from our first ancestor Aina Ejo from Ota, who first came here, worked and established here, went to Agboyi and married Ajayi Oke. That is why we are a female from Kumoro’s female child. We have joint sales and three signatories for the whole family. Ikoro have one signatory, Ashamu is the signatory of Oshorun and Onikosi is the signatory of Ikosi.Anybody who buys land from Kumoro family without these three signatures has done the wrong thing. It’s null and void. I will show you the documents to all those areas. I will show you the documents to the area which Saka Balogun bought from these three names, the area we sold to Lasisi Anishola Balogun, and the area sold to Yusufu Balogun, the father of this reigning Oba of Ketu. I have the documents. Up to Alapere, these three names are the owners of the land. There is a judgement between Wahabi Kalejaiye, Rufai Oloyede and Oshorun against Ishola Balogun, Ketu. The judgement says that from WeighBridge to Itowolo Bridge, the Oyero Balogun family are customary tenants to Onikosi family. The same goes for the left and right sides of Owode-Orile on Ikorodu road to Owode-Onirin in the case of Elias versus Ishola and Lasisi Balogun. We won the case…even up to the Supreme Court. They were categorized as customary tenants, because during cross-examination, they said they pay rent to Onikoro and Onikosi. So, anybody who gives you history, but cannot give you documents to cover or back it up is a Liar.

Yes! The whole of Lagos state is owned by the Aworis. Go to Oniba, talk to him, by his speech you will know he is Awori. Go to Onikotun, talk to him, you will know he is Awori. Go to Agboyi, it’s the same thing. Go to Maryland or Ojora, they are Aworis. So, it is wrong to say Ikosi is under Ketu. Jimoh Balogun bought land from Cele bus stop from Musibau Onikosi, my junior brother. That is the area in terms of property shared to his father when he was alive. When he died, his only son, Musibau sold the land to Jimoh Balogun. Jimoh Balogun sold the land to one Titilayo. I have all the documents. People think that anybody can just become Oba in Ikosi…it is not like that. Only two ruling houses can become Oba, and that is Taiwo and Kehinde. In the Ikosi constitution and declaration, it is stated clearly that only a male child can become Oba. Now, unless there is no male child, the female will become Oba, but when do you think there will not be a male child? When our fathers came from Ife to Ota, then Ikosi, they were Hunters. That time, they killed Elephants. A document has it that Isheri-Oke Church was formally known as Eranwa, the place where our forefathers killed Elephants. Kumoro was Overlord of the area and Oshorun held the place. Onikosi held Ikosi here. Onikoro held Agboyi.

Hmmm…when I was a Boy Scout, I can keep something here, cover it and put a mark on it, or put a mark ten feet away from the object I have hidden. If you are not a Scout and you get there, you will never know that something is hidden there.For example, you are sent from Lagos to Ikosi, and you are told to get to that Palace, turn to your left, you will see arrows directing you to move forward, you will get to a T-junction, if you are supposed to turn left or right, the arrows will guide you. That is Ketu for you. It is a descriptive marker. A bus stop name.

I’d like you to know that the Ketu Police station is supposed to be Ikosi Police station, but it is this way simply because the Government will not ask anybody’s opinion before they do something. I can show you the document our forefathers wrote to the Government that we need a Police station and a market. When it came to time to name it, they named it Ketu Police station simply because it is on the main road. Today, I am the Head of security for the Ikosi-Isheri LCDA, and also the head of security at the Local government level.We hold meetings with the Elders, the Community CDA and CDC, Baales, myself and the Local government Chairman. About two months ago, the Federal government sent me a letter asking me to head the Traditional Elders’ Security Group in Ikosi-Isheri here. We held a meeting the day before yesterday. We are doing our best and I thank God Almighty for deploying Akpan, the present D.P.O. to Ikosi-Isheri. Immediately he was posted here, he came to the Palace and asked me to write a declaration that I would not come to beg for whoever he apprehends on criminal charges. I put pen to paper and added that even my son, if caught violating the law, should be dealt with appropriately. The effect of this is that there is a drastic reduction in violence in the Ikosi-Isheri area.We still hold our security meetings regularly to ensure that the area is the most secured in Lagos state.

You know, some people are doing things wrongly, simply because they don’t know the history. I was there when my father and the community started the market. I am among the people who worked there. We had one Mr. Daudu as the Secretary that time. We wrote a letter to the government headed by Jakande then, that the community needs a market. The government asked us where is the land? The community and my father told them that there is a land which the government acquired from his father, which is my grandfather, give us a part of that land, which is that place you see. Jakande released the land and told them that the government does not have money to assist them in clearing or building the market. They told him that they would do it themselves, all they need is for the land to be released to them. Jakande released the land. That land used to be a sand pit…where people take sand out to sell for construction and other purposes. My father and the community contributed money, they hired a Surveyor to survey the land. I will show you the receipt of money paid the Surveyor. That time, Coker and Coker was our Lawyer, he is the owner of that Alausa. There was no government house there then. It was simply farmland run by Coker and Coker. After we sent the survey documents and other documents to Jakande, we got back the result documents and in it was written;Ikosi market, Ikosi Health center, Ikosi Arabic School, Ikosi G.R.A. and Ikosi primary School. The survey plan is with me. The total number of shops we had then was two thousand plus. After that, my father and the elders in Ikosi chose Akpanisile and Abole to be Babaloja and Vice respectively to control the market. We wrote a letter to Baba Jakande asking for a certificate, and he directed the Ikeja local government to give us a certificate for a daily temporary market in Ikosi. The certificate is with me.Later the Babaloja and his Vice went to Alausa when it was established by Jakande to request for the original certificate. An original certificate for Ikosi market was given to them. After that they went to Abuja to register and got a certificate for Ikosi community market. If anybody tells you that he, she or they established Ikosi market, tell the person to bring documents to prove.

Thank you. My senior brother married Sherifatu Taiwo, and she was not a native of Ketu. Now, Sherifatu had a child for us. That is why when this market was established, my father said okay Sherifatu, you will become Iyaloja so that you can keep me informed on whatever goes on in the market. That is why they gave her a cap as a Chief, the Iyaloja of Ikosi market. Then lo and behold, after Baba’s death, Sherifatu turned everything upside-down. She said the market belonged to her, forgetting about the certificates and documentation in our possession.She was not the first Iyaloja, my father’s elder sister, Kofoworola Edun Onikosi was the first Iyaloja of Ikosi market. This is what I know…I didn’t read it in the papers.

Thank you. When I was Publicity secretary, Social secretary and Finance secretary for UPN in Ikosi-Isheri here, we chose Olaolu Taiwo as Chairman, but later they said they had already nominated somebody else as Chairman. So, we voted Olaolu in as Councilor. When Olaolu Taiwo died, the community chose Atanda Jimoh who is now the Odofin of Ikosi. The powerful strongman of Ikosi. The reason why we chose Olaolu Taiwo is that we are Kehinde, he is Taiwo. My father was head of the family, I held three positions and Atanda Jimoh’s father was a junior brother to my father, which meant we held everything in our house.Atanda Jimoh established Ikosi High School and Ikosi Express Primary School. Then people ganged up and wrote a petition against him…they wanted him jailed or even killed. They killed somebody and put the dead body in that area. The Police arrested him. Three months later, when the Police discovered the truth of his innocence in their investigations, they released him.I don’t know why Ketu people say that place belongs to them. When I became Oba in 2008, I discovered that they had changed the emblem of the school. I wrote a letter to the Ministry of Education and Sosan the Deputy to Fashola wrote a letter that nobody should change anything in that school. Later, I wrote a letter to Mr. Aigbe at SUBEB, Maryland and he sent the letter to the Ministry of Education, Alausa. Alausa replied Aigbe and Aigbe replied me with their documents and report that nobody should change the school’s name,saying that it belongs to Ikosi, they built the school themselves. Ketu people went and collected wuruwuru documents from government. So, you see, something that is not done in your presence, you cannot know the date. This school started in 1979, but Ketu people’s document had 1980. They are doing their best to stop us, but I will never agree.

I am a good Politician. It started in the UPN days. I have being a father of ACN and by God’s grace a father of APC.

When Jesus said he would destroy the Temple and raise it up again in three days, the Sanhedrin, Pharisees and Sadducees were angry, wondering if he was crazy. They failed to realize he was talking deeply about judgment and making heaven. The problem we are facing right now did not start today, it started long time ago. Before Buhari came to power last year, things were already bad, now people want him to regulate and repair overnight what has being rotten for many years. Is it possible? He will start from one place. We have to be patient and allow him work. Let’s give him these four years and see what happens. But I know that before the four years is completed, this country will be changed for the better.

Me, I don’t want my party to lose during the elections. I always advise them…they should not choose thieves as Chairmen in the Local governments. There is a group of people going round different Obas asking them to allow their sons run under their party. Any Oba’s son that runs under that circumstance will win because everybody will want to vote for the Oba’s son. Also, we do not need unnecessary aggression and violence. We should settle down and look for solutions to the issues facing us and we will defeat everybody.