Activities at the Ekiti State House of Assembly was grounded for hours on Monday, as protesters from Araromi Ekiti in Ijero Local Government Area of Ekiti State, stormed the assembly premises in Ado-Ekiti to protest the confirmation of one Babatunde Babalola as the Alararomi of Araromi Ekiti in Ijero Local Government Area of the state.
The protesters, who occupied the premises of the Assembly with placards of various inscriptions, condemned the confirmation of Babalola by Ekiti State Government as the new Monarch of the community.
Some of the placards read, ‘BAO should not be a supporter of a criminal’, ‘Only Criminals support criminals, are you one?’, ‘Dubious character should be jailed not crowned’, Don’t impose a certificate forger on Araromi’, ‘A certificate forger should be behind bars not made a king’.
Speaking with journalists, the leader of the protesters, Olusola Aina, alleged that their investigation revealed that Babalola was a criminal and certificate forger, who cannot be on the throne as Alararomi to pilot the affairs of the town.
According to him, Babalola has been parading himself as the monarch of the town but has not been confirmed by the former kingmakers before the state government replaced them with warrant chiefs.
His words, "We are here to protest the government decision to impose a criminal as our Oba, we are rejecting it in totality, we are not following the Ifa pronunciation, when Ifa gives us a criminal we will reject it.
“We have made our investigation, and we found that he did not attend that University of Ibadan as claimed, and if he ever attended that university it means he did not attain that certificate.
"He worked at the Ekiti State Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH) as a physiotherapist, with a forged certificate, when they found authority of the institution found out that he was parading a questionable certificate, he went into hiding only to resurface.
“We don't want a King that the police will be running after for the forgery of NYSC certificate. If the government rejects forged certificates in the civil service, why impose such person as our oba for ever?
"We want the government of Ekiti State, through his Excellency, Biodun Oyebanji of high repute and the Deputy Governor to disqualify him.”
The protesters also marched to Ekiti state government house to register their grievances.
When contacted via telephone, Babalola denied the allegations, saying he has not submitted his certificate to the state government or anybody regarding the obaship matter.
He said the protesters were biased and trying to blackmail him because he was dully nominated by Ifa priest ahead of their candidates.
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