A resident of Idimu, Lagos State, Alhaji Shamsideen Alade, has given the state government 30 days to remove the Oba of Isheri Olofin and declare the kingdom illegal.
He said the kingdom, created by the state government in 1984, had no history in Idimu area as it was never one of the 500 villages in Ikeja District in the last 500 years.
Besides, Alade said in a letter to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, that no such town as Isheri Olofin ever existed in the composite map of communities in Idimu area drawn by late Herbert Macaulay in December, 1919.
Similarly, he contended that Isheri Olofin was never recorded among the 202 settlement communities inherited from the defunct Western Region by virtue of Decree 14 of 1967, which created Lagos State.
A copy of the letter dated March 5, 2018 and signed by Mr Bola Aide, counsel to Alade, was made available to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
In the letter, Alade also stated that it was only Isheri-Idimu that was recorded as one of the 20 “customary tenant’s’’ of Idimu village, and was duly paying rent to the community.
He said Wahab Balogun, the Oba of the non-existent Isheri-Olofin, had openly declared that he was from Orile Agege, adding that the non-existence of Isheri-Olofin was evident in the government’s Intelligence Report No. 29939 of 1935.
Alade said Isheri-Olofin kingdom was an “illegal political creation against all historical and documentary evidences’’.
He said the illegal creation had given rise to unconstitutional and illegal arrogation of authority by Balogun to forcefully and unlawfully acquire people’s land in Idimu and displace many families.
According to him, by his action, Balogun has put the lives and property of over 650,000 inhabitants of Idimu in jeopardy.
Alade, therefore, urged the state government to quickly address the issue by declaring Isheri-Olofin non-existent and remove the Oba, saying he would drag the government to court if it failed to act within 30 days.
“No such village ever existed in the history of Idimu or the entire 500 villages that made up Ikeja District preceding your illegal and non-ancestral but political creation,” Alade stated.
