The Anikilaya dynasty’s Adeyemi ruling family has criticised their exclusion from the Anikilaya ruling house, which is one of the governing houses that produces candidates for the position of Awujale of Ijebuland in Ogun State’s Ijebu Ode district.
Remember how the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, joined his forefathers last month as a product of the Anikilaya reigning house?
In a statement signed by Adedeji Ademola Adeyemi and made public to reporters on Sunday, the family claimed that some members of the Anikilaya ruling house purposefully misrepresented history by eliminating the Adeyemis’ name from the family tree.
According to Adeyemi, the late Oba Anikilaya Saagun had two sons, Ogbagba and Ademolu, and Adeyemi Anikilaya was his eldest crown prince.
Following the death of Oba Daniel Adesanya, Gbelegbuwa the II, in 1959, Prince Ademola Aiyegbajeje Adeyemi was chosen to take the throne of Awujale, but he turned down the offer, he said.
The late Oba SK Adetona’s father, Prince Mubashiru Adedipupo Adeyemi, his immediate brother, disputed and supported his son, Sikiru Kayode Adetona, of the Adeyemi Anikilaya line, who was crowned Awujale in 1960 after receiving the kingmakers’ blessings.
A claim by some family members who refused to acknowledge the Adeyemis as the eldest son but mistakenly assigned the headship to the second-born and added two non-family members to the royal family genealogy was denied, according to the Adeyemi reigning house.
In order to correct the record, he clarified that “Mabadeje, Adekoya Ofirigidi, and Adeire Adeewu were not recognised as the children of the late Oba Anikilaya Saagun Figbajoye, who ruled in 1821.”
According to the Adeyemi reigning house, they are still descended from Adeyemi Anikilaya, the late Oba Anikilaya Saagun Figbajoye’s eldest son, who lived till 1821 in Awujale, Ijebu Ode.
As a result, the family begs the public to ignore the fictitious and insignificant submissions made by a few misguided family members that have been published in the media.
