The prevalent inter-clan disputes between Otta and Egba indigenes over land and chieftaincy matters in the corridor of Ado-Odo Otta local government area of Ogun state would shortly become a thing of the past if the mediation by Oba Professor Saka Adelola Matemilola, Olowu of Owu, Abeokuta and Olota of Otta, Oba Professor Adeyemi Obalanlege succeeds.
Both traditional rulers had engaged in series of interactions overtime to create a pathfinder for sustainable peaceful solutions to the endemic crisis.
Blueprint learnt that, penultimate weekend, the two traditional rulers, accompanied by their surrogate Obas and Chiefs held a village square meeting in Iju town, with Oba Iju, nonagenarian Olufemi Sodeinde on seat, to find a lasting solution to the constant breaches of peace in the domain over land and chieftaincy titles.
A persistent controversy on whether Iju town should be called Iju Gbaalefa or Iju Otta has remained a recurring decimal, turning the interlining city between Otta and Owode on Idiroko road into a red flag zone.
Anecdotal narratives constantly recall that Iju town was a war camp of the Owu militia in the Egba allied forces that routed the marauding Dahomey soldiers into Abeokuta and environs in the 15th century.
Iju, according to the archival narratives, is a Yoruba name for “uninhabited thick forest” where Akindele Gbaalefa, the leader of the Owu militia, representing the Egba allied forces, settled to strategise for the prosecution of the war against the interlopers.
But in response to an SOS call by Ado Odo to the British authority to save the domain from Egba routing forces the British evangelist in Abeokuta, Henry Townsend, was reportedly dispatched to mediate and secure peace in the corridor.
Townsend’s intervention, as recorded, resulted in the delineation of Iju and several other villages outside Otta, spreading to Oke Ore, named it Gbaalefa peninsula and ceded it to Egba as ‘spoil of war’ which has remained so since the 15th century. The current Oba of Iju is a direct great grandson of Akindele Gbaalefa.
Both Olowu and Olota pleaded with the audience which comprised of Baales from several villages, traders and their chiefs and members of community development associations (CDAs) in the corridor, to remain patient and give peace a chance.
They explained that some key people in the community of both Egba and Awori, have been called into a committee to deliberate on all contending issues with a view to proffering solutions.
