The Olu of Owode in Obafemi/Owode Local Government of Ogun State, Oba Kolawole Sowemimo has confirmed his suspension for two months without salary.
The monarch’s suspension was imposed by the Egba Traditional Council over abuse of naira notes.
Sowemimo said his suspension was announced during the traditional rulers’ meeting on Friday.
“They said the suspension was due to the way I spent money on one musician. And when I was asked if I had anything to say, I stood up and apologised for whatever I had done wrong and the suspension, which was earlier announced to be for three months without salary, was reduced to two months.
“I totally accept the verdict of the council because it is the person that we love that we chastise, so, I am good with the decision,” he said.
A viral video in early January showed the royal father decorating a popular Fuji musician, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, aka, KWAM 1, with garlands of new N1,000 notes.
The Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, chaired the Egba Traditional Council February statutory meeting where Oba Sowemimo’s suspension was announced.
The meeting, in a joint resolution adopted the suspension of the monarch, following the recommendation of its Ethics Committee which declared that during the period of his (Sowemimo) suspension, he should not parade himself as a traditional ruler.
It was further gathered that the resolution emphasized that Sowemimo should not be invited or seen at any government or public function as a traditional ruler, and for three months should not receive any payments
The Chairman of a three-member Ethics Committee of the Egba Traditional Council, Oba Saka Matemilola, who read the report of the committee, said the committee came to its decision after examining the viral video in which Sowemimo “breached the ethics of a Yoruba traditional institution” by defacing Nigeria’s currency.
The committee chairman, who is the Olowu of Owu, said findings revealed that the embattled traditional ruler was seen holding strewn naira as a bead and hanging onto the neck of a musician in public.
The chairman added that a lot of public condemnation of the act inundated the council with derisive comments on the traditional institution, stressing that the said Oba’s action is in contradiction of Section 21(1) of Central Bank Act, 2007.
The National Orientation Agency had also, last month, issued a warning to the embattled traditional ruler for abusing the naira notes during his 13th anniversary of ascension to the royal stool.
Reacting to the video in a statement signed and directed to the monarch, Director General, NOA, Lanre Issa-Onilu, said the display was an abuse of the national currency that attracts imprisonment, fines, or both.
See the video:
