The crisis rocking the Oloja stool in Lagos Island has resurfaced again after Prince Tiamiyu Abiola Olojo became the Oloja-elect. The stool became vacant after the death of Chief Bola Ige in 2017 and it was left vacant for three years because of a lawsuit over who would become the next king. The Chief Executive Officer of Zoo and Gardens was elected to take over the stool in 2020. He got a total of nine votes while other candidates got no vote.
However, after his name was announced, some members of the Kosoko clan rose against his emergence as the Oloja-elect. Nollywood actor, Jide Kosoko was one of the delegates who headed the peace keeping committee to resolve the leadership tussle but unfortunately, his efforts and that of the committee went down the drain as some faction still insisted, they are the one to produce the next king. The warring faction of the Kosoko clan insisted that it wasn’t the turn of Tiamiyu to take over the vacant stool as it belongs to the Akinsanya ruling house, the first ruling house to present a candidate according to the registered chieftaincy declaration of 1983.
A press release was circulated on behalf of the Kosoko family and Lagos Island residents were instructed to wait for the state government’s intervention in the kingship tussle. The letter also called for the ratification of the registered chieftaincy declaration, adding that the declaration that produced Tiamiyu should be questioned as it was not the right declaration to follow.
The leader of the Kosoko clan, Chief Mutiat Abimbola Alli-Balogun had to step in by issuing another release on behalf of the Kosoko family where she denied that the family ever issued the first press release and insisted the king makers chose Tiamiyu according to the registered declaration of chieftaincy title. She also added that the public should shun the first press release as it is from the people who are hell bent on disrupting the peace of Lagos Island.
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