Five Years After Olufon’s Tragic Murder, Ifon Youths Demand Urgent Selection of New Monarch

Five Years After Olufon’s Tragic Murder, Ifon Youths Demand Urgent Selection of New Monarch

……Calls on Ondo Government to End Prolonged Leadership Vacuum……

The Ifon Development Youths Forum has issued a heartfelt and strongly worded press statement to commemorate the fifth year remembrance of the late Olufon of Ifon, Oba Israel Adegoke Adeusi I (JP), who was tragically killed on November 26, 2020.

Speaking before community leaders, security agencies, and members of the press, the Forum reflected on the painful loss that has left the Ifon community without a monarch and deepened its socio-economic challenges.

The statement also renewed calls to the Ondo State Government to expedite the lawful and transparent selection of a new Olufon to restore stability, leadership, and hope to the town.

Full statement reads:

A PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE IFON DEVELOPMENT YOUTHS FORUM ON WEDNESDAY, 26TH OF NOVEMBER, 2025, IN COMMEMORATION OF THE FIFTH YEAR REMEMBRANCE OF THE LATE OLUFON OF IFON, OBA ISRAEL ADEGOKE ADEUSI 1 ( JP).

The Ifon Council of Chiefs,
Representatives of the Ifon Development Union, Ifon Improvement Forum, Ifon Community Development Association and the Ifon Community Development Committee here present,
Security agencies here present,
Gentlemen of the Press,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It would be recalled that on the 26th of November, 2020, the late Olufon of Ifon, Oba Israel Adegoke Adeusi was attacked by some unknown gunmen at Elegbeka village while he was returning home on that fateful day from a meeting that was held in Akure.

The unfortunate development led to the sudden and shocking demise of Oba Israel Adegoke Adeusi and our community has not been able to recover from that shock till this present day.

Upon the completion of the funeral rites of the departed monarch in line with the Ifon customs and tradition, High Chief Joseph Ajayi Ayaye was appointed as regent by the Ondo State Government preparatory to the selection of a new Olufon as nature abhors vacuum.

However, the regent was later suspended from office and when efforts were in top gear to get him reinstated, he passed on.

Since the demise of the Olufon of Ifon and the appointed regent, Ifon town has been in a rudderless state since then without any rallying point.

We never thought of it that the selection of a new Olufon of Ifon will suffer this type of dangerous delay, considering the circumstances that led to the sudden demise of Oba Israel Adegoke Adeusi and the cosmopolitan nature of Ifon town, being the headquarters of Ose local government and the most populous community in the local government area.

We are not also unaware of some actions that have been instituted in Court by some aggrieved parties in relation to the Olufon chieftaincy and such is not unexpected and not also peculiar to Ifon town.

To the best of our knowledge, neither the Ifon kingmakers, nor the Ondo State Government had been restrained by any competent court of law from proceeding with the selection of a new Olufon.

The Ifon customary, Chief Magistrate and High Courts no longer sit at Ifon. All civil and criminal cases from Ifon jurisdiction are now being attended to at Owo and litigants from our area are now being forced to travel outside the local government to attend to their cases at Owo.

The only commercial bank in Ifon had been out of operation since 2017 due to security challenges, while our farmers no longer have free access to their farms due to the dangerous activities of kidnappers that have hidden themselves in the government forest reserves in our area to terrorize and kidnap our helpless farmers.

For close to six year now, residents of Ifon town have been relying on solar-powered lights and their generators to run their homes and businesses as there is no electricity supply to Ifon town by the BEDC.

In the face of these pressing challenges and miserable situation that we have now found ourselves in Ifon town, we strongly appeal to the Ondo State Governor, Hon. Dr Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa to approve of the selection of a new Olufon in accordance with the provisions of the Olufon chieftaincy declaration and in a manner that will not only be very fair, transparent, lawful and just, but also seen as such and acceptable to the majority of the people of Ifon town.

Ifon, the seat of the colonial masters and the then headquarters of the old Ifon division consisting of Owo, the whole of Akoko towns and the Kurukurus in the present Edo State between 1903 to 1925, deserves government’s attention to address our enormous challenges and the time is now!

Thank you all and God bless.

Prince Ajisola David Aragbaye

President, Ifon Development Youths Forum