The reconstituted Committee on Land Matters and Chieftaincy Affairs set up by the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Adesuyi Hastrup, has called on aggrieved residents of the six local government areas in Ijesaland to embrace Alternative Dispute Resolution in settling disputes relating to land ownership and chieftaincy.
The Secretary to the eight-member committee, Prof. Kolawole Kazeem, disclosed this while speaking at the maiden sitting of the panel in Ilesa, Osun State, on Thursday.
Kazeem, who spoke on behalf of the committee chairman, Pa Ebenezer Adefalu, said the panel would also collaborate with the Osun State Boundary Commission in handling complaints from communities in Ijesaland located along boundaries with other states.
Other members of the committee at the sitting were Oba Peter Adebamigbe, Rev. Abiodun Osungbohun, Prof. Olu Obi, Yemisi Ariyibi and Chief Daramola Daisi.
“We want people to embrace this Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism. We will ensure that cases on land and chieftaincy already in court from all six local government areas in Ijesaland are sorted out peacefully,” Kazeem said.
“We should settle things amicably among ourselves without escalating them or making them serious matters. If you go to Osogbo, more than 70 per cent of cases on chieftaincy disputes come from Ijesaland. So this committee has the mandate to make sure that we reduce cases of chieftaincy disputes. We are not the final authority. We are playing an advisory role, and we are going to do our best,” he added.
On the committee’s readiness to partner with the Osun State Government through the Boundary Commission, Kazeem said the panel would present petitions received from towns and villages in the six local government areas of Obokun, Oriade, Ilesa East, Ilesa West, Atakumosa East and Atakumosa West to the commission and liaise with the agency to ensure fast-track resolution of complaints from boundary communities.
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