Pay us 29 months’ salaries, septuagenarian, others beg Ooni

Pay us 29 months’ salaries, septuagenarian, others beg Ooni

Four ex-security guards, who claimed to have worked with the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, have lamented the non-payment of their 29 months’ salaries backlog since 2017.

A 75-year-old Kolawole Faniyi, 82-year-old Rasheed Ayankeye, 76-year-old Christopher Adeola and 70-year-old Segun Adewale, in an open letter to the Ooni by their solicitor and human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Aborisade, stated that they were engaged as security guards at the Ibadan branch of Jamasco Industries Limited, a company in which Ooni was said to be a director.

In their “Open Letter to Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi over Disobedience to the Judgment of Court in NICN/IB/35/2018,” the senior citizens lamented that all their efforts to get paid their 29 months’ salaries had proved abortive.

In the protest letter, a copy which was made available to Sunday PUNCH, the solicitor explained that, “in 2006, our clients were engaged by your company as the Ibadan Branch Security Guards of Jamasco Industries Limited, a company in which Your Royal Highness is a Director.

“Despite their dedication and hard work, the N20,000-per-month salary of Mr Kolawole Faniyi, and the-N15,000-per-month-salaries of Messrs Rasheed Ayankeye, Christopher Adeola and Segun Adewale were not paid by your company for a period of 29 months (June 2015 – November 2017).

“This is despite their ceaseless demand for the payment of their outstanding salaries, via two letters written to both Jamasco Industries Limited and your good office by our Law Firm.”

The lawyer explained his clients resorted to a court action at the National Industrial Court in Ibadan, leading to a consent judgment, in which the court ordered that the ex-security guards be paid N600, 000 each by the firm.

But, according to Aborisade, the judgment has been obeyed since 2020 when it was delivered.

When contacted, Ooni’s palace spokesperson, Moses Olafare, said the monarch used to own a quarry but handed over the company to a new management long before he ascended the throne in the year 2016.

Olafare said the new owner only retained Oba Ogunwusi’s name as a director to get patronage, adding that the royal father was not an accounting officer of the company.