The media office of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, yesterday condemned the Yoruba Muslims for Freedom (YMF) call for the arrest and prosecution of the monarch for imposing curfew as part of his ascension rites.

CAddressing a news conference on Saturday, spokesman for the group Lateef Akinwale said: “A curfew is within the power of a civil government; it is not within the power of any traditional ruler. Only the President or the governor can declare a curfew.”

He added: “Alaafin is not a sovereign ruler of the land; he is a traditional figure who holds no legal or constitutional authority to declare such sweeping restrictions on the people.”

The group asked the Department of State Security (DSS) to arrest and prosecute the Alaafin for creating a state inside a state over the curfew.

However, in a statement, spokesman for the monarch Bode Durojaiye said the call for Oba Owoade was “malicious, tendentious, unfounded and a calculated attempt to inflame tension capable of causing religious disharmony”.

He said: “If not for mischief making, the Muslim community group must be oblivious about Oyo traditional monarchical system, hence the need to properly educate and inform the group to discontinue defecating the media with misinformation.

“It is customary in the Oyo traditional monarchical system that during the period of Oro Ipebi (mandatory traditional rites), restriction of movement must be enforced, hence the imposition of the curfew.

“The curfew which was initially imposed between the hours of 8pm and 6pm, was adjusted to hours of 10pm and 6am on the orders of the Alaafin.”