Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Tuesday, promised the people of Ibadan that the process leading to the emergence of the new Olubadan will be peaceful.
He made the promise at the third day interfaith prayer service held in honour of the late Olubadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, who joined his ancestors on Sunday at the age of 93.
According to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Taiwo Adisa, the governor was represented by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Mogbonjubola Abdulmojeed, at the prayer session held at the Popoyemoja palace of the late Olubadan.
“The late Olubadan was a peace-loving father for all and, definitely, his six years reign was very wonderful to the people of Ibadan and Oyo State at large.
“So, the state government is promising that the coming of the new Olubadan will also be peaceful,” the statement quoted the governor’s representative as saying.
The prayer session was attended by the High Chiefs of Ibadanland – Osi Olubadan, Rashidi Ladoja; Otun Balogun, Olufemi Olaifa; Osi Balogun, Tajudeen Ajibola; Ekaarun Olubadan, Amidu Ajibade; Ashipa Balogun Olubadan, Lateef Gbadamosi; and Ekerin Olubadan, Abiodun Kola-Daisi.
A former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Michael Lana, on Monday asked Makinde to put the process of approving Senator Lekan Balogun as the new Olubadan on hold.
Lana said Balogun had been elevated to the position of an Oba by the last administration in the state and it would be an aberration to crown him the new Olubadan after he had been crowned as an Oba before.
He said the way out of the crisis was for Balogun to withdraw the suit he instituted in court insisting on his right to wear a crown.
But the Ekarun Olubadan of Ibadan, Hamidu Ajibade, disagreed with Lana’s position.
Ajibade had told journalists on Monday that the laid down hierarchy of ascendancy to the Olubadan throne remained sacrosanct despite the elevation of some high chiefs by the past government.
But responding to an inquiry from our correspondent the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Taiwo Adisa, said, “Today (Tuesday) is the first working day of the week. So, the offices concerned can only sight the said letter today.
“That being the case, a legal matter demands legal interpretations. I am sure the petitioner is aware of this fact and that’s why it was indicated that the said letter was also copied to the incumbent Attorney General of the state.
“I am sure the Ministry of Justice will dissect the contents and advise His Excellency accordingly.”
Efforts to get the reaction of the current Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Oyelowo Oyewo, on the matter were futile as he was yet to respond to inquiry sent to him as of the time of filing this report.
Going by traditional hierachy, Balogun who is ext in line to the departed Olubadan, is expected to ascend to the throne.
But, as indicated in Lana’s petition to Governor Makinde, a pending court case may be a clog in the wheel of the succession process.
A lawyer, Ola Adeosun, of Ola Adeosun & Co Chambers, based in Ibadan, had said that the chieftaincy declaration of 1957 puts Balogun in good stead, and that the hierarchy of the Obaship is clear.
The controversy over the Olubadan throne started when the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration implemented some changes in the 1957 Ibadan Chieftaincy Declaration.
This led to the setting up of the Akintunde Boade-led Judicial Panel on the Review of the 1957 Ibadan Chieftaincy Declaration in 2017.
The submission of the judicial panel was adopted by the Oyo State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, and culminated in the installation of 11 High Chiefs and 22 Baales, as Obas in August 2017. The potential Olubadan was one of the chiefs declared as an Oba in his locale.
Ola Adeosun has noted that there was an attempt to elevate high chiefs and Baales to the position of Oba through a gazette instituted by the Ajimobi government, which was challenged in court by Senator Rashid Ladoja, the Osi of Ibadan.
Ladoja won the case, which nullified the installation of Obas in Ibadan, nevertheless the Oyo State Government appealed the judgment of the court claiming some technicalities.
Adeosun said that by the time the appeal was going on, the Seyi Makinde government had assumed office and settled out of court with Senator Ladoja, thereby returning the Obaship back to its 1957 status and nullifying the Obaship installed by the Ajimobi administration.
He described the chieftaincy process under the Ajimobi administration as illegal, because it did not go through the Oyo State House of Assembly, but was instituted through an executive “Gazette”.
“Some of the Chiefs who were dissatisfied by the decision of Governor Seyi Makinde to settle out of court went to file another case in court since they were not a party to the earlier case between Ladoja and the Oyo State Government, all in a bid to set aside the “Terms of Settlement,” he said.
“The truth is that as far as the case is concerned, Senator Lekan Balogun is a high chief of Ibadan, not an Oba, and can become the Olubadan. Although, he and some of the chiefs have continued to parade themselves as Obas, which is a contempt of court.”
Ola Adeosun also stated that the pending case (a single case) may serve as an obstacle to the installment of Balogun, because it may challenge his selection as the new Olubadan.
He asserted that the validity of the previous Obaship installed on him, needed to be fully set aside.
He referred to the letter sent to the governor by his legal colleague, Lana, and noted that if the pending court case is in the favour of the chiefs, Senator Balogun will have to retain the Obaship he got during the Ajimobi administration, and forfeit the Olubadan title.
“A man cannot wear two crowns,” Adeosun said.
The Punch
