Ibadan Indigenes Back Newly Crown Obas as Ladoja Says He remains Olubadan-in-Waiting, If...

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Ninety percent of Ibadan indigenes at home and in the Diaspora are in support of last Sunday's mass coronation of Ibadan high chiefs and some Baales (village heads) to their new-beaded crown wearing status by Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) has said on Tuesday.

Criticism has continued to trail last Sunday's traditional exercise, as Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, did not only dissociate himself from the elevation of the chiefs but had also staged a roadshow last Monday around Ibadan metropolis to display to Ibadan indigenes and residents alike that he remains the "only consenting authority on Ibadan chieftaincy system."

But addressing a press conference on the perceived misgivings over the crowning of the new Obas in the city, the CCII President General, Chief Yemi Soladoye, said there is a history of chieftaincy reforms dating back to the 19th century in the city, noting that the flawless succession system in Ibadan was the result of several reviews.

According to Soladoye, high chiefs, who have been elevated to the position of kings in Ibadan have always been accorded the status of second class kings by the state government. He stated that the new kings had no domain, meaning that Ibadanland remains under the Olubadan authority.

He said: “The CCII wishes to confirm that the change that has just taken place was desired, initiated, supported, applauded and appreciated by the generality of Ibadan indigenes worldwide.

“Constant changes and reviews are in fact the ingredients that have sustained our well-organised and rancour free ascension to the throne of Olubadan of Ibadanland in almost 200 years of our existence. During the time of Lagelu, our progenitor, up to the perishing of the second Ibadan, we were using various titles including Olubadan and since the emergence of this third Ibadan around 1820, tittles like Basorun, Balogun, Aare have been used to describe our leaders.

“Nobody has created any new ruling house (with the new system). The former high chiefs can now physically carry the authority of the Olubadan for development in their communities and create flamboyancy around the Kabiyesi at public functions. The new kings are not kings of anywhere as they are still on the queue to become Olubadan and the imperial power over the entire Ibadan land still resides with the Olubadan of Ibadan land.”

Soladoye explained that the Baales that were elevated to king status were from satellite towns that were subdued by the Ibadan warriors many years ago, adding that it was not an attempt to divide Ibadan into several parts.
“The fact of the case is that satellite towns like Ijaiye-Orile, Erunmu, Lalupon had in fact existed before the present Ibadan but having defeated them in wars, so we demoted their kings and annexed them to Ibadan. The new arrangement is a manifestation of the usual magnanimity and hospitality of Ibadan people but they wear the coronet from the Olubadan and not their ancestral crowns in the new dispensation. Some of the crowns are also granted to protect our border towns,” the CCII boss noted.
In the same vein, one of the newly promoted Obas and former Governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has said the state government has shown beyond reasonable doubt that he is the prime target of the review of Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration by asking him to either “join in the mockery of obaship and agree to be made a government-appointed oba” or forfeit his right to the throne.


Ladoja, who spoke through his media aide, Alhaji Lanre Latinwo, said he remained the Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland and would neither agree to be a government-appointed oba with no domain, chiefs and subjects nor “support attempt at desecrating the Olubadan throne.”

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