A former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State, Michael Lana, has said that only High Chiefs of Ibadanland can nominate new Olubadan, and not any Obas in Ibadanland....READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE ▶▶
The Ibadan indigene and gubernatorial candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the March 2023 election in Oyo state, made the clarification yesterday against last Tuesday’s decision of the eight Ibadan Obas to shun the Olubadan-in-Council meeting convened by High Chief Rasidi Ladoja, the most senior and Otun Olubadan of Ibadanland.
They had argued that they were bigger than Ladoja because the former governor is a High Chief and not an Oba like they are.
When the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi in 2017, elevated and crowned the 10 High Chiefs (Kingmakers), including the late Oba Lekan Balogun, the former Oyo State governor, Ladoja, rejected the offer and refused to be crowned as Oba.
According to him, the age-long tradition of Ibadan allows only an Oba and that is the Olubadan. He frowned at a situation where one will be a High Chief and still be crowned as Oba.
Because Ladoja went to court against the decision and refused to associate with his co-High Chiefs, the meeting he called to ratify the nomination of the 43rd Olubadan, Oba Owolabi Olakulehin at the Mapo Palace was shunned by the Obas, who claimed that they could not sit with a High Chief or allow him to lead them.
Reacting to the development, Lana said: “In law, we view the capacity in which a thing is to be done. A person usually has multiple capacities with each capacity controlled by different laws. In this case, the High Chiefs qua high chiefs have a role different from the high chiefs qua Obas. The elevated Obas are in dujal capacity; one as Oba and the other as High Chief.
“As Obas, they cannot nominate a person for the stool of Olubadan; they can only do so as High Chiefs. In the latter capacity, their most senior chief is Chief Ladoja, who is also the only person that can validly call a meeting for the purpose of nominating the candidate for the Olubadan stool. I think the elevated Obas should note this difference in their capacities.
“This is part of the problem I knew would happen ab initio. Let me break it down: In the process of nomination of a candidate to fill a chieftaincy, the first document you look at is the Chieftaincy Declaration pertaining to that Chieftaincy. In elevating the chiefs to Obas, their Chieftaincy Declarations were not amended. Under the defunct White Paper of Ajimobi, it was stated that the Obas would be chiefs under the Olubadan.
“Under the Declaration, the following are the Kingmakers: (a) Otun Olubadan, (b) Osi Olubadan, (c) Ashipa Olubadan, (d) Ekerin Olubadan, (e) Iyalode (f) The Balogun, (g) Otun Balogun (h) Osi Balogun, (I)Ashipa Balogun, (j) Ekerin Balogun and Seriki(which is no more).
and number of the population that are unable to afford a healthy diet,” the report said.
