Iyaloja crisis: Stakeholders, board of trustees suspend president indefinitely

THE ongoing crisis over the alleged suspension of Iyaloja of Ibadanland, Mrs Labake Lawal, took another dimension, on Tuesday, as the major stakeholders of the Ibadan Joint Traders Association suspended indefinitely the president of the association, Mr Dauda Oladepo.

The decision was reached through a declaration by the only surviving member of the Board of Trustees of the association, Alhaji Waheed Apanpa, in a meeting held at the association’s house, Labaowo market, Ibadan.

Alhaji Apanpa, while addressing journalists, described Mr Oladepo’s purported removal of Chief Labake as the Iyaloja of Ibadanland as an “aberration and an insult to the institution of the Olubadan-in-Council and the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji.”

The stakeholders included representatives of Iyalojas and Babalojas of various markets in Ibadanland.

Those present at the meeting included Iyalaje of Dugbe, Mrs V.O. Coker; Iyalaje of Labaowo Ogunpa and Osi Iyaloja of Ibadanland, Mrs Felicia Owoeye; Iyalode Felele, Mrs Iyabode Olufunke Coker; Iyalaje of Scout Camp, Challenge Market, Alhaja Zainab Adeleke; Babaloja of Adegoke Adelabu Market, Mr Olusegun Michael Akinropo; Babalaje of Gate, Alhaji AbdulaRahman Oloyede Sadiq; Inaolaji Nurudeen Lawal of Ogunpa market, among others.

Alhaji Apanpa disclosed that he is the only surviving member of the three recognised members of the Board of Trustees.

He said the stakeholders were not carried along in the “illegal and secret meeting” where the Iyaloja was alleged to have been removed.

Apanpa, who maintained that the stakeholders decided to let the world know the truth behind Oladepo’s mission, said “the Mr Dauda Oladepo group, who went about to announce the removal of Mrs Lawal  as the Iyaloja of Ibadan, is an aberration, an abomination of the highest order and a nullity indeed.

When contacted, Mr Oladepo debunked the alleged suspension, describing it as illegal.

He said: “I am still the legal president under the constitution of our association. And to confirm this, I am speaking with you at the secretariat of our association. So, where did the suspension takes place?”