Obaship: Ladoja hasn’t officially rejected his crown —Oyo govt

Sequel to varied comments that have greeted the recent coronation of 21 kings of Ibadan, the Oyo State government has said that the Osi Olubadan, Senator Rashidi Ladoja has not officially rejected his crown.

Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Mr Bimbo Kolade, and his Information, Culture and Tourism counterpart, Mr Toye Arulogun, jointly echoed this while addressing journalists at State Secretariat, Ibadan, on Wednesday.

Kolade pointed out that Ladoja had not officially rejected the crown, hence the state government awaited him to pick it.

“I have not seen the Osi Olubadan reject the crown. There is no letter written to the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters where he rejected the crown. He has only said he is not available. We are still expecting his availability to pick his crown. Whenever he is available, he will pick up his crown.”

Both commissioners said there remains a father-son cordiality between Governor Abiola Ajimobi and the Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Saliu Adetunji.

Expressing respect for the wisdom and personality of the Olubadan, they noted that some statements ascribed to the Olubadan were only driven by some with political interests.

Speaking, Kolade said, “From the speech of the governor at Sunday’s coronation, he maintained that the Olubadan remained his father. There is that cordiality of father to son between the Olubadan and the governor. There is no problem between them officially.”

In the same vein, Arulogun said, “Left to the Olubadan, I don’t think there are issues. Hand of Esau, hand of Jacob is what is happening. What you sometimes see is not the Olubadan, the imperial majesty of Ibadan. Olubadan cannot speak the way the media aide has been speaking. We know there is also some serious political undertone to some of these issues.”

On questions about whether the Baales elevated to kingly status had become superior to Mogajis (family warlords), Kolade said the promoted Baales remained in the villages while the Mogajis were in the city.

He are that no one could be both Mogaji and Baale.

“Mogaji remains head of the family in the city and still have all their rights. Once you are entitled to Mogaji, you are entitled to joining the Olubadan line but the Baale terminates at level of being head of his village head. If you prefer to be Oba in your village, you can’t combine that with being Mogaji in the city.”

Similarly, he noted that the state government had reduced by 25 percent over 1,000 Obaship tussle cases.