Olubadan chieftaincy review: Will the tussle end?

MOSES ALAO takes a look at the controversy surrounding the review of the Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration by the Oyo State government, the ensuing legal battles and options for the resolution of the tussle.

THERE appears to be no end in sight for the ongoing tussle between the Olubadan of Ibadanland, His Royal Majesty, Oba Saliu Adetunji and the Oyo State government under the leadership of Governor Abiola Ajimobi, as an Oyo State High Court, on Thursday, February 1, 2018, failed to give a judgment on a suit filed by the former challenging the legality of the review by government.

An earlier judgment given in favour of the Osi Olubadan of Ibadan, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja, who had approached the court to set aside the report of the Justice Akintunde Boade Panel of Inquiry, which reviewed the 1957 Olubadan Chieftaincy and other related cheiftaincies declaration, had nullified the review noting that the governor was not empowered to set up the panel.

Justice Olajumoke Aiki, in her judgment on January 19, 2018, had ruled that: “Sections 10,12 and 25 of the Oyo State Chiefs Law do not empower the governor to set up the committee and that wearing of beaded crown is outside Sections 10, 12 and 25 of the Oyo State Chiefs Law.”

The judge had also restrained the governor from accepting and implementing the report of the Boade panel.

Dissatisfied by the judgment, however, the state government promptly filed an appeal, claiming miscarriage of justice in a suit numbered M/317/2017, and filed by Mr Yusuf Ali (SAN) on behalf of the state government. The state government claimed that the trial judge had erred in law on various grounds on High Chief Ladoja’s suit. The seven-page suit sought three reliefs from the Court of Appeal; an order setting aside the ruling and judgment of the Oyo State High Court, and order upholding the state government’s preliminary objection raised against the 1st Respondent, High Chief Ladoja and an order dismissing his case in its entirety.

With another judgment expected on February 1, 2018 on a similar suit filed by the Olubadan against the state government, thousands of Ibadan indigenes had expected the resolution of a crisis that has begun to impugn on the highly-celebrated and time-tested integrity of the Olubadan chieftaincy declaration, which ensures that all bona fide Ibadan sons could aspire to the throne without tussle or struggle common with royal succession in other Yoruba towns. Notable Ibadan indigenes, including members of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) and other prominent organisations, who had made effort to find an amicable resolution to the face-off were expecting that somehow, the court would put a lid on the tussle. Their expectations were, however, cut short when on Thursday, the court could not give a judgment, following an application by the state government for a transfer of the suit from Justice Aiki, who it said bared her mind in a ruling on a sister case. For those in this group and according to the state government, speaking through the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Oluwaseun Abimbola, millions of other Ibadan indigenes, a quick resolution of the matter had become highly-anticipated, as they have seen the good intentions of the state government on the Olubadan chieftaincy declaration review.

According to Abimbola, in an interview with newsmen, Governor Ajimobi, as a bona fide Ibadan indigene and someone desirous of its progress and development, had instituted the review with a view to ensuring that the positions of the Olubadan and the High Chiefs as well as heads of smaller towns in Ibadanland had their pride of place in Yorubaland. Abimbola pointed out that the review had not only brought greater honour to the olubadan who was upgraded to ‘His Imperial Majesty’ while High Chiefs in the Olubadan-in-Council became crown-wearing obas in order to forestall a situation whereby elevated baales would be wearing crowns while High Chiefs who supersede them in Ibadan royal institution would remain High Chiefs. The commissioner maintained that the review had been well-intentioned, noting how baales of communities smaller than the Ibadan less cities had, in the past, been elevated as crown-wearing obas across the state and the imperative of granting the yearnings of those baales as represented in memoranda they sent to the panel of inquiry.

Contending that the governor was empowered by the Oyo State Chieftaincy Laws to set up panel of inquiry to review chieftaincy declarations, Abimbola maintained that those opposing the review appeared not to be seeing the many positive sides of the process, adding that the governor should be lauded for being bold enough to correct the historical problems that previous governments had been bypassing.

On the availability of options to resolve the crisis, the commissioner maintained that options of negotiation and settlement were still available. The questions, however, remain when the two parties will come to agreement on the matter and when, indeed, the royal rumble will end?