Inauguration of Olubadan as chairman of Oyo Traditional Council: Who is lying?

Image caption: From left: Governor Seyi Makinde, Soun of Ogbomosoland Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye and the Olubadan of Ibadanland and chairman of Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja

Inauguration of Olubadan as chairman of Oyo Traditional Council: Who is lying?

Alaafin Owoade

Ben GEORGE

History was made Thursday in Ibadan capital of Oyo state as the Olubadan of Ibadanland His Imperial Majesty Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja Arusa l was inaugurated the chairman of the Traditional Council of Obas and Chiefs in the state.

The pronouncement made by the governor of the state Engr Seyi Makinde implied the Olubadan would be the first among equals for the next two years as far as the three most prominent traditional rulers in the state is concerned i.e. the Olubadan, the Alaafin and the Soun is concerned. The three according to a recent amendment by the Oyo State House of Assembly assented to by Governor Makinde are to rotate the chairmanship position on two-year tenure. Thus, after Olubadan, the Alaafin and then the Soun would take the exalted position.

Pronouncing Olubadan as the chairman Thursday Engr Seyi Makinde disclosed it was a consensus agreement among the three leading Obas that the Olubadan take the first shot. He asserted he consulted the trio and that the choice of Olubadan was unanimously agreed upon.

“I consulted the Alaafin of Oyo; the Olubadan of Ibadanland and the Soun of Ogbomoso. And the agreement we reached is that they will start the rotation with the Kabiyesi Olubadan of Ibadanland. So, on that basis, I hereby pronounce the Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs inaugurated.”

The creation of Olubadan as chairman of the body obviously doesn’t sit well with the Alaafin as he was conspicuously absent at the ceremony.

To show his anger he had come out to audaciously puncture the declaration of the governor that he was consulted on the matter saying he participated in no such meeting.

His statement, contained in a press release issued by his Director of Media and Publicity, Bode Durojaiye, notes, “The attention of the Alaafin’s Palace has been drawn to a statement credited to His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde that he consulted with the three traditional rulers in the State, the Alaafin, the Olubadan and the Soun of Ogbomoso on the rotational Chairmanship of the State Council of Obas and Chiefs.

“The Palace hereby wants to state clearly that there was no time that His Imperial Majesty, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Engineer Abimbola Akeem Owoade 1, held any meeting with either the State Governor or any of the two traditional rulers mentioned above.

“Also the Alaafin did not tell the Governor or make a categorical statement on his endorsement of rotational Chairmanship among the the three traditional rulers in the State.”

Rubbing in the allegation of lie against the state’s helmsman Oba Owoade further submitted that rather than what the governor spouted, his position is contained in a memo earlier sent. “The position of the Alaafin and the Entire Oyo Community on the general issue of the, State, Council of Obas, and Chiefs has been enunciated in a Memo delivered to His Excellency by the Oyo Council of Elders.”

Now, who is saying the truth between these two authorities – one, the governor, the other, addressing himself as the “Superior Head of Yorubaland.”