The rift is now a long-standing one. The Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, and the Ibadan paramount ruler, the Olubadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, may no longer see face-to-face, at least until a peacemaker comes to town.
The tiff between the governor and the monarch, observers said, apparently came to a head last week with the visit of the Oyo governor to Aso Rock, the seat of power in Abuja, where he conferred with President Muhammadu Buhari. According to own account to the media after the visit, Ajimobi said he briefed Buhari on the Oyo situation, particularly the raging disagreement between him and the Olubadan.
And truly, there was a cold war between the two, which sooner degenerated into a war of words. In August this year, Ajimobi had stirred the hornet’s nest by altering age-long Ibadan tradition. He upgraded 21 high chiefs (Mogajis) and Baales (village heads), respectively, to the position of Oba; that is, full-fledged monarchs. The Olubadan, under the new arrangement, would only now have a little edge over title holders, who used to be his subordinates. He is now only their senior by mere courtesies. While the Ibadan paramount ruler would be addressed as ‘His Imperial Majesty’, his senior chiefs promoted as Oba would go with the deference of ‘His Royal Majesty’, and Baales, as ‘Your Royal Highness’.
Governor Ajimobi, a bona fide indigene of Ibadan, according to critics, had stood tradition on the head with the sole installation of kings in Ibadan. It is the lore of the palace in Yorubaland that only one monarch can exist, whereas you can have as many chiefs as can be permitted, the critics contended.
All the senior chiefs, who once deferred to the palace of the Olubadan and gave reports to the Oba on affairs in their various domains, have now been made monarchs too, and may, as such, choose to isolate the Olubadan palace.
Again, the succession streak to the throne of the Olubadan, which is hardly disputed based on its unique line-up method, is now prone to alterations, as under the governor’s new chieftaincy law, all the senior chiefs ,who had gained promotion as Oba, are equal.
However, the governor had defended his action, saying it was actually meant to elevate and consolidate the traditional institution of Ibadan.
“I wish to state categorically that we are not changing history, we are not changing tradition, and we are not changing the culture of Ibadan land. Rather, we are elevating and consolidating our traditional institution, the exalted position of the Olubadan of Ibadan as the Imperial Majesty in Ibadanland, the Olubadan-in-Council and the chieftaincy institution, without tinkering with the traditional succession and ascendancy system of the Olubadan chieftaincy structure,” he explained.
But despite his explanation, the Olubadan was unimpressed. Apart from boycotting the ceremony for the installation of the 21 new Ibadan kings, he had cleverly avoided state functions that had Governor Ajimobi in attendance. Above all, a distraught Olubadan raced to court, to reverse the governor’s action.
Also unhappy with Ajimobi is a former governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Rasheed Ladoja, who is a Mogaji and who, ideally, should have benefitted from the governor’s upgrade; but Ladoja scoffed at the governor’s offer, rejecting and condemning it in totality.
To worsen the animosity, a few weeks after the hot disagreement between the Ibadan Palace and Agodi Government House, some hoodlums invaded the Olubadan’s palace, in what was believed to be a sponsored attack. Though the state governor denied any involvement in the attack, not a few persons from the Olubadan camp sneered, saying it was clear that the sudden death of an otherwise bubbly baby could not be divorced from the previous day’s shriek of the village witch.
Meanwhile, the situation had earlier been worsened by what was considered as disparaging statements reportedly made on the Ibadan Queen, the Olubadan’s wife, by Ajimobi, during a local TV programme. Reports had quoted the governor as saying that the Olubadan’s wife once ran errands for him, when she was more of a middle-woman between him and his ‘girlfriend’.
Following this, the streets of Ibadan soon became abuzz with the rumour that the Olubadan would only count days, as the governor had perfected a plot to dethrone him.
But last week, during a media chat after his visit to Buhari in Aso Rock, Ajimobi put a lie to the festering rumour, that he was set to depose the Olubadan. He explained his mission to Buhari thus: “You will remember that Oyo State has been in the news because of the issue of the Olubadan chieftaincy declaration. So, I came to let him know that the Olubadan is my father. He is a younger brother to my own father and we have had a very long relationship, which has been father-son relationship. I assured him that, come rain, come shine, I will never depose the Olubadan because he is a father and a son does not depose his father.
“Even though he has done so many things that could be used to remove him, I will never remove him. We have to continue to show respect. I also made him to realise that that particular chieftaincy declaration is being politicised. Politicians have hijacked it. Out of 11 council members, two of them are dead now and we have only nine remaining. It is only one that is not supporting it; and that one that is not supporting it is a politician. He wants to run after I leave office.”
Ajimobi added that he came to update the President on the progress report of Oyo State and on the infrastructure requirement of
the state.
Really, the last has not been heard on the Ajimobi-Olubadan saga, at least going by the rankling comments among Ibadan stakeholders, following the governor’s visit to
Buhari.
