The Otun-Olubadan of Ibadanland, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja, said on Wednesday in Ibadan that he was only interested in wearing the Olubadan crown.
After Eid prayers, Ladoja informed reporters at his home that Olubadan had always been his goal and that he would not be wearing any other throne.
It was widely believed that beginning on July 7, the Ibadan high chiefs will be crowned as kings and wear beaded crowns.
Following an out-of-court settlement, a few high chiefs who were anointed under the late Abiola Ajimobi’s government had to give up their crowns.
Oba Lekan Balogun’s accession to the throne of the Olubadan was made possible by this.
Ladoja claimed that the high chiefs were now requesting permission to re-wear their ceded crowns, according to information at his disposal.
It is unlawful for any Ibadan high chief to believe that he may restart wearing a beaded crown that has already been ceded, according to Ladoja, a former governor of Oyo State.
If the high chiefs had refused to abdicate their thrones and dropped their legal challenge, according to him, there would not have been a new Olubadan of Ibadan at this point.
“I joined the Olubadan line on Oct. 1, 1993. I joined as ‘Jagun Olubadan’ and my target was to become Olubadan. I did not expect that I was going to wear any beaded crown on the way.
“If I wanted to do that, I would have become the ‘Baale’ of my village and I will be called ‘Baale’. Our role as high chiefs is to advise and support the Olubadan, not to wear crown with him,” Ladoja said.
The former governor said he as an individual was not interested in any other crown apart from that of Olubadan of Ibadanland, adding “only God chooses kings in Ibadan”.
Ladoja expressed dismay at the fact that some high chiefs want to short-circuit the system, saying such was alien to the Ibadan tradition.
He said that it was not fair or right to have high chiefs as kings, adding there was no need to mend what was not broken.
“I told them the story of Aliiwo. When Aliiwo was coming from Iwo, he passed through Lagun village where he left his followers to stay with other warriors in Ibadan.
“If he had wanted to become Onilagun of Lagun, he would have done so. But people who started Ibadan said that they want to rule themselves. They want to rule the villages from the town,” the Otun-Olubadan said.
The former governor added that he would however not go to court on the matter, saying there was no issue in the agitation of the high chiefs.
Ladoja said that any Ibadan indigene can go to court over such issues since every bonafide Ibadan man is a potential king.
Text except headline courtesy of Theleaad.ng
