The former governor and Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja has finally broke silence of the confusion surrounding who becomes the next Olubadan.
There have been speculations against the eligibility of the Otun Olubadan, High Chief Lekan Balogun, who according to Ibadan traditional rotation system is the next to ascend the throne of Olubadan due to pending court cases.
The development also prompted the Olubadan-in-Council to hold world press conference in order to douse the tension in the ancient city and inform the Indigenes and residents of Ibadan of who their annointed candidate is.
on the other hand, as part of move to exonerate himself from Obaship brouhaha, Chief Ladoja has come out to shed more light on genesis of the crisis, what transpired between him and other high chiefs, how it concerned Chief Lekan Balogun and Lawyer Michael Lana and what should be done to save the situation.
For the record, here is the statement issued by the former governor and Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja on Thursday, January 6th, 2022.
“There is no controversy about it. Egbon Lekan Balogun is the most senior in our line and so he is the next in line to the throne.
“For those asking, my ‘body and mouth language’ is that Egbon Lekan is my senior and he is next in line to the Olubadan stool.
“I do not have the powers to make anybody Olubadan. In 2017, we instituted a case to challenge the needless reform that Abiola Ajimobi as governor wanted to do. Almost all of us as High Chiefs and members of the Olubadan-in-Council agreed to the filing of a suit to challenge him and we gave the task to Michael Lana.
“Lana later called me to say some of the High Chiefs told him to remove their names from the suit, leaving only my Egbon Balogun and myself. Two weeks after we started the case, Egbon Balogun said he was no longer interested in the case. I asked Lana if I could do it alone and he told me ‘yes’ and we continued.
“We won the case at the state High Court and Ajimobi appealed. In a judgment, the Appeal Court, a few days to the exit of Ajimobi from government, sent the case back to the High Court for retrial. They, Judges of the Appellate Court, said the case was brought under writ of summons instead of originating summons.
“By the time, there had been a new government headed by Seyi Makinde who said he did not want the distraction of the suit and called for out-of court settlement which we agreed to and did.
“After the terms of settlement were agreed to, the court gave a consent judgment based on the terms. But they said they were not happy and instituted two fresh cases which are still in court till today.
“So, I need people to understand that I am not causing any trouble. The cases that are in court today in respect of the Obaship tussle were instituted by Egbon Balogun and his colleagues who are still calling themselves Obas.
“It is they that the people should talk to. Let them go and withdraw the cases they instituted. I don’t like the unwarranted tension this matter is generating.”
