…they are aggrieved because they are not favoured - Olubadan spokesman
Hundreds of traders in Oyo State, under the umbrella of the Coalition of Market Groups of Oyo State, yesterday, registered their displeasure over the alleged imposition of the Babaloja-General (Male Chief Trader) of the state by the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, and vowed to resist it.
Oba Adetunji had, last month, installed Chief Yekini Abass as the Babaloja of Oyo State, a development that was met with criticisms from the traders, who insisted that installing the state Babaloja was not the responsibility of the monarch.
The five trade unions in the coalition are the Oyo State Market Men and Women, led by its chairman, Alhaji Dauda Abiodun Oladepo; Ibadan Joint Traders Association, led by Chief Odunade Kayode Danjuma; National Association of Nigerian Traders, led by Alhaji Kamorudeen Salaudeen; Progressive Tradesmen and Artisans, led by Chief Tewogbade Tobalase, and Association of Concerned General Traders.
The groups, which were all represented at a rally and press conference they held at the Iyaganku secretariat of the Oyo
Some Oyo State traders protesting yesterday at the NUJ Oyo State Secretariat against the installation of Chief Yekini Abass as the state Babaloja-General
State Council of the Nigeria Babaloja on traders in the state.” Union of Journalists, threatened Alhaji Oladepo told journalists to install their own Babaloja in all that the Olubadan had promised the major markets in the state if in a letter dated July 16, 2020 not the state government ratified the to interfere in the internal affairs “imposition” of Chief Abass as the of the traders.
Babaloja-General “on the people.” He noted that the unions were,
Leading the protest, Alhaji therefore, surprised to discover Oladepo, the Iyaloja-General “he is now imposing a BabalojaGeneral (Female Chief Trader) of Oyo State, of the state on the people Alhaja Wuraola Atanda-Daisi; rather than maintaining his stand the Southwest Coordinator of on the said issue.” the National Traders Association He declared, “We can’t of Nigeria, Chief (Mrs) Odunade accept any imposition. Our own Kayode-Danjuma, and her Babaloja is Alhaji Jimoh Akinremi. secretary, Chief Abiodun Adegoke, Appointing the Babaloja-General vowed in separate interviews to of the state has a process, which resist “any attempt to impose a must be duly followed. All traders in the state have started the process by visiting the House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Ibadan, before we heard someone has been installed.
“We are talking about the Babaloja-General of Oyo State and not Ibadanland. If the government ratifies the imposed Babaloja, we will ensure that all zones have their own BabalojaGeneral,” he said.
But reacting to the allegations, Oba Adetunji, through his spokesman, Ademola Oloke, said the protesters were aggrieved because they were not favoured by the choice of the Alhaji Abass.
Oloke said the market leadership was an extension of traditional institutions and, therefore, the Olubadan had done “the right thing by installing the right person as the BabalolaGeneral of Oyo State.”
He added that before the monarch took that step of installing Alhaji Abass as the Babaloja-General, he had visited all the other monarchs and traditional rulers in the state.
“Ask those who are protesting, including the Iyaloja-General of the state. They have their certificates from the Olubadan. That means the Olubadan installed them. Why are they now aggrieved?” the spokesman asked.