Ibadan to have 32 Obas as Olubadan Retains Paramount Rulership

Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, may next month have a 32 beaded crownwearing Obas, while the Olubadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, will maintain his status as the paramount ruler of the ancient city if the recommendation of a Commission on the issue is implemented.

The highpoint of the recommendations by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry for the review of the existing 1957 Declaration of Olubadan of Ibadanland and other related chieftaincies in Ibadanland, set up by the Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi is that more Obas stools be created.

To reduce the lengthy years it takes a potential Olubadan to get to the pinnacle of the two chieftaincy lines producing the Olubadan on rotational basis, the panel has also recommended the reduction of the rungs from the existing 22 to 11 on the Otun line, while the Balogun line was reduced to 12 from 23.

The implication being that the Ikolaba chieftaincy will now become the entry point for a potential high chief, instead of Jagun chieftaincy as currently stands, if the recommendations sail through.

These were highlights of the report presented to the governor by the Chairman of the Commission, Justice Akintunde Boade (retd) at the Governor’s Office, Ibadan, on Friday.

The presentation of the report by the 11-member commission was witnessed by members of the Olubadan-in-Council, led by the Otun Olubadan, High Chief Lekan Balogun and Balogun of Ibadanland, High Chief Owolabi Olakulehin.

Others included members of Ibadan Council of Elders, representatives of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), all the local government chairmen from Ibadanland and other eminent personalities of Ibadan extraction.

Receiving the report, the governor said no effort would be spared to ensure that the recommendations were implemented as early as next month.

Ajimobi said that his administration’s resolve to carry out a comprehensive review of the Olubadan chieftaincy was in response to the requests by the Olubadan-in-Council, Ibadan elders, members of CCII and others.

Insisting that the exercise was not new, the governor recalled that previous administrations had reviewed the chieftaincy declaration, but could not muster the political will to implement their respective reports.

He said that review was necessary in order to enhance the status of the Olubadan, to be in line with what obtained in other states in Yorubaland as well as to conform to the modern trend in culture and tradition.

The governor said that he was not unmindful of the pockets of opposition to the move, noting that he was not bothered as long as those in support were overwhelmingly in the majority.