KOLADE: WE CONSULTED STAKEHOLDERS BEFORE APPOINTING OBAS

have to pick one or the other.

In all the 22 villages where the traditional rulers have been promoted, the unique thing is that all the Baales there do not have Mogajis in the city; and in all the villages that have Baales and equally have Mogajis in the city, none of them was promoted to a coronet wearing Oba. So, it is only the Baales who are within the villages that have been allowed to wear crowns, and they are not on the direct ascendancy line to the Olubadan.

This is important for us to note and its even part of the gazette that the government released, showing that anyone who is a Baale in the village cannot hold the title of a Mogaji in the city at the same time. So, you are either one or the other, not both.

The other good thing is that the ascendancy line to the Olubadan stool has now been reduced from 22 levels on the Otun Olubadan line to 11, and from 23 on the Balogun line to 12. The government believes that the reduction of the ladder will help people become Olubadan at relatively younger ages; and with this, we are not immediately saying that those who are presently on the line now are going to be withdrawn automatically. What the gazette has proposed is that there will no longer be promotions to the Jagun Olubadan and Jagun Balogun of Ibadan land positions. All promotions to join the line will be pegged until the present Jagun on the two sides become Ikolaba of Ibadan land, as either Ikolaba on the Otun line or Ikolaba on the Balogun line.

The gazette has equally stopped the Seriki line of the Ibadan chieftaincy title. No one will be on the Seriki line any longer. For those who have been installed on the Seriki line, the government will allow them to be there until the last person passes on.