Olubadan to Ajimobi: You lied! I won’t allow you desecrate Ibadan Crown

“Since Friday March 4, 2016 when I ascended the exalted throne of Olubadan, I have opened the gate of our palace wide to all manner of people. If you belong to APC, PDP, Labour, Accord and others, you are most welcome. So, politics has nothing to do with my resistance or opposition to the chieftaincy review spearheaded by Governor Abiola Ajimobi. If I had been consulted, this error would have been avoided. The desecration of the crown would have been averted”.
With the above words, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, on Monday, took Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State to the cleaners.
To show the governor his opposition to the installation of 21 monarch-chiefs at the popular Mapo Hall on Sunday, the 89-year-old Olubadan, in a road show, told the people that he remained the only monarch recognised by law in Ibadanland.
The Olubadan stormed major markets and roads in the ancient city, followed by thousands of people shouting ‘Olubadan, Olubadan’.
Many family heads (Mogajis) were in his entourage.
From the palace, the convoy snaked through Popoyemoja to Oja’ba, Beere, Oje, Agodi Gate, Agbeni, Ogunpa, Dugbe, Molete and others.
As the octogenarian monarch waved his horse tail, hundreds of people joined the crowd, hailing him.
Some of them said unprintable things about Ajimobi.
When he returned to the palace, other Mogajis joined him to pay solidarity.
Oba Adetunji told them he would not surrender his sovereignty “to any other Oba in the land”.
He advised Ajimobi not to paint the Ibadan Chieftaincy System with the tar brush of partisan politics, as he (Adetunji) is a monarch and not a politician.
The Olubadan said: “As a monarch, I’m a father of all, irrespective of sex, ethnic and ideological persuasions. The person or group who would use the royal stool of Olubadan for selfish political reason has not been born.
“The comment made by the governor on Sunday was unfortunate. How could he say that recent utterances from the palace are tending towards politics? If the governor has any demonstrable evidence of such, he should kindly provide it. There is no press statement issued from the Olubadan Media Office which did not enjoy my blessing before it was made public.
“While I am aware that people react to age differently, I am not old enough to be misinterpreted by anybody, even at 89. Governor Ajimobi stated that he invited us to the Governor’s Office over this matter and visited me in the palace later. While this is true, I wish to respectfully state that the Boade Panel was inaugurated on May 19, 2017. His Excellency, Governor Ajimobi, invited me to the Governor’s Office on Wednesday, June 14, 2017 after the panel had sat for four weeks. At that meeting, His Excellency, the Oyo State Governor, the High Chiefs and State House Correspondents would recall my opposition to the chieftaincy review. My question is: did anybody put words in my mouth in that recorded tape? When he invited me to his office and visited me in the palace on Sunday, June 18, 2017, the Boade Panel was almost through with its job. When we met at the inner chamber, what the governor came to tell me was that he knew I should have been consulted first. So, it is not true that I was consulted, as claimed by him”.
The Olubadan declared that the review of the chieftaincy law, a brazen abuse of Ibadan customs and tradition, would not last.