The next in line to the Olubadan stool, Otun Olubadan, Senator Lekan Balogun, has said he and his colleagues who were promoted to Obas by the previous administration are ready to comply with Gov. Makinde’s directive, to revert to their original positions of high chiefs.
In an interview with newsmen in Ibadan on Wednesday, Sen. Balogun emphasised that they had nothing to lose if they renounce their obaship titles.
In a bid to end the controversy trailing the selection of the new Olubadan after the death of Oba Saliu Adetunji, Gov. Makinde had on Tuesday directed that the Ibadan traditional institution revert to its original concept.
Balogun said, “We are okay by the governor’s directive. He is the one running the government. Whatever he wants is what we will do. He means well for the state, for Ibadan and others. We will abide by his demand.
“We will abide by what he said. It was the rule of his predecessor that got us to do what we were doing and now that he is in charge and he wants us to revert, we will revert.
“Whatever he wants is what we will abide by. We lose nothing by doing that and that is the way it is”, he added.
It would be recalled that Otun Olubadan and other High Chiefs were elevated to beaded crown-wearing Obas by the administration of Senator Abiola Ajimobi but the Osi Olubadan, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, who is a former governor in the state, rejected the offer to become an Oba.
Following the death of Oba Adetunji, a former Attorney General in the state, Mr. Michael Lana, in a petition to the governor, asked him to withhold approval for the Otun Olubadan to ascend the throne of Olubadan.
He argued that the High Chiefs had been elevated to Obas and it would be an aberration to crown somebody twice because such had never happened anywhere in Yorubaland.
Meanwhile, the High Chiefs said their elevation could not stop any of them from ascending the throne when it is their turn, because they remain High Chiefs despite their elevation.