The installation of new Olubaban of Ibadan may have hit a brick wall if a letter written to Oyo State government by a legal practitioner, Michael Lana, is anything to go by.
Since the death of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Saliu Adetunji, on Sunday, speculations have been rife that Senator Lekan Balogun is in line for the obaship position.
The letter, which was written to the governor, Seyi Makinde, and copied Oyo State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Oyewole Oyewo, is from MFL Chambers with office at Oke-Ado area of Ibadan.
In the letter, Barrister Lana intimated the governor of the pendency of suits challenging elevation of some high chiefs to beaded Obas by the last administration in the state.
He said though the cases were settled out of court, through a consent judgment, asking those elevated to drop their bead and the name “Oba” for high chief, however, they (the Obas) have since gone back to court, refusing the terms of settlement.
The letter said an “Oba” could not be elevated to another “Oba” as Olubadan, except such an Oba dropped the name before he could be selected to become the Olubadan.
In a veiled reference to Senator Balogun, who was among those beaded and promoted to Oba by the late Abiola Ajumobi-led administration, Lana noted that “no Oba can ascend the throne of Olubadan.”
The legal practitioner said any attempt to install any of the Obas as the Olubadan, “when he is still holding on to the title of Oba, and during the pendency of the suits (still in court), will be illegal, null and void.”
He advised the governor to either wait for the cases to be dispossed off or the Obas should revert to their former title of “high chiefs” before any of them could qualify for selection as the Olubadan of Ibadan.
The late monarch died at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, in the early hours of Sunday.
The deceased monarch was crowned 41st Olubadan on March 4, 2016.
He was born on August 26, 1928, as the first of 17 children of his parents
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