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By Oluseye Ojo
Barring any last minute changes, the Ibadan kingmakers would formally nominate the Olubadan-designate, Oba Owolabi Olakulehin, as the 43rd Olubadan of Ibadanland Thursday.
The indication emerged at the end of peace meeting brokered by the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) and Ibadan elders on Monday and held at the residence of Asiwaju of Ibadanland and former president of CCII, Chief Bode Amao, in Ikolaba, Ibadan.
Prior to the peace meeting, supremacy battle had erupted among the Ibadan kingmakers, which had delayed the nomination of new Olubadan. The kingmakers had been divided over who has the statutory power to convene the meeting, where new king would be nominated and the name would thereafter sent to the governor for approval, via the office of Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters.
The stool of Olubadan became vacant following the demise of 42nd Olubadan, Oba Lekan Balogun, who joined is ancestors on Thursday March 14, this year.
The statutory meeting, where the 43rd Olubadan will be nominated will be convened by the Otun Olubadan and former governor of Oyo State, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja, in accordance with the 1957 Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration. Already, the notice for the meeting is out.
President-General of the CCII, Niyi Ajewole, confirmed to journalists on Monday evening that all issues surrounding the enthronement of the new monarch have been settled, and the aggrieved kingmakers have agreed to put the past behind and work together for the common interest of Ibadanland.
“The fifth columnist have been put to shame,” declared Ajewole triumphantly. “There is now peace and harmony among the kingmakers. The Olubadan
-in-Council is now one. God has put the fifth columnists to shame.”
Notable Ibadan elders as well as present and past leaders of the CCII, attended the peace meeting held on Monday. They included the Asiwaju of Ibadanland, Chief Bode Amao; and former Prelate of Methodist Church Nigeria Sunday Ola-Makinde.
President-General of CCII, Niyi Ajewole, and some of his predecessors in the office, Chief Y.K.Akande, Chief Bayo Oyero, Chief Wole Akinwande, and Chief Yemi Soladoye, were also at the meeting.
But the meeting scheduled for tomorrow would include all the Ibadan kingmakers, though the Otun Balogun of Ibadanland, Oba Tajudeen Ajibola, and Ekerin Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Hamidu Ajibade, were not at the peace meeting held on Monday.
The meeting was the second one because the first peace meeting was held last Wednesday at the same venue towards finding a last solution to the controversy.
