The Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, yesterday said he and his supporters are not celebrating the State High Court’s judgment which declared the panel that recommended the review of the Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration a nullity.
An Oyo State High Court, on Friday, declared the panel and the activities it produced as illegal.
This means the 21 obas crowned on the heels of the review of the chieftaincy law would forfeit their crowns, if the judgment is not upturned.
The Olubadan told The Nation yesterday that the review had divided Ibadan indigenes, adding that this did not gladden his heart as the father of all.
His Imperial Majesty, who spoke through his Director of Media and Public Affairs, Mr Adeola Oloko, said: “We are not celebrating or humiliating anybody. For us, there is no victor, no vanquished. To be candid, the incident has divided Ibadan indigenes. This is displeasing to the Olubadan because he is the overall father of all indigenes. What we want is the unity of all Ibadan indigenes and preservation of the Ibadan Chieftaincy system.
“The high chiefs have the right to appeal the judgment. However, we shall wait for the outcome of the appeal, if they do. Otherwise, we expect them to comply with the judgment.”
The Osi Olubadan, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, who refused to accept the beaded crown, challenged the establishment of the panel and its recommendations in court.
Justice Olajumoke Aiki delivered the judgment in the case filed against Governor Abiola Ajimobi and Justice Akintunde Boade, who chaired the judicial commission of enquiry that reviewed the declaration.
Ajimobi, on May 19, last year, set up a judicial commission of enquiry to review the 1957 Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration and other Related Chieftaincies laws in Ibadan.
Accordingly, a report was submitted by the panel last August and a White Paper on the report was published in the Oyo State Gazette No. 14, Vol. 42 by Authority on August 23, last year and the amended declaration on regulating the selection to the Olubadan of Ibadan Chieftaincies and Related Matters published in the Oyo State Gazette No. 15, Vol. 42 by Authority in Ibadan on August 24, last year.
