A socio-political group, the Ibadan Solidarity Group (ISG) has slammed
the Ashipa of Ibadanland and former governor of the state, Senator
Rashidi Ladoja and an Accord Party leader, for calling the institution
of Ibadan traditional monarchy “a lame duck”, stating that it was
unbecoming of someone who was on the ladder of the institution to
denigrate the highly-revered institution in such a language.
The ISG was referring to a release issued by the former governor’s
spokesman, Mr. Dotun Oyelade as published in a national newspaper on
Sunday which said that the former governor of the state’s preference
was to become the governor again and not the Olubadan.
The ISG made this known in a release issued by its President, Chief
Isiaka Aleshinloye, in Ibadan during the weekend.
“We think that statement was uncouth, uncharitable and insulting of
the revered chieftaincy institution in Ibadanland and unbecoming of a
man who has an eye on becoming the Olubadan to make such disparaging
comment about the institution. It, to our mind, is an underscore of
the way Senator Ladoja perceives the Olubadan institution. To say the
least, it is an insult on every Ibadan son and daughter,” the group
said.
While explaining that it may take well over twenty years for Ladoja to
become the Olubadan, the Accord Party’s spokesman had said that “the
hard reality is that it will be a mistake, if Ladoja jettisons
politics for the palace” a statement that the ISG said was tantamount
to relegating the revered stool of the Olubadan.
The group said that the statement credited to the former governor
underscored the desire of one man to eat his cake and have it, a move
it said was contrary to the Olubadan-in-Council’s decision to insulate the traditional institution from the consuming world of dirty
politics.
“That was why the Olubadan-in-Council decreed a couple of years ago
that none of its chiefs must be involved in the murky waters of
politics. In the process of playing politics, the institution of
Olubadan would be dragged in the mud and the revered institution would suffer some collateral damage as a result of petty politics and the
mudslinging that is associated with playing politics in Nigeria,” said
the group.
Urging the Olubadan to once again make known to the public its
decision on its chiefs dabbling into politics, the group said this
would put an end to the tendency to desecrate the institution.
Berating the choice of words of the Accord Party leader’s spokesman in
describing the death of the Olubadan lineage as “indecent and
indecorous”, the group said it mirrored the estimation that the Ashipa Olubadan had for the Ibadan traditional rulership institution.
“For the Accord Party chieftain’s spokesman to have said ‘unless there
is a peculiar epidemic, deliberately targeted at the Olubadan-in-council, there cannot be less than 20 years before the Ashipa becomes the Olubadan’ is the height of indecent and indecorous choice of language. The only reference we can find for this inelegance is Chinua Achebe’s rendition of the Igbo proverb in Things fall Apart which says that an old woman feels uneasy when dried bones are mentioned in a proverb,” said the group.
The group also said that the former governor must do everything
possible to expedite his trial that is currently at the Appeal Court
over alleged embezzlement of N6 billion of the Oyo State people’s
fund.
”In any case, the ongoing trial of Senator Ladoja that has dragged on
for about seven years now is not in the interest of the tripod of the
Oyo State people, the Olubadan-in-Council of which Ladoja is Ashipa and the governorship of the state which he was and is still angling for. Rather than assail us with this insulting epistle, we expected the former governor to be seen struggling to dispense off his ongoing
trial at the court,” the group said.
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