Why Olubadan won’t attend peace meeting with Ajimobi

The Authentic Mogajis in Ibadan rose from a meeting on Monday and asked the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji and the Osi Olubadan, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja, not to have any peace meeting with Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, until the gunmen who invaded the Popoyemoja palace of Oba Adetunji are apprehended and brought to justice.

A truce committee was raised last week to midwife peace among the warring parties.

Those on the committee are the President of the Central Council of Ibadan indigenes, some members of Ibadan Elders’ Forum, religious leaders and opinion moulders, among others.

But the family heads at the end of their meeting told journalists they were making representations to the monarch and Ladoja to boycott the peace parley.

Their spokesman, Chief Wale Oladoja, said: “we deliberated extensively on last week’s attack on the palace, the peace parley and the security implications of the Oba’s palace invasion, among other issues.

“We are worried that a week after the incident and the governor’s insistence that he knew those who attacked the palace, the suspects are yet to be apprehended and brought to book. Yet they are talking of peace parley. Could they be talking about peace if the Kabiyesi’s life had been exterminated by the palace invaders?

“We align with the position of Yoruba Socio-cultural group Afenifere that the governor should fish out the gunmen and make them to face prosecution. The police should also conclude their investigation on time and bring the suspects to justice. Anything short of this, we are ready to hold a mega rally and demand same from the authorities concerned.

“The Mogajis also reviewed the list of panel members of the truce committee and we have our reservations because many of them especially the CCII and Ibadan elders have compromised and would be too biased in their judgment. So, we shall impress it on Kabiyesi and High Chief Ladoja to stay away from such arrangement. We will welcome a situation whereby those mediating are the religious leaders of the three major faiths – Christian, Islam and the traditionalists and not people whose antecedents are well known and are therefore predictable.

“The CCII and Ibadan elders have already supported the reform to the 1959 Ibadan Chieftaincy declaration and nobody is ready to listen to them. The CCII is a social group and they should stick to what they are known for and stop speaking for all Ibadan sons and daughters who are stoutly in support of the preservation of Ibadan cultural heritage and norms.”