No controversy on Olubadan successor – Ladoja

A former governor of Oyo State, Rashidi Ladoja, has broken his silence over who should ascend the throne in the capital city.

Mr Ladoja, who holds the title of Osi Olubadan of Ibadan, said he agreed with the ancestral tradition of Ibadan of making Otun Olubadan the next monarch.

He said there is no reason for any controversy as to who should become the next Olubadan.

Lekan Balogun, a former senator, is the Otun Olubadan of Ibadan.

The Olubadan’s seat became vacant after the death of Saliu Adetunji who joined his ancestors last Sunday.

Mr Ladoja spoke on Thursday while receiving visitors at his residence in Bodija, Ibadan.

It would be recalled that 10 of the 11 members of the Olubadan-in-Council had endorsed Mr Balogun as the next Olubadan. The absence of Mr Ladoja, a member of the council, at the endorsement raised eye brows.

“Uninformed people are just causing unnecessary tensions in Ibadan,” Mr Ladoja said on Thursday.

“There is no controversy about who becomes the next Olubadan after the demise of Oba Saliu Adetunji.”

When asked of his involvement in a letter written to Governor Seyi Makinde, by a former Attorney General of the state, Michael Lana, discrediting Mr Balogun’s right to the throne, Mr Ladoja said he knows nothing about the letter.

“Let it be also known that I have no hand in the letter written by an Ibadan-born lawyer and former justice commissioner, Barr. Michael Lana. I did not know anything about it.”

Mr Lana had argued that having already been crowned a king by former governor Abiola Ajimobi, Mr Balogun’s claim to the title has been forfeited.