Olubadan stool: I paid N170, 000 to be promoted but Olubadan denied me - Seriki Oyediji

Chief Adebayo Oyediji 

The Head of the Seriki Line of the Olubadan stool, Chief Adebayo Oyediji, has intensified his claim to be the next Olubadan of Ibadan after the demise of Oba Samuel Odulana, Odugade III, as he claimed, yesterday,that he paid N170, 000 in 2007 to the late Oba for his promotion as Seriki Olubadan.

The 89-year-old Oyediji stated this in Ibadan in reaction to the assertion from the Olubadan-in-Council that he was never a Seriki title holder, but Osi Seriki.

He was next to Chief Adisa Meredith Akinloye, the former National Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), who was the last Seriki of Ibadan land and who died in 2007.

Chief Oyediji stated that he is the current Otun Seriki and applied to be promoted as Seriki but was denied, despite his financial commitment.

Though, Chief Oyedeji said the payment was not receipted, he clarified that he had a copy of the application letter, saying the council denied him the opportunity to become the Seriki and probably future Olubadan.

His words: “I applied to be elevated to the post of Seriki Olubadan as the next chief to the late Chief Adisa Akinloye, but the application was rejected after paying N170, 000.

I paid N150, 000 to apply for the promotion and N20, 000 given to the man sent to collect it.“

It wasn’t that I didn’t make an attempt, but somehow, they turned me down. I ought to have been promoted but the Olubadan-in Council refused to promote me as the next Seriki,” he said.

Oyediji further insisted that the Seriki line was in position to produce the next Olubadan, going by the available records, adding that the line was sidelined by some chiefs for their selfish interests.

He revealed that some Seriki title holders had risen to become Olubadan, wondering where the philosophy of Seriki’s exclusion from becoming Olubadan emanated from.

On the list of former Seriki title holders who had occupied the throne according to Chief Oyediji are: Aare Latosa, who rose from Seriki to Balogun before he became Baale; Balogun Ibikunle from Seriki to Balogun in 1870; Habibu Soalu from Aare Ago Seriki to Maye Balogun; Mosanya also rose from Seriki to Osi Balogun, Baale Akintayo rose from Seriki to become Baale and Baale Shittu (Son of Aare Latosa), rose from Seriki to become Balogun and in 1914, he became the Baale.

Others were Baale Irefin, who rose from Seriki to become Baale; Balogun Ajobo Ibikunle, who became Balogun in1851, and Ajayi Osubekun, who became Balogun from Seriki.

Oyediji further argued that the 1989 judgment of an Oyo State High Court had favoured the line’s qualification for elevation to the Ekerin Olubadan position whenever two consecutive positions are vacant either in the Balogun or Otun Line.

He maintained that with the demise, in November 2015,of two High Chiefs, Sulaiman Omiyale (Balogun Line) and Omowale Kuye (Otun Line), the room was open to the Seriki Line to present their candidate as the third line in Ibadan land.

Having filed a motion in an Oyo State High Court, he insisted yesterday that the Olubadan-designate, High Chief Saliu Adetunji, should not be installed as the next Olubadan by the Olubadan-in- Council.

But Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, said yesterday that the position of Seriki is no longer in existence.“That office has been abolished.

It is no longer in existence. Even if it is in existence, there is what we call the ‘Doctrine of Abolition’.

Nobody has been there for about a 100 years. It was Chief A.M.A. Akinloye who wanted to revive it, but it was not accepted.

So, that office is dead and it will not be revived,” Akinjide said.On the claimed N170,000, the Personal Assistant to the late Oba Odulana, Chief Isiaka Akinpelu, said, “He did not pay any money to anybody.

If he did, why didn’t he say it before now? Why laying claim to such money when the Oba has transited? Please, forget about him. His matter is no issue”.Chief Akinpelu nevertheless confirmed that it is a normal procedure that any Chief must formally apply before he could be elevated.

“The position is never imposed on anyone, and we do not beg people to come for it. So, it has to be applied for,” he said.

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