Breaking: Lekan Balogun appointed Olubadan-elect

Kingmakers of Ibadan known as the Olubadan-in-Council have endorsed the nomination of a former senator, Lekan Balogun, as the next Olubadan of Ibadan land.

However, only 10 out of the 11 members of the council appointed Balogun.The council has also denied that a legal tussle could scupper the succession to the Olubadan throne.

The Osi Balogun of Ibadan land, High Chief Tajudeen Ajibola, made this known at a briefing by the kingmakers on Wednesday.

According to Ajibola, the kingmakers resolved that Balogun was next in line to ascend the throne of Olubadan according to tradition.

He also debunked insinuations relating to the health and wellness of the new Olubadan-elect.

He said all the negative media reports were nothing to worry about.

Controversies have trailed the council’s choice of Balogun as the new king following the death of the 41st Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Saliu Adetunji on Sunday.

Speaking on Tuesday, the kingmakers said the tradition would be followed in the selection of the 42nd Olubadan, who will be publicised at the end of the traditional mourning period for Oba Adetunji.

Michael Lana, a former Attorney-General of Oyo State, had in a letter on Monday appealed to Governor Seyi Makinde not to endorse the installation of Balogun or any of the current chiefs and Baales as the new Olubadan because there were unsettled legal matters relating to the stool.

The lawyer had in his letter argued that former governor Abiola Ajimobi violated the Chieftaincy Law when he “without thinking the legal effects of his actions on the future of Ibadan traditional institution, conferred the title of Obaship on some high chiefs and Baales and gave them the right to wear beaded crowns and coronets in 2017”.

Balogun was one of the chiefs conferred with beaded crowns then and Lana in his letter to Makinde pointed out.

-SaharaReporters