AIG Visits Olubadan as Ibadan Family Tasks Police on Security

Ademola Babalola in Ibadan
Twenty-four hours after unknown gunmen wreacked havoc at the palace of Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 11, Mr. Oshodi Glover, on Tuesday visited the palace with a promise to track down the fleeing hoodlums.

Specifically,  the police boss who allayed the fears of people of the city over the latest upsurge, vowed “to pursue, arrest and prosecute the said gunmen.”

Glover was accompanied by the state Police Commissioner, Abiodun Odude and other top-ranking officers to the palace situated at Popoyemoja Ibadan.
His visit also coincided with an earlier statement made available to journalists by the Authentic Ibadan Mogajis who had been spearheading the cause of Oba Adetunji as they cried foul that their lives were no longer safe in the present circumstance.

Their spokesman, Mogaji Wale Oladoja, who made the position of his colleagues; Mogaji AbdulJelil Adanla and Mogaji Abass Oloko known in a statement tasked the Force Headquarters in Abuja to wade in and fortify the palace and all of them “because the anonymous calls being received from different quarters are warning us to back out of the current struggle to protect our inheritance and centuries of peaceful ascension to the stool of Olubadan.

Oladoja added: “You recall two weeks ago, we addressed the press where we urged our revered monarch to begin the installation of new Mogajis and Baales to put a stop to the lull in the palace since the unfortunate crowning of 21 kings in a single day by the state governor. The anonymous callers keep hammering on our roles which culminated in Monday’s ceremony at the palace. We have entered their bad book for standing with Kabiyesi to preserve our culture, system and tradition of Ibadan traditional institution as indivisible entity under the sole kingship of Olubadan.”

Oladoja also appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to take more than a passing interest in Oyo State and Ibadanland in particular, saying “if hoodlums could brazenly attack the palace and no arrest was made till now,  no effort should be spared to save the souls of millions of inhabitant and defenceless citizens of the land.”

The AIG also expressed dismay at the manner the hoodlums desecrated the palace, saying, “Kabiyesi, it was immediately I heard of what happened here yesterday that I decided to come and visit you. I promise you that we are going to pursue the hoodlums and we will make sure they are arrested and brought to book”, he said.

Responding, the Olubadan, whose Director of Media, Adeola Oloko, had initially welcomed the team to the palace, appreciated the police boss for his timely visit.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has expressed shock over Monday’s attack on the palace of the Olubadan of Ibadanland.

The minister, in a telephone conversation yesterday with Oba Saliu Adetunji, described the gun attack on Olubadan’s abode as a desecration of culture and tradition.
He said it was inconceivable that anyone would make an attempt to exterminate Kabiyesi and his subjects under any guise.

However, Governor Abiola Ajimobi convoked an emergency security council meeting in his office yesterday.
The meeting was attended by service commanders from the Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Customs Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, Air Force, among others.

The governor has also summoned a meeting of the traditional council of the 11 local governments in Ibadanland, which are being headed by the Obas-in-Council, formerly known as members of the Olubadan-in-Council today.
Addressing journalists at the end of the security council meeting, Special Adviser to the governor on Security, Mr. Segun Abolarinwa, pointed fingers at those he called failed politicians as the suspected masterminds of the recent disturbances emanating from the installation of some Obas.