The Authentic Mogajis (family heads) in Ibadan rose from an emergency meeting, on Friday, at the palace of the Olubadan in Oja’ba and told the 21 kings recently sacked by the Oyo State High Court to stop wearing crowns or coronets in obedience to the judgment of the court.
The court had declared their elevation or enthronement as kings by the state government unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect.
The Mogajis, including Moshood Akere (chairman), Abass Oloko (vice chairman), AbdulJelyly Adanla, Fatai Olanrewaju, Molade Adeyemo, Mogaji Ademola Olasomi, Owonbuwo and Wale Oladoja (spokesman) said a news conference addressed by the Obas on Thursday in Ibadan was “an unfortunate development.”
The 21 Obas had, at the press briefing, accused a former governor of the state and the Osi Olubadan, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja, who secured the judgment which sacked them, of being a known antagonist of the incumbent governor, Abiola Ajimobi.
They accused him of never seeing anything good in the administration of Ajimobi and, by extension, their installation as kings in Ibadan.
They (the kings), therefore, told Ladoja, who granted an interview on an Ibadan radio station recently where he accused them of contempt of court by their continuous wearing of crowns, to tell such to the Marines because they had not done anything against court processes, having filed an appeal against their sack.
But the Mogajis said on Friday that, “We want to appeal to Governor Abiola Ajimobi to call the sacked Obas to order. They should not set the state on fire by their actions against the law so that they won’t put our people to the wall to take the law into their hands.
“Or don’t we have laws again? We are worried that they addressed the press on Thursday that they won’t stop wearing their crowns or coronets. As far as we Authentic Mogajis in Ibadan are concerned, they remain what they are; unrecognised and sacked Obas or self-made Obas.
“They said nobody can stop them from wearing crowns after the judgment of the High Court that sacked and deposed them. To us, as family heads, their sack has further made them irrelevant in this great city of Ibadan. We hereby warn them not to indulge in anything that runs contrary to the law of the land. Hiding under the umbrella of the executive governor of Oyo State won’t save them either.
“Our appeal is that those 21 chiefs should hold their peace for now and await the outcome of the judgment of the Appeal Court.
“What they are doing is illegal and an affront on the court which made the judgment a declarative one. We hope the authorities, including the state police command, are watching the unfolding events.”
