Olubadan Coronation: When A Governor Confessed Like A Witch | By Sola Abegunde

When we were very young, we occasionally witnessed a spectacle referred to as the confession of the Witch.

On such very few occasions, a noise would suddenly rent the air and you would hear people shouting ‘ Iya Lagbaja nka’ ( a witch is confessing).

It wasn’t always a pleasant spectacle, most especially, for the families of the suspected ‘ Witch’ when they began admitting to killing or bewitching so and so.

In most cases, the unfortunate occurrences always resulted in a situation where the close families of the unfortunate ‘ witch ‘ had to leave town out of shame.

I had always wondered what happened to those ‘ Witches ‘ who suddenly began to confess their evil deeds and I am unable to find a satisfying answers to the puzzles of the confessing ‘ Witches’ up till today.

However, when a person begins to act in a way akin to the confessing witch, most especially, after a completed evil act,  even when they are not witches, our people used to liken  such action to a confession of the Witch.

Recently, I have been trying to find some space to write about an unfortunate video of a distressed old woman who was lamenting about the woes that awaited him at the controversial corridor of the Circular road.

The old woman, overwhelmed by the impending doom of losing her three Buildings to the controversial corridor, wanted people to help her beg Governor Seyi Makinde and ‘ his’ Deputy, Seye! ( E ba mi be Seyi Makinde o, ati Igbakeji e, Seye), those were her exact words.

I am someone who pays attention to very little details.

The name, Seye is very loud in Seyi Makinde’s Government, even though he holds no official position known to the public.

Sometimes this year, a clownish fellow, who calls himself a local Government Chairman appeared on a Radio program and was referring to the same Seye as ‘Oga’!

I asked myself at the time what training the jester underwent under Seye.

Everywhere in Oyo state where landed properties are discussed, you definitely will hear that name, Seye.

However, it is very sad that some members of the public are now beginning to see him as the Deputy Governor of Oyo state when, in actual facts, the position of the Deputy Governor of a state is elective, not appointive.

So, my focus has been on that topic for some time now but I just couldn’t get the time until Governor Makinde announced an impromptu annual leave which was to end four days after the Coronation of the Olubadan.

When I saw the notice and the duration of the annual leave and considering the events that preceded the emergence of Oba Ladoja, I got a desire to monitor events closely from there on but let us fast-forward for now.

I listened to Governor Makinde’s speech at the Coronation ceremony yesterday.

If you check online, the Fuji Artist who took the Bandstand is the one trending bad but like I said, I love to pay attention to little details.

It’s like the whole world are focused on Taye Currency the now very unpopular ‘ were la fi nwo were’ lyrics but they are missing something more concrete. Something deeper.

I must say that I was also disappointed about the performance of Currency but I’m not surprised.

If you know that a parcel of Land is infested with rodents and you chose to plant groundnuts there, must you blame anyone if you have nothing to harvest? ( O ri oko loko ikun ki o too gbin epa sibe).

Taye Currency is not only the official Musician of Governor Makinde and his Government, he is the sole choice.

I am sure that he has been carefully selected to throw tantrums at those opposed to the Governor, most especially, on campaign grounds and you have to give it to him, he has been doing his job very well.

I remember the lyrics of ‘ e gbagbe ibo ni, nigbate nwole wa, te nwoso wa…’ which he sang in 2019.

Although, I can see that he has been quiet when Governor Makinde broke the records as the Governor who demolished more public properties than anyone before him.

Unfortunately for Currency and most especially, those who chose him for an occasion like yesterday, the Coronation of Oba Ladoja, with the kind of Guests in attendance was obviously beyond the craft of the gentleman or shall we say that he was exposed as a result of his commitments to those who gave him the job?

I do not think he got a special brief for the outing of yesterday, so, he might have thought it was a normal day in the office.

When he began to repeat the phrase, ‘ were la fi nwo were’, I wasn’t surprised. I just laughed. The fellow was doing exactly what he has always been contracted to do, forgetting that the events of yesterday was not a PDP campaign ground.

Yes, he was an unfortunate spectacle at the moment he started shouting ‘ were’, ‘ were’ but honestly, he was an embarrassment to himself and much more to those who chose him.

I would not blame him but would rather blame those who thought he was the one fit for the occasion  of yesterday, most especially, the Governor.

The choice of Taye Currency was deliberate and I’m sure those who contracted him were happy with his display of recklessness.

Let me now go back to the issue of the Governor’s impromptu annual leave.

He was aware of the Coronation date and yet, he proceeded on the annual leave which was originally designed to end four days after the Coronation, 29th of September to be precise.

Surprisingly, he cut short the leave and returned a day before the Coronation for reasons not explained but best known to him.

The information about his return to duties ahead of the Coronation was made public through the House of Assembly.

Governor Makinde’s annual leave was not tied to a medical issue.

His pictures were all over the places, enjoying himself across the World.

For someone you referred to as ‘ Daddy ‘, I thought it would have been more proper if the Governor was physically present to oversee the activities leading to the events of yesterday.

Perhaps, if he had been on ground, he would have been properly advised on the choice of a Musician for such an important occasion.

Do not also forget that the musician in question also doubles as Governor Seyi Makinde’s Special Assistant and was also one of the beneficiaries of his numerous gifts of SUVs.

I am aware of the fact that he handed over power to his Deputy but his cutting short of his annual leave is another topic and he must accept responsibilities for the gaffes of the Musician.

Thank God. The event was too big for anyone to spoil and talk of his Deputy, is he not the one whose position is being ascribed to Seye?

Now, to the little details from Governor Seyi Makinde’s speech.

I am particularly interested in two issues from that speech.

The Governor talked about the fact that the controversies surrounding the ascending order of the Olubadan had been laid to rest and that the ‘ conflict ‘ between him and the Olubadan is over.

‘ Daddy, ko si ija mo’. I heard him say.

I will start from what he called a controversy before I come to his reference to a ‘ conflict ‘ between himself and the Olubadan.

For me and this is my personal opinion, there has never been a controversy around the process of selecting the Olubadan of Ibadan Land until some people felt there was need to create one.

The age long process of selecting an Olubadan is a template which is being envied across the Globe.

Perhaps, the best way to resolve this issue is to examine Governor Seyi Makinde’s position about the proposed amendment to the Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration Laws by the late former Governor Ajimobi before the 2019 general election.

At the time, both himself and the now Olubadan were on the same page.

They were against the proposal and he, as the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP campaigned vigorously against the proposed amendment at the time.

However, shortly before the 2023 gubernatorial election, he changed gear and embraced the same process he once stood against together with Ladoja.

The question is, before he changed gear, did he discuss with the former Governor who is known for his principles of standing by what he believes in?

What necessitated his decision to embrace what he condemned and leveraged on to win an election for the first time ever in his life?

What informed his act of betrayal?

To make matters worse, after his election for a second term as Governor, he introduced some far reaching amendments to the Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration Laws, more than the proposals by Ajimobi and those amendments seemed to be deliberate encumbrances placed in the way of the man sitting on the throne of Ibadan today.

Not only that, the crude manner he went about enforcing that Law can not be forgotten in a hurry.

Is it his insistence that the case instituted by Ladoja be withdrawn before he would approve the appointment of the late Olubadan or his leverage upon the withdrawal if the case to force the former Governor to take a crown he, ordinarily, wouldn’t have taken?

Governor Makinde was practically begged to announce a date for the Coronation of the late Olubadan and on the day of the Coronation, he polluted the ceremony by distributing a controversial gazette, which also appeared to target the present Olubadaan and this will lead me to his reference to a conflict between himself and the Olubadan.

Sometimes ago, before the Ibadan North Federal Constituency By-election, one of Governor Makinde’s lickspittles responded  to a piece I wrote in reaction to the PDP story which alleged that Oyo APC disrespected the late Olubadan by holding a campaign on the day the late Olubadan was buried.

I responded by telling the PDP that Governor Seyi Makinde dishonored and made the late Olubadan pass through pain when he was alive and therefore could not be honoring him when he was dead.

On another occasion, I was featured alongside a member of Oyo PDP on a live Radio program.

We were discussing Governor Seyi Makinde’s meddlesomeness in Chieftaincy matters, most especially, in Ibadan.

The fellow accused me of trying to fan the embers of discord between Governor Makinde and the present Olubadan but I told him that Governor Makinde is a victim of his anticidents.

So, when I heard the Governor saying, ‘ Daddy, ija ti pari’ ( no more quarrels) yesterday, I asked, quarrels? Between who and who?

While the needles controversies lasted, I never heard Baba Ladoja told anyone that he was quarrelling with the Governor.

The old man maintained his stance with dignity and maturity while the Governor, intoxicated by power, kept dishing out blows upon blows.

Governor Seyi Makinde had his way in that one way fight, yet, it doesn’t appear he is comfortable.

Whatever happened between the duo, it is obvious who the aggressor was.

Governor Seyi Makinde’s atrocities and unhealthy meddlesomeness in Chieftaincy matters is unparalleled.

Only God knows what he wants to achieve from the misadventures.

He has caused rifts across all the zones of Oyo state.

In Eruwa, he disobeyed the Judgments of all the layers of the Nigerian Courts to handpick a puppet, Samuel Adebayo Adegbola as the Eleruwa.

The most unfortunate part of the Eruwa incident is the fact that even Governor Makinde’s Attorney General, during his first tenure, aligned with the case of the Olaribikusi Ruling House at the Appelate Court.

In fact,  in June, 2019, the Oyo state Ministry of Justice told the Supreme Court that it discovered that Adegbola lied and the Ibarapa East Local Government covered the lies which informed the wrong decision to support Adegbola’s case at the High Court.

Sadly, Governor Makinde, whose Attorney General made this stark confession before the Supreme Court in 2019, turned round to support the same Adegbola as the Eleruwa in 2025!

We know exactly what happened in Oyo and other towns.

Unfortunately for Governor Makinde, Ibadan defeated him.

So, when I saw the Governor talking about controversies and conflicts yesterday, I laughed.

So, is it that the Governor is also quarrelling with the Olaribikusi Ruling House or someone within the House?

It is up to Governor to embrace the truth and seek genuine reconciliations with the Olubadan if he feels he has wronged him in anyway and that is, if his ego would allow him.

No doubts, in Ibadan, unlike other towns and cities, things didn’t go as Governor Makinde would have wanted them to go but that is the reality of life.

You can’t have things your way all the time.

Governor Makinde must quit hypocrisy if he desires genuine reconciliations.

The stomach of the elderly is so spacious and it can contain so much.

I am not surprised that the Olubadanmaintained calmness and dignity all through.

” Ohun ti a ba fi ju omode lo, a kii fii han”. ( What makes the difference between an adult and the kids is only known to the adult).

Oh! I noticed, the rains didn’t fall yesterday!

I heard Governor Makinde talked about the threatening rain but the skies smiled all through.

Hmmm…. Omi Tuntun?

SOLA ABEGUNDE.