The Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Lekan Balogun, will from today fill the vacancies existing in the Ibadan Traditional Council, with the promotion of nine chiefs in the Balogun line.
The ceremony, which will hold at the ancestral Aliiwo Palace of the Olubadan, will affect six senior chiefs and three others, including Senior Chiefs Akeem Bolaji Adewoyin, Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli and Adegboyega Adeniran, who will move from Maye to Abese, Ekefa to Maye and Agbaakin to Ekefa.
Also to be affected are Senior Chiefs Taiwo Anthony Adebayo Oyekan (Aare Alasa to Agbaakin), Raufu Amusa Eleruwere (Ikolaba to Agbaakin) and Emiola Onideure (Asaju to Ikolaba).
The three chiefs to be promoted are the current Ayingun, Tirimisiyu Obisesan, Aare-Ago Wasiu Ajimobi and Lagunna Mikhail Modi. They will become Asaju, Ayingun and Aare-Ago.
The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland , Iba Gani Adams, has urged the Olubadan-in-council to embrace traditional rites in burying Olubadan, rather than religious. He said the myth and respect attached to Yoruba kings across Southwest were legendary.
Speaking in Ibadan yesterday at the grand finale of the 2022 edition of Oke’badan festival, held at the Cultural Centre, Mokola, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland advised the new Olubadan, Oba Balogun, not to ignore the core traditional rites and practices that made Ibadan.
He said the stool of Olubadan of Ibadaland was purely traditional because the monarch occupied a prominent place in the history of Yorubaland.
Speaking about the importance of Oke’badan festival, Adams said it was a cultural fiesta that had spiritual value to attract success and prosperity to Ibadan, noting that the festival was celebrated annually to honour the founding fathers of Ibadan and show gratitude to the ancestors.
“The glory of Ibadan and the legacy must continue to thrive because cultural promotion is one of the tools for spiritual and physical liberation,” he said.