Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, Aje Ogungunniso I, has said he spoke in parable which was largely misunderstood when he remarked, last Thursday, that Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, deserves third term; if not for constitutional impediment.
The monarch was said to have made the clarification when he played host to hundreds of Ibadan natives at his Popoyemoja, Ibadan palace as part of the ongoing Ibadan Week, at the weekend.
Oba Adetunji had, for the first time in nine months, attended a meeting of traditional rulers convened by Ajimobi, which, many people believed, probably signalled a truce in the controversy trailing a review of the 1959 Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration and other Related Matters by the state government, which led to the installation of 21 new kings and feud between the monarch and the incumbent administration.
Olubadan had said at the meeting: “I want all of us to believe in God, who created us and also put in mind all what the governor has been doing since he has been in power because, the first four years passed, the second term, too, is already going to an end. God will not disappoint him. God will not disappoint all of us here, too. Our prayers will be answered.
“I thank the governor because we are seeing all the work he has been doing and we are also praying for him that he won’t face impossibilities. By the grace of God, nothing shall be impossible for you. God will continue to help you. This is your second term, this is your seventh year. How we all see the governor, if not that you can’t go more than twice, I would have given him third term.”
But, in a statement issued by his Personal Assistant and Director, Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Adeola Oloko, yesterday, Oba Adetunji noted that what appeared simple and straight forward could sometimes be pregnant with meanings.
He was of the opinion that only discerning minds could understand complexity in simplicity, and appealed to all his children, “who are aggrieved over the statement not to take the matter to heart and read more about the use of language, idioms and sarcasm.
“As a monarch, I have no power over the election and re-election of anybody, not to talk of tenure extension that is unconstitutional.
“Besides, when I was exchanging banters with the governor, I was only cracking a joke with him; as a son and subject.
“Even, if Ajimobi offended us, it would be indecorous on my part to address him harshly. There is a subsisting judgment over the controversial chieftaincy review, which awaits compliance. About four or five suits relating to the matter are still in court and have not been withdrawn.”
The monarch denied ever receiving any gratification from Ajimobi and/or his proxies for cracking the third term joke as being insinuated in some quarters, and added that if anybody had “demonstrable evidence,” he or she should feel free to produce it.