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Ibadan Monarchs Vow Not to Relinquish Crowns
Four days after a truce was brokered between the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, and his estranged chiefs to return to the palace as high chiefs, two of them on Thursday said they would only return once recognised as kings.
The Osi Olubadan and a former governor of the state, Chief Rashidi Ladoja, had in company with Otun Olubadan, High Chief Lekan Balogun, and High Chief Amidu Ajibade parleyed Olubadan on Monday to settle their differences.
Balogun had again on Wednesday insisted there was no precondition for the truce when The Punch sought his view on the truce.
He said, “Some of the high chiefs could not attend Monday’s meeting because they had other engagements for the day.
“As I am talking to you, one of them is here right now with me. Everybody will be in attendance at the next meeting. We did what we did for peace and tranquility of our land,” Balogun said.
But on Thursday, two of them after a meeting held at the Alalubosa residence of Oba Owolabi Olakulehin in Ibadan said their new status as kings had already been gazetted which meant they were legally recognised as kings and not high chiefs.
They said unless the Olubadan and his aides recognised and addressed them as kings, they vowed never to return to the palace.
Both high chiefs; Owolabi Olakulehin and Tajudeen Ajibola who spoke on behalf of others said, those saying that they could no longer wear their crowns, were living in fool’s paradise and were being mischievous.
Olakulehin wondered why mischief-makers were making a mountain out of a molehill, saying as kings, it is not mandatory for them to wear crowns all the time they go out adding that those peddling the rumour should observe other popular kings in Yorubaland including Olubadan if it is every time they wear their crowns.
They noted that it is a fact that their status as kings has come to stay and nothing on earth could undo that. According to them, after the former governor Ajimobi who meant well for Ibadan and its people approved them as kings, the court attested to it in March 2018 when, in addition to the earlier promoted 21 kings, another 27 kings were elevated and empowered by the Chieftaincy Laws of Oyo State Cap 28, section 28(i) vol. 1.
They said, those casting aspersions on their crowns are either ignorant of what the law says or they are being mischievous.
The Punch
Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the political adviser to President Bola Tinubu, has resigned his appointment.
Reports say the former spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) tendered his resignation about two weeks ago.
Further reports quoting presidency sources did not, however, provide details of the reasons for his decision, but only stated that it was on personal grounds.
Baba-Ahmed was appointed in September 2023 as Special Adviser on Political Matters in the Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Over the past 17 months, he had represented the presidency at several public fora, including a recent national conference themed: “Strengthening Nigeria’s Democracy: Pathway to Good Governance and Political Integrity”, which held from January 28 and 29, 2025 in Abuja.
The Supreme Court has set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja recognising Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP).
In a unanimous judgment, a five-member panel of the apex court held that the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to have pronounced Abure National Chairman of the Labour Party, after finding out earlier that the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.
The apex court held that the issue of leadership was an internal affair of a party, over which courts lacks jurisdiction.
The court further allowed the appeal filed by Senator Nenadi Usman and one other, and held that it is meritorious.
It also proceeded to dismiss the cross-appeal filed by the Abure group of the Labour Party for being unmeritorious.
In January, the Court of Appeal in Abuja reiterated that Abure remained the chairman of the LP.
A three-member panel of the appellate court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, held that its judgment of November 13, 2024, which recognises Abure as national chairman, subsists and has not been set aside by any court.
Justice Barka made the declaration while delivering judgment in two separate appeals filed by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman and the caretaker committee and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The appellate court in the two separate appeals held that it did not delve into the issue of the leadership of the Labour Party because such issues are not justiciable.
It said that anything done outside jurisdiction amounts to a nullity. Hence, the judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on October 8, 2024, by Justice Emeka Nwite is of no effect because it was delivered without jurisdiction.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied being partisan in handling the failed recall of the lawmaker representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to Chairman of INEC Mahmood Yakubu, who was on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, explained how the Commission handled the process.
“In the case of the Kogi Central District, we received a petition and a cover letter and of course what Nigerians were saying was that we were taking sides,” Oyekanmi said on the programme.
“But what happened was that in the covering letter, the representatives of the petitioners did not include their address as required in our regulations and guidelines and what we just did was to ask them to supply their address, it has nothing to do with the petition.
“And of course, there is nowhere in the law where INEC is asked to reject a petition just because the cover letter did not contain the address. So, there was no hanky-panky in what we did.”
Earlier on Thursday, INEC rejected the petition to recall Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, saying that it has not met the requirements.
The electoral commission said the petition to recall Senator Natasha did not meet constitutional requirements.
Senator Natasha was suspended for breaching Senate rules, prompting some of her constituents to initiate her recall. They claimed the move was to ensure their constituency did not lack representation following the suspension of the 45-year-old senator.
Asked whether there could be a repeat of the recall process, the INEC spokesperson said the law did not specify if the process could be repeated and how many times.
“The law just talks about the threshold, the threshold meaning that if you want to recall, you must have, in addition to your petition, 50 per cent plus one signatures. The law did not specify how many times you can undertake that,” he said.
The lawmaker has made headlines in recent months after she accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment, a claim the Akwa Ibom lawmaker has equally denied.
She was, thereafter, suspended by the Red Chamber for violation of its rule of conduct.
