Olubadan And Traditional Chiefs Fight Over Masquerade Directive in Ibadan

The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji and members of the Olubadan -In- Council, turned obas have disagreed on the order of the Olubadan barring the masquerades from dancing in any of the High Chiefs residence in this years Egungun festival.

The Olubadan, in a statement suspended the visit of egungun to any of the High Chiefs, citing security reasons for his action.

But, in a counter move, the concerned high chiefs-turned beaded kings had kicked against the Olubadan instruction, describing it as arbitrary use of power and an attempt to fight tradition.

In a statement signed by the Otun Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Lekan Balogun, on behalf of others after their meeting on Monday, the kings insisted that they would resist the order and host masqueraders in their various homes. They also described security reason given by the monarch as phantom.

The statement said, “Our attention has been drawn to the directive by our referred father, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adetunji, that the usual annual masquerade dance in our residences would not hold this year due to a phantom security threat, a directive we reject in its entirety.

“As far as we are concerned, the directive was arbitrary use of power and authority, we won’t take it. Our father (Olubadan) wants to distort and destroy the tradition and wants to use us to fight tradition, but, we won’t succumb to his antics. The same Olubadan solicited for the hosting of the Egungun authority from the late Oba Odugade Odulana when he was about five steps away from his present position and his request was granted.

“We therefore tend to ask him that of what benefits would his outrageous order be to him?  Except for extraneous reason as we just pointed out, how can one explain that security would be threatened only when the masqueraders come to dance in our residences and not when they went to his palace?

“As the members of Olubadan-in-Council, we were not part of the decision and we won’t take it and the Egungun authority will not likely take it. It was our resolve that the Olubadan is trying to use everything to fight the government, because the government has among its responsibilities the protection of the people’s tradition, but, we will not allow ourselves to be used to either fight the government or the tradition.”