A former President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, Prince Lanre Ogundipe has challenged the Oyo State government to provide the public with the details of how the immediate past Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Mahood Olalekan Balogun set up a committee to review 1957 Olubadan Chieftaincy declaration.
Ogundipe made this request in a statement made available to DECENCY GLOBAL NEWS on Saturday.
DECENCY GLOBAL NEWS recalls that some pages of Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration 2023 were distributed during the coronation of the 43rd Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Owolabi Akinloye Olakulehin, Ige Olakulehin 1 on Friday 12th July 2024.
Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Dotun Oyelade, claimed that it was the immediate past Olubadan, Oba Mahood Olalekan Balogun who set up the committee to review the law.
But, Ogundipe in his reaction, challenged the commissioner to tell the public when the committee was set up.
Ogundipe in the statement, also challenged the commissioner to mention the names of the members of the committee.
He noted that he is challenging the commissioner as a journalist under the Freedom of Information Act to disclose when and where the convocation of the panel was held and to produce the records of the panel proceedings.
The former NUJ President asked the state government not to cause a crisis in Ibadan over the implementation of the new law and appealed to elders in the ancient city to rise and do the needful.
Ogundipe said “The question we shall continue to ask and which requires clarifications is when was this committee instituted, who and who were members, chairman and secretary, of the panel and the terms of reference for the assignment?
“Mr. Commissioner as a journalist, I challenge you under the Freedom of Information Act to disclose when and where the convocation of the panel was held and to produce the records of the panel proceedings. Disclose the terms of reference and the names of the Chairman and Secretary including the members.
“He who goes to equity not only goes with clean hands but a clear conscience. In this case, the government, its agents and privies’ hands are badly soiled and no serious individuals or group of persons would align with such, which now calls for caution. The man died in you when you keep mute in the face of tyranny.
“Our appeal now to the government is that, please please – don’t set Ibadan on fire, as it stands, no one except the governor had resolved to look on the new Oba’s shoulder.
“Meanwhile, let me appeal to our fathers in Ibadanland, the Oba, High Chiefs and sheath swords for the progress of Ibadan, we have no other place we can call our place of birth than Ibadan we should not allow the trivial issue to polarise and divide us – Ejeki oogun o simi, Let’s bury the hatchet and rise together, hold hands and put the enemy of progress to shame”.
