Ibadan Palace “Coup” Rattles Governor Makinde
OpenLife News reports that It was not a council of independent Yoruba kings that gathered in Ibadan on Tuesday to endorse President Bola Tinubu for a second term.
It was, critics say, a gathering of Governor Seyi Makinde’s appointees — reading a script written for 2027.
Looking at the front row in a video, the king sitting in the throne and reading the communique did come to a lot of interested parties as a surprise.
The meeting was hosted at the palace of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja. The communique was read by his men. The endorsement was “unanimous.”
But there is one fact the cameras carefully avoided
Governor Seyi Makinde installed both the Olubadan and the Soun of Ogbomosho
Oba Rashidi Ladoja did not ascend the throne of Ibadan by ancient custom alone — his coronation was approved, presented, and celebrated by Makinde’s government after years of legal and political battles.
The Soun of Ogbomosho, Oba Ghandi Olaoye, also owes his staff of office to the same governor.
These are not neutral, ancient monarchs speaking from the wisdom of the ancestors. These are political beneficiaries speaking from the gratitude of office.
And now, in a stunning twist, Makinde’s kings are being deployed to endorse Makinde’s rival — President Tinubu.
Why? Because Makinde himself is in a political corner. With his own 2027 presidential ambition dead on arrival inside the PDP, and his war with the Tinubu camp escalating in Oyo, the governor needs a shield. What better shield than to make it look like the _entire_ Yoruba traditional institution — not Makinde — has “unanimously” begged Tinubu to continue?
It is the oldest trick in Nigerian politics: Use the crown to launder a political deal.
That is why the real kings stayed away.
The Alaafin of Oyo — the one throne Makinde did NOT install, the one throne that still carries independent imperial authority — was conspicuously absent. He refused to sit in a room where Makinde’s kings would rubber-stamp an endorsement. The Ooni of Ife, who has his own long-running supremacy war with the Alaafin, was present, but the absence of the Alaafin exposed the gathering for what it was: Not a Yoruba consensus, but an Ibadan-Ogbomosho faction meeting.
Ask the simple questions the communique did not answer:
1. Who called the meeting? Not the Alaafin. Not the Ooni in Ife. But in the Olubadan’s palace in Ibadan — Makinde’s backyard.
2. Who benefits? Not the suffering Yoruba farmer facing insecurity, not the trader crushed by inflation, not the youth without jobs. The benefit goes to the politicians who need traditional legitimacy to sell a second term that the people have not yet agreed to.
3. Can a king installed by a governor ever say NO to that governor’s political arrangement? In Oyo State today, the answer appears to be No.
The communique claims the kings “acknowledged the efforts of the Federal Government in addressing national challenges.” Which efforts? The hunger? The insecurity in the South-West? The kidnappings on Ibadan-Ife road? The collapse of the naira? They read it with straight faces because they were not speaking for Yorubaland. They were speaking for the man who gave them their crowns.
This is not tradition. This is transaction.
Yoruba kings were once the conscience of the nation — they could depose a king, they could warn a president, they could speak truth to power because their power came from the gods and the people, not from Government House.
Today in Oyo, the crown has been captured. The palace has become an extension of the Governor’s office. And on Tuesday, that captured palace was used to announce to Nigeria that “the South-West” has endorsed Tinubu.
No. The South-West did not endorse Tinubu.
Makinde’s kings endorsed Tinubu.
And Yorubaland is watching.
The video & full transcript
“And traditional rulers of the South-West met to deliberate on matters of regional and national importance.
After extensive discussions the council resolved as follows:
1. Reaffirmation of support for the President: The council unanimously reaffirmed its unwavering support for His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and his administration.
The traditional rulers acknowledged the efforts of the Federal Government in addressing national challenges and advancing the development agenda of the council.
2. Mobilization of citizens in support of government programmes:* The council urged all South-West kings and traditional rulers to continue sensitizing and mobilizing…”
The video itself is captioned: “Southwest kings endorse Tinubu for second term”
That is what they said on camera. What they did NOT say is the real story.
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