Ibadan, the city of seven hills, will today (Friday) witness the commencement of the reign of 44th Olubadan of Ibadanland, former Oyo State Governor Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, who is to receive his staff of office at Mapo Hall, a historic, colonial-era building, completed in 1929.
Governor Seyi Makinde, who has been on annual leave since 29 August 2025, returned on Thursday to Africa’s largest city by landmass in order to attend the coronation event.
Also expected are a former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; governors, ex-governors, former ministers, traditional rulers, captains of industry, and other prominent personalities.
By Thursday, all vehicular roads leading to Mapo Hall were shut as police officers and members of the Western Security Network (codenamed Amotekun) were stationed at strategic locations within the area.
Some radio and television stations, which are billed to broadcast the coronation live, arrived on Thursday with their Outside Broadcast Van to beat security hindrances.
The event is expected to surpass any in Olubadan history, with dignitaries, led by President Bola Tinubu, who has confirmed his attendance in honour of his friend.
The visual flood of banners and billboards adds to the festive atmosphere, turning the city into one grand canvas of celebration. At night, illuminated billboards light up the skyline, giving Ibadan a carnival-like ambience ahead of the historic coronation.
The coronation marks a continuation of Ibadan’s centuries-old succession tradition, widely regarded as one of the most orderly and rancour-free systems in Yorubaland.
Every journey to the Olubadan throne begins with becoming a Mogaji (the head of the extended family compound). For Ladoja, this came in the 1980s when he was installed as the Mogaji of the Ladoja family of Arusa compound, Isale-Osi, Ibadan.
On 1 October 1993, Ladoja was installed as the Jagun Olubadan by the famous Olubadan Yesufu Oloyede Asanike, who reigned as the 37th Olubadan from 1982 to 1994. Jagun Olubadan being the very first rung on the Egbe Agba line, that marked Ladoja’s formal entry into the chieftaincy hierarchy — and a gradual but steady climb up the ranks, with each title carrying greater responsibility within Ibadan’s traditional administration. He successfully climbed the 22 steps to reach the Olubadan throne.
For the Otun line from where Ladoja emerged, the movement is from Jagun Olubadan to Ajia – Bada – Aare Onibon – Gbonnka – Aare Egbe Omo-Oota – Lagunna – Aare Ago – Ayingun – Asaju – Ikolaba – Aare Alasa – Agba Akin – Ekefa – Maye – Abese – Ekarun Olubadan – Ekerin Olubadan – Ashipa Olubadan – Osi Olubadan – Otun Olubadan and eventually Olubadan.
In 2022, Ladoja was formally elevated to the position of Otun Olubadan, the second-in-command to the Olubadan and the highest-ranking chief on the Egbe Agba line. He thus became the most senior of the Ibadan civil chiefs, which placed him next in line to become the Olubadan.
He played a key role in nominating the late Oba Lekan Balogun and also presided over the nomination process for the late Oba Owolabi Olakulehin.”
In 2017, when the then Governor Abiola Ajimobi elevated 21 obas in Ibadan, Ladoja stood alone with the then Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji. His belief in the dignity and structure of the Ibadan chieftaincy system made him an outspoken critic of the attempt to tamper with its succession process at the time. He challenged the late governor in court.
When Makinde reinvented the same law and re-crowned the monarchs, Ladoja, now a lone voice, stood away again. He explained his decision: ‘I only want to adorn one crown and that is the Olubadan crown. My journey on the Olubadan line is not about politics. It is a matter of tradition, identity, and service’.
He maintained that Ibadan’s chieftaincy system must not be politicised or commercialised. ‘Ibadan does not need multiple kings’, he argued, insisting that the hierarchical order that allows a Mogaji to one day become Olubadan is one of the city’s most democratic and egalitarian legacies.
Section 4 of the amendment, titled “New Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration”, replaced “the most Senior (High) Chief in that line” with “the most Senior Beaded Crown Oba in that line”.
Section 4 of the new law states: “The person who may be proposed as a candidate by the Line whose turn it is to fill a vacancy in the office of the Olubadan shall be the most Senior Beaded Crown Oba in that line”.
Ibadan elders then met with Ladoja and prevailed on him to take the beaded crown. Announcing his readiness to accept the beaded crown at a radio programme in Ibadan in August 2024, Ladoja said that various Ibadan indigenes and non-indigenes had pressured him to accept the beaded crown to facilitate his ascension to the throne when the time came. On 12 August 2024, Oba Olakulehin, in his first official duty after his coronation, crowned Ladoja as an Ibadan oba.
For Oba Ladoja, the Arusa I and 44th Olubadan of Ibadanland, today marks the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. It is a day he had long anticipated and spoken into existence many years ago. He never left anyone in doubt that he would one day wear the crown of the Olubadan. He will go down in history as the first Olubadan from his family compound and from the community.
