OBJ, Akala parley over Olubadan, Adedibu feud

Adeolu Adeyemo and Stephen Gbadamosi - 14.01.2008

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala on Sunday in Ibadan held a closed-door meeting reportedly to find a lasting solution to the feud between the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana and a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Oyo State, Chief Lamidi Adedibu.

A source close to the former president informed the Nigerian Tribune that Obasanjo seized the opportunity of the inauguration of the Methodist Diocese of Elekuro, Ibadan and enthronement of the diocesan bishop, Right Reverend James Olusegun, to which he, Alao-Akala and the Ekiti state Governor, Mr. Segun Oni, were invited, to find a solution to face-off between the monarch and the PDP chieftain.

There had been allegations by the monarch that his salaries and other entitlements were being held by the Oyo State governor at the instance of Adedibu. Adedibu had debunked the allegation, claiming that he had no such powers to withhold the monarch’s entitlements.

Obasanjo, who declined to speak to journalists after the meeting, told the Elekuro Diocese of Methodist Church, that it was on the right path by making evangelism its thrust.

“Any church that does not take evangelism serious is not doing the right thing,” he told the congregation. Earlier, the former prelate of Methodist Church, Nigeria, His Eminence, Sunday Mbang, had warned Nigerian leaders to desist from ascribing their successes to their personal efforts.