From OLUSEYE OJO, Ibadan

THE Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, Aje Ogungunniso I, yesterday put an end to the 19 year-old leadership crisis that rocked the Igbo community in Ibadanland.

The monarch installed Chief Alloy Obi, who settled in the city in 1972, as the new leader of the Igbo in the me­tropolis and its environs, during a brief ceremony held at his Popoyemoja pal­ace.

Oba Adetunji noted that Obi was made Balogun of Ndigbo of Ibadan­land in 1996 and he has proven him­self to be given higher responsibility of leading the Igbo community in Ibadan­land.

According to the monarch, the pal­ace was not unaware of the leadership crisis in the Igbo community, adding that the two contending forces, Chief Alloy Obi and Dr. Alex Anozie, were invited to the palace for amicable reso­lution. At the end of the meeting, Obi was justified to be the leader of Ndigbo.

His words: “One of my predecessors on the stool of Olubadan made Obi Ba­logun of Ndigbo of Ibadanland. I have also deemed it fit to install Obi as the leader of Igbo community in Ibadan­land.

“The two warring factions were in­vited to the palace. They came and the palace resolved that Obi should be the leader of Ndigbo in Ibadanland. This is why I installed him today (yesterday) as the leader of the Igbo in Ibadan.”

Oba Adetunji, however, enjoined the Igbo residents in Ibadan to support their new leader, warning that anybody who rises to cause crisis in the Igbo community in Ibadanland would be dealt with by the constituted authority, according to the law.

An elated Obi, said: “We are here to receive Olubadan’s blessing. Today (yesterday) Olubadan has anointed me as the leader of Igbo in Ibadan. It is a great day for the entire Igbo. That is the end of the crisis of the entire Igbo in Ibadan. God has made it possible. I thank Olubadan, the high chiefs, in­cluding Igbo General Assembly and our women. They are fantastic people.