RUMPUS OVER BINTU TINUBU'S INSTALLATION AS IYALODE OF LAGOS

Last October,Alhaja Bintu Fatima Omosefe Tinubu was conferred with the highly revered chieftaincy title of Iyalode of Lagos. The event took place at Iga Iduganran, the palace of Oba Rilwan Akiolu, the Oba of Lagos. Alhaja Bintu is the mother of Adewale Jubril Tinubu, the Group Managing Director of Oando Plc, and the widow of Chief Kafaru Oluwole Tinubu, the late eminent police boss, lawyer and patriarch of the Tinubu family of Lagos. But where one would have expected that the installation ceremony of the new Iyalode would be characterized by so much pomp, it was devoid of anything as such. And there there have been whispers and grumbling, bordering on disaffection among prominent Lagos indigenes. 

The ELITES gathered that most Lagos indigenes are indignant at the choice of the new Iyalode of Lagos. This group of aggrieved Lagosians posits that the Iyalode of Lagos title is an exclusive preserve of true Lagos indigenes, and one that should be conferred on women who have uplifted the status of and impacted positively on the state.

 Hajia Bintu, the new Iyalode is a native of Benin City, Edo State, but she was married to K.O. Tinubu for over 40 years before his death in 2003. Aside the fact that she was married to a very prominent Lagos indigene, Hajia Bintu is an active official of the Cosmopolitan Women's Club, Lagos, and she once served as its President. Being the widow of K.O. Tinubu confers on Hajia Bintu, the position of the matriarch of the Tinubu family. Thus, she is very close to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who is her nephew by marriage. It is also imperative to note that the new Iyalode is also close to the Governor Babatunde Fashola, SAN, of Lagos State.  Governor Fashola was a Lead Counsel and the highest fee earner of K. O. Tinubu Law Firm, and he was like a son to the late patriarch of the Tinubu family. 

Some aggrieved Lagosians are reported to be querying the choice of Hajia Bintu, who speaks the Yoruba language with a thick Bini intonation. They are particularly aghast that she could be chosen over more distinguished female personalities in the state. Also, this group avers that it is a rarity to find a non-Bini indigenes being honoured with high ranking chieftaincy titles by the Benin Royal House. 

The office of the Iyalode of Lagos, became vacant in 2012, following the death of Chief Elizabeth Abimbola Rhodes, the wife of the late Chief Olayinka Rhodes, the former lawyer and businessman of the Board Members fame. Like her husband, the former Iyalode was a successful lawyer and businesswoman. She was from the famous Da Silva  in Lagos, and had a heritage of aristocratic mercantilism through her parents. Her younger sister, Chief Olusola Duduyemi, the wife of prominent lawyer and billionaire, Asiwaju Alex Duduyemi. 

Meanwhile, some other prominent Lagos indigenes have frowned at the feeling of disaffection being expressed by the aggrieved group. They explain that, like every other city around the world, Lagos is a cosmopolitan metropolis, where the indigenes alone cannot determine the happenings within it. But the aggrieved group is quick to point out that as cosmopolitan as Lagos may be, there are still indigenes and rights belonging to them. It fears that if the revered title of Iyalode of Lagos could be conferred on a non-indigenes, a stranger can be enthrone as a king in future. The group concludes that the decision to give the Iyalode title to the Tinubu family is part of nepotism being leveled against Senator Bola Tinubu, the Asiwaju of Lagos and party leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC.