IYIN-EKITI — A delicate traditional and administrative standoff has gripped Iyin-Ekiti following a formal request by the Oluyin of Iyin-Ekiti, Adeniyi Adeola Ajakaiye, demanding that the chair utilized by Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, during a church service be handed over to the palace.
The monarch’s demand, directed to the Babamuboni Memorial Anglican Church, was flatly turned down by the church leadership, sparking a notable dispute between traditional authorities and ecclesiastical administrators in the community.
Origins of the Dispute
The controversy traces back to May 31, 2026, when Governor Oyebanji attended a high-profile 60th birthday anniversary and thanksgiving service for Omolade Foluso Bamidele, brother to Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele. The ceremony drew a multitude of political heavyweights to the parish just ahead of the 2026 Ekiti governorship election.
Following the service, the monarch’s palace dispatched a formal letter dated June 17, 2026, signed by the Oluyin-in-Council Secretary, Elejide Omobulejo. The correspondence instructed the church to convey the specific seat occupied by the governor to the royal courtyard.
The palace asserted that the item needed to undergo “royal custody and appropriate traditional rites” to address what it termed a “grievous incident” and a “grave oversight against the sanctity of the stool.” Furthermore, the council demanded that any future replacement seating commissioned by the church be placed under strict guard to prevent subsequent breaches.
The Church’s Firm Rebuttal
In a swift and categorical response dated June 18, 2026, signed by the Vicar and Archdeacon, Samuel Sunday Agunbiade, alongside other parish leaders, the church refused the request, citing canonical constraints and structural changes.
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The parish leadership maintained that as an episcopally led and synodically governed institution, local officers lack the unilateral authority to surrender, transfer, or remove consecrated church property for external purposes.
Crucially, the church revealed that the specific chair requested no longer exists in its original form. Citing an ongoing major edifice refurbishment, the administration explained that former pews and furnishings have already been reconfigured, distributed to other parishes, or structurally integrated into the church’s altar furnishings. Consequently, the church stated that the item is no longer an identifiable or removable piece, effectively drawing the curtain on the palace’s unusual requisition.