The appointment of Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin of Oyo, has been rejected by a faction of the Oyomesi (kingmakers).
On Friday, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, gave his approval for the appointment of Owoade as the next Alaafin.
However, five of the seven members of the Oyomesi have described Owoade’s appointment as illegal.
The kingmakers in this faction are Yusuf Akinade (Basorun), Wakeel Akindele (Lagunna), Hamzat Yusuf (Akinniku), Wahab Oyetunji, warrant chief standing in for the (Asipa), and Gbadebo Mufutau, warrant chief standing in for (Alapinni).
The kingmakers, in a letter by Adekunle Sobaloju, their legal counsel, told the governor that they recommended Luqman Gbadegesin, not Owoade, as Alaafin.
The rejection letter read: “You will recall that on 30th September 2022, at the meeting of the Kingmakers in accordance with the Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy Declaration, 1961, the Kingmakers appointed Prince Lukman Adelodun Gbadegesin as the Alaafin of Oyo by a majority of the lawful votes of the Kingmakers,” the letter reads.
“Prince Lukman Adelodun Gbadegesin, having obtained the majority of votes of the Kingmakers present and voting, was deemed appointed, and his name was forwarded to your Excellency as the candidate appointed by the Kingmakers as Alaafin of Oyo for your approval, which you refused to approve for no disclosed reason at all.
“The Kingmakers thereafter filed an action to stop your excellency from truncating the process, culminating in the present appeal at the court of appeal.
“We must emphatically state that the Alaafin is not chosen by consultation or divination but in strict compliance with the Registered Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy Declaration of 1967, which codifies the native law and custom governing the selection process for the vacant stool of the Alaafin.
“Under the Registered Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy Declaration of 1967, it is only the Bashorun of Oyo, the head of the Oyomesi and Kingmakers, that can summon a meeting of the Kingmakers for the purpose of selecting a candidate to fill the vacant stool of the Alaafin of Oyo.
“In this instance, the Bashorun did not summon any such meeting, nor was there any meeting convened in the Alaafin’s palace, as custom demands, where the said Prince Abimbola Akeem Owoade was selected or appointed as the new Alaafin.
“Any meeting of few kingmakers and emergency warrant chiefs held at the Governor’s office on the 9th of January, 2025, or elsewhere at the instance of the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, to select the preferred candidate of the Governor as the new Alaafin is not only contrary to the native law and custom and Chieftaincy Declaration of Alafin of Oyo Chieftaincy but unlawful, illegal, invalid, null, and void.
“It is not the duty of the governor to convene the meeting of a few kingmakers and emergency warrant chiefs to select or appoint a new Alaafin on the 9th of January, 2025, and hurriedly approve the appointment on the 10th of January, 2025.
“Your Excellency’s unilateral decision to appoint and/or approve the appointment of Prince Abimbola Akeem Owoade, without due regard for the provisions of the Registered Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy Declaration of 1967 and pending application for injunction pending appeal, may go down in history as the worst executive recklessness and disregard for the integrity of the court ever exhibited by a sitting Governor,” the letter reads further.
“Sir, your excellency cannot sit in your office and handpick the Alaafin, disregarding the established customs and traditions of the Oyo Kingdom.
“We have our client’s instruction to inform your excellency that they have appealed to sons and daughters of the Oyo Kingdom to remain calm in the face of the unjustified attack and desecration of the custom of the community, which had from time immemorial saddled the Oyomesi/Kingmakers with the responsibility to select a candidate from the next ruling house entitled to produce a candidate to fill the vacant stool of the Alaafin of Oyo.
“Our clients hereby assure your Excellency and all Oyo sons and daughters that this unlawful action shall be challenged in court, as we are confident that it will not withstand judicial scrutiny.
“We respectfully advise Your Excellency to retrace your steps and allow the Kingmakers to discharge their duties without interference. Any act contrary to the Alaafin Chieftaincy Declaration is void ab initio and an affront to the traditions of the Oyo Kingdom.”
