Safiu Kehinde
A faction of the Oyomesi have declared the appointment of Prince Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin by Governor Seyi Makinde as illegal and unlawful.
As against Makinde’s approval of Owoade as the new Alaafin, five kingmakers in a letter issued on Friday have declared the appointment null and void.
The five kingmakers include Yusuf Akinade, the Basorun of Oyo; Wakeel Akindele, the Lagunna of Oyo; Hamzat Yusuf, the Akinniku of Oyo; Wahab Oyetunji, a warrant chief standing in for the Asipa of Oyo; and Gbadebo Mufutau, a warrant chief standing in for the Alapinni of Oyo.
They reportedly held that they did not recommend such a name to the state government, stressing that the only person they recommended as the next Alaafin is Prince Luqman Gbadegesin.
“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 majority of the lawful votes of the Kingmakers.
“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 approved 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,” the letter read.
They noted that they were surprised that in the announcement by the government.
Citing the Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy Declaration of 1967, the Oyomesis stated that 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 contrast to claims of consulting divinations to determine the new King, the Oyomesi emphasized that the Alaafin is not chosen by consultation or divination but in strict compliance with the Registered Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy Declaration of 1967.
“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.” The letter read further
The kingmakers maintained that it is not the governor’s duty to appoint the new Alaafin as they declared Owoade’s appointment null and void.
“Any meeting of few kingmakers and emergency warrant chiefs held at the Governor’s office 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 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,” they said.