Alaafin-designate: Oyo kingmakers reject Owoade’s appointment

Kingmakers in Oyo Town on Friday rejected Gov. Seyi Makinde’s appointment of Prince Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin of Oyo.

The kingmakers, in a letter signed by their legal representative, Adekunle Sobalolu, and addressed to the state governor, declared the appointment of Owoade as null and void; illegal and unlawful.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls the Oyo State Government had earlier on Friday announced Owoade as the Alaafin-elect.

The kingmakers claimed they never recommended Owoade to the state government at any time.

They insisted the only person they recommended on Sept. 30, 2022, by the majority of the kingmakers’ lawful votes as the next Alaafin, was Prince Lukman Gbadegesin.

NAN reports that five kingmakers are objecting to the governor’s appointment of the Alaafin-elect.

The five kingmakers are the Bashorun of Oyo, High Chief Yusuf Layinka; the Lagunna of Oyo, High Chief Wakeel Oyedepo, and the Akinniku of Oyo, High Chief Hamzat Yusuf.

The two others are Chief Wahab Oyetunji, the warrant chief standing in for Asipa of Oyo, and Chief Gbadebo Mufutau, the warrant chief standing in for Alapinní of Oyo.

“Prince Lukman Adelodun Gbadegesin, having obtained the majority of votes of the kingmakers present, 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, which culminated in the present appeal at the Court of Appeal,” they said.

They noted they were surprised the government claimed in its announcement that Owoade’s selection was made after wide consultation and divination.

“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.

“This 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.” they said.

The kingmakers said the meeting held at the Governor’s Office or elsewhere on Thursday to select the governor’s preferred candidate was unlawful and illegal.

“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,” said the kingmakers.

They, however, said they had appealed to sons and daughters of Oyo Kingdom to remain calm as they intended to challenge the action in court.