We Never Recommended Owoade As Alafin –Oyo Kingmakers

All may not be well with the emergence of Prince Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin of Oyo: some Oyo kingmakers say that he was not their choice.

They do not want to leave at that, but state their readiness to challenge the choice in court, should

Stating their position in a letter signed by their legal representative, Adekunle Sobalolu, and addressed to the state governor, they described the appointment of Owoade as null and void; illegal and unlawful.

According to them, they never, in their recommendations mentioned Owoade, and wonder how his name came out as the new Alafin of Oyo.

The Oyo 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; 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

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They state that the only candidate that they recommended on September 30, 2022, by majority lawful votes as the next Alaafin, was Prince Lukman Gbadegesin.

“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.

“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

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According to Oyo kingmakers therefore, the meeting held at the office of Governor Seyi Makinde  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,” NAN report quotes them as stating.

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.