Prof. Wande Abimbola, a professor of Yoruba language and literature, and a former vice-chancellor of the University of Ife (formerly Obafemi Awolowo University), has revealed the process through which the Alaafin-elect, Prince Abimbola Owoade was chosen.
According to the academician and elder statesman who once served as the Majority Leader of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he was asked by the government to consult the Ifa Oracle to choose the next Alaafin because the Oyomesi Kingmakers had been compromised.
Professor Abimbola revealed this in a video clip currently going viral on social media where he was asked by a concerned Nigerian to confirm or not information that he consulted Ifa to choose the new Alaafin.
-
The prominent Ifa priest who spoke in Yoruba in the video said; “Yes, it’s the Oyo State Government that asked me to consult Ifa. By April this year, it will be three years that our King, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, joined his ancestors. The kingmakers were consulted to pick a successor, and then interested individuals started giving hefty money to the kingmakers to influence their decision.
“This later divided the rank of the kingmakers because they discovered that the money their leader shared to them was a far cry from what he collected. The five kingmakers had earlier supported a particular prince who gave them the heaviest sum but after discovering the act perpetrated by their leader, two of them backtracked. They reached out to the government to say they were no longer in support of the candidate, adding that they just discovered that the money their leader collected from the said prince was incredibly heavy from which he gave them peanuts.
“That’s where the crisis started. Citizens of Oyo too started writing in newspapers to call out government that ‘it’s money you want to use to elect Alaafin into office, is that good?’” he recounted, adding that at that stage the matter became messy.
The reknowned traditionalist, who described the Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde as a good man, said Makinde felt concerned and asked: “Was it not through Ifa divination that the King was chosen in the past?”, adding that if the same process was not explored, the stool would remain monetised and the institution bastardised.
-
The ÀwÃsẹ Awo Àgbà yé lamented the erosion of the integrity of the traditional institution in Yorubaland through monetary inducement saying: “We don’t know of Hausaland or any other land elsewhere but in Yorubaland today, the system has been corrupted with money. They would buy generators, cars and what have you for the kingmakers to influence the process.
Prof. Wande Abimbola discloses the intricate use of Ifa divination in the selection of the new Aalafin of Oyo and the corrupt practices of some of the kingmakers. pic.twitter.com/58NovAOaYB
— Femi Olawole (@FemiOlawole) January 12, 2025
“The kingmakers may collect money from a hundred candidates, it’s the highest bidder that they will give the stool to. That’s how they are doing it now.
“The governor now said he would not accept such, saying that should stop.”
Prof. Abimbola recollected that Gov. Makinde pointed to him and said: “Is this not our father sitting down here who, we know, does not lie or deceive. In all the places he has worked both in government and in the academic community, he never took what does not rightly belong to him and he is an Ifa priest who holds the title of ÀwÃsẹ Awo Àgbà yé . Why not let him go and consult Ifa. If we do it according to the tradition, it would bring appropriate result.”
Owoade emerges Alaafin-elect
On January 10, Seyi Makinde approved the selection of Prince Abimbola Akeem Owoade as the new Alaafin of Oyo, according to a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade.
-
The commissioner stated that Governor Makinde confirmed Prince Owoade as the Alaafin of Oyo after thorough consultations and divinations, as recommended by the Oyomesi.
“Prince Abimbola Akeem Owoade, after thorough consultations and divinations, was recommended by the Oyomesi and approved by Governor Seyi Makinde as the new Alaafin of Oyo,” the statement read.
Earlier, some members of the Oyomesi, or kingmakers, had raised concerns that Governor Makinde was interfering in the selection process, which they considered illegal.
The Oyomesi had selected Prince Lukman Adelodun Gbadegesin as the Alaafin-elect, but the governor had his own candidate.
In response to the selection of Prince Lukman, the governor requested that the kingmakers begin a new selection process.
In a letter sent to the kingmakers on Thursday, Governor Makinde expressed his plan to appoint his own kingmakers to join the original ones.
This action occurred even as the matter was still in court.
According to the Commissioner for Chieftaincy Affairs, the appointment of Prince Abimbola Akeem Owoade has resolved all the legal and social disputes regarding the selection of the new Alaafin.
“This decision has resolved all the socio-legal controversies that arose since the death of the late Oba Adeyemi,” Ojo said.
Oyomesi rejects Owoade’s appointment
However, Oyomesi have described appointment of Prince Abimbola Owoade as Alaafin-Designate by Governor Seyi Makinde as illegal and unlawful.
The Kingmakers in a letter to the Governor signed by their legal representative, Adekunle Sobaloju (SAN), include High Chief Yusuf AkÃnade, Bashorun of Oyo; High Chief Wakeel Akindele, Lagunna of Oyo; High Chief Hamzat Yusuf, Akinniku of Oyo; Chief Wahab Oyetunji, warrant chief stand-in for Asipa of Oyo, and Chief Gbadebo Mufutau, warrant chief stand-in for Alapinnà of Oyo.
The letter reads: “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 chiefs noted that they were surprised that in the announcement by the government, it claimed that the selection was made after wide consultation and divination.
They said: “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 gth 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 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.”
No comments:
Post a Comment