Kingmakers knocks Owoade appointment as Alaafin

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde’s approval of Prince Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin of Oyo has steered the anger of the kingmakers in the ancient kingdom, the Oyomesi.

A statement signed by the Oyo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, yesterday had declared that Prince Owoade, after thorough consultations and divinations, was recommended by the Oyomesi and approved by the Oyo State governor.

A statement to that effect, he said, had been issued by the Honourable Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Ademola Ojo, who declared that the announcement had put to rest all the social and legal bickerings that had ensued since the demise of the immediate past Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, on April 22, 2022.

But in a letter they addressed to Governor Makinde yesterday, the kingmakers described the governor’s appointment of Prince Owoade as the new Alaafin as illegal and unlawful.

The kingmakers in the letter to the governor, signed by their legal representative Adekunle Sobaloju (SAN), include High Chief Yusuf Akínade, Bashorun of Oyo; High Chief Wakeel Akindele, Lagunna of Oyo; High Chief Hamzat Yusuf, Akinniku of Oyo; Chíef Wahab Oyetunji, warrant chief stand-in for Asipa of Oyo, and Chief Gbadebo Mufutau, warrant chief stand-in for Alapinní 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 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.”

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