Some 33 months after the death of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has presented the staff of office to a successor, Abimbola Akeem Owoade.
The kingmakers, the Oyomesis, however, reportedly kept away from the event.
They said they did not submit the name of Owoade as the next king.
Makinde made the presentation of the official instrument legitimising Owoade’s reign at the Exco Chamber of the Governor’s Office in Ibadan, the state capital Monday morning.
Last week, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Dotun Oyelade, said Owoade, after thorough consultations and divinations, was recommended by the Oyomesi and approved by Makinde.
Kingmakers in Oyo said that Makinde announcing Owoade was illegal and unlawful.
The new monarch will succeed Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, the Alaafin of Oyo, who joined the ancestors on April 22, 2022, aged 83.
Five kngmakers from the town declared the appointment null and void because they did not recommend such a name to the state government, insisting that the only person they recommended as the next Alaafin was Prince Luqman Gbadegesin.
In a statement during the week, the Kingmakers expressed surprise over the announcement by the government, which had said that the selection came after wide consultation and divination.
“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.”
Adeyemi III ruled for 52 years, making him the longest-reigning Alaafin.
He was born on October 15, 1938 and was the third from the Alowodu Ruling House.
