Kingmakers in Oyo have rejected the appointment of Prince Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin by Governor Seyi Makinde. They described the appointment as illegal and invalid.
Earlier on Friday, the state government announced that Makinde approved the appointment of Owoade as the new Alaafin of Oyo, two years after the position became vacant.
Reacting to the news in a letter to the governor, signed by their lawyer, Adekunle Sobaloju on Friday, five Kingmakers from Oyo declared the appointment invalid, noting that they did not recommend Prince Abimbola Owoade to the state government.
They insist that their chosen candidate for the Alaafin was Prince Luqman Adelodun Gbadegesin.
The Kingmakers, who made this declaration 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, a 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,” the letter read.
“Any meeting of few kingmakers and emergency warrant chiefs held at the Governor’s office on the 9th 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.”
