Oyo Kingmakers Write Makinde, Reject Priince Abimbola Owoade’s Appointment As Alaafin
Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
Some members of the Oyomesi (kingmakers) have rejected the appointment of Prince Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin of Oyo.
Seyi Makinde, governor of the state, on Friday approved the appointment of Owoade as the next Alaafin.
In a statement by Dotun Oyelade, the commissioner for information and orientation, Makinde said the approval followed divinations, consultations, and recommendations from the kingmakers.
However, in a letter addressed to the governor, five out of seven members of the Oyomesi described Owoade’s appointment as illegal and invalid.
The aggrieved kingmakers, in the letter written by Adekunle Sobaloju, their legal counsel, said they recommended Luqman Gbadegesin, not Owoade, to the state government as Alaafin.
They argued that the occupant of the stool is chosen in compliance with the registered Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy Declaration of 1967, not by consultation or divination as stated by Makinde.
They added that only the Bashorun, head of the Oyomesi, can convene a meeting to elect an Alaafin, arguing that any meeting Makinde convened is null and void.
The kingmakers in the faction include Yusuf Akinade (Basorun), Wakeel Akindele (Lagunna), Hamzat Yusuf (Akinniku), Wahab Oyetunji, warrant chief standing in for the (Asipa), and Gbadebo Mufutau, warrant chief standing in for (Alapinni).
“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 letter read.
They noted that they were surprised that in the announcement by the government, it claimed that the selection was made after
wide consultation and divination. “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,” they added.
