Oyo, Oyo State—Professor Wande Abimbola, a former Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, and the Awise Awo Agbaye, has shed light on how the new Alaafin of Oyo, Abimbola Akeem Owoade, was selected.
About three years after Oba Lamidi Adeyemi’s death, Governor Seyi Makinde approved the appointment of Owoade as Adeyemi’s successor on Friday, January 10.
However, Owoade’s emergence has sparked controversies as some members of the Oyo Mesi (Kingmakers) said he was not their choice.
Oyo Mesi members were involved – Abimbola
Speaking on the development, Prof Abimbola, an Ifa divination professor, consulted Ifa on behalf of the Oyo state government to select a new Oyo monarch and said the Oyo Mesi members were present during the consultation.
His words:
“Now, it is not the case that the kingmakers were bypassed; they were there while we consulted Ifa to choose the best. The Oyo Mesi were there only they had split into two. And one section took the governor to court; that he must take the candidate they presented. There were five kingmakers. They used to be seven. Two of them had died, remaining five.”
Abimbola, who was the third republic’s Majority Leader of the Nigerian Senate, also discussed the corruption allegations levelled against some members of the Oyo Mesi.
He narrated in an interview with Nigerian Tribune:
“Two of the five (Oyo Mesis) went to government to complain that from the bribe that was given to them, what they gave to them was small. So, the EFCC invited all of them and they confessed: “Well, we are very sorry that we are involved in this. This is the money that we got. Please, forgive us.”
“But the others, instead of that, took the government to court, saying that the candidate that they chose through the influence of money must be installed. The case is still in court. So, the two kingmakers who relented were part of the process.
“The governor also picked another two as warrant chiefs in the process of selecting the Alaafin. Which is the normal way it is done. If things are like this and the kingmakers split, if they don’t agree among themselves, they would use warrant chiefs; they (government) find other minor kings or chiefs in the town and they make them warrant chiefs to participate.
“You can’t use somebody who took the government to court anymore. In any case, those ones are adamant on their own choice which the government didn’t want to use. So, it’s not that the choice of Ifa was not acted upon by the kingmakers. They (four of them) were there and they agreed. It’s the kingmakers who chose the person selected by Ifa.”
Ifa does not make a mistake – Abimbola
Speaking on how Ifa selected Owoade as the new Alaafin, Prof Abimbola said he was happy and surprised when Governor Makinde contacted him, asking that Ifa be consulted to pick the next monarch of the ancient Oyo town.
“A year or two ago, we divined, and it was so easy to pick someone, anyone — I didn’t want to know the person. That was how Ifa selected a person,” he said.
The divination professor added that after Ifa was consulted, the state government screened Oba Owoade and “didn’t find anything wrong”.
“He hadn’t committed any crime. They know how they do their own screening. That was the person whose name was announced,” he added.
Asked if Ifa may have made a mistake, especially as some kingmakers are challenging the process, Prof Abimbola said:
“Ifa does not make mistakes. It does not.”
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“I, Ogunwande Ifagbemi Sangodahunsi, did not collect a kobo from anyone.”
He added:
“I did not choose the Alaafin, the kingmakers did. Ifa chose the person and they approved him. They expressed satisfaction with the choice. Maybe they had been scrutinising him all this while to find out if he had done something wrong in a previous workplace or committed any kind of wrong before.
“When they eventually brought his file, it became known that he worked in Canada. This was previously unknown to us. I was happy and I thanked Ifa. He is a chartered engineer. If we do things the way they are supposed to be done, the outcomes will always be right.”
Alaafin: Gbadegesin heads to court
Meanwhile, Prince Lukman Gbadegesin has taken legal action to challenge the appointment of Oba Owoade as the new Alaafin.
Gbadegesin, who some kingmakers backed, is seeking a court order to invalidate Owoade’s appointment.
In a pre-action notice served to Governor Makinde, Gbadegesin’s legal representative, Adekunle Sobaloju SAN, argued that the governor’s decision violates Oyo State Chiefs’ Law 2000 and the Alaafin Chieftaincy Declaration of 1961.