Kingmakers in Oyo Town have rejected the appointment of Prince Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin by Governor Seyi Makinde, describing it as illegal and unlawful.

It would be recalled that earlier on Friday, the state government announced that Makinde had approved the appointment of a new Alaafin of Oyo, two years after the stool became vacant.

However, five kingmakers from the town have declared the appointment null and void, claiming that they did not recommend such a name to the state government, insisting that the only person they recommended as the next Alaafin is Prince Luqman Gbadegesin.

The kingmakers, who made this declaration in a 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; Chief Wahab Oyetunji, warrant chief stand-in for Asipa of Oyo; and Chief Gbadebo Mufutau, warrant chief stand-in for Alapinní of Oyo.

“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 a majority of the lawful votes of the kingmakers.

“Prince Lukman Adelodun Gbadegesin, having obtained the majority of votes from 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.

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, who 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 a 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 the Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy but unlawful, illegal, invalid, null, and void.

“It is not the duty of the Governor to convene the meeting of a 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.