>
Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Kingmakers in Oyo town, popularly known as Oyomesi, have said that they are waiting on the state governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, to announce the name of the new Alaafin.
Basorun of Oyo, High Chief Yusuf Akinade, stated this in an interview with The PUNCH
Akinade said Oyomesi has concluded the selection process and sent the name of the selected prince to Makinde. He added that they were waiting for a formal announcement from the state government. .
“We concluded the selection process for the new Alaafin on October 4, 2022, and we informed the state government of our decision immediately. As the law of the land demands, we didn’t get any petitions against our decision, but a suit was filed against us.
“We got our own lawyer and we won the case, with the court throwing away the case and stating that the initial decision that Oyomesi made was right. Since then, we have been expecting the governor to make an announcement, but he didn’t. We will continue to wait for him to do that,” he said.
When asked about the insinuations that the governor wanted to frustrate the Oyomesi into conducting another selection process, Akinade said: “We will never do that. God will not allow us to see such a setback. The complete Oyomesi has conducted a process that has been completed, and we have all signed it. We will wait till the governor is satisfied to announce the candidate we have selected.”
Recall that the late Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, who ruled for almost 52 years, passed away on April 22, 2022, at the age of 83.
