By Emmanuel Adeleke
A faction of the kingmakers (Oyo Mesi) in Oyo town, has kicked against the plan by Oyo State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, to commence a fresh process to select a new Alaafin of Oyo.
Counsel to the kingmakers, Kunle Sobaloju (SAN), in a letter addressed to the governor, warned against restarting the process to select a new Alaafin of Oyo.
The kingmakers, through Sobaloju, were reacting to a media report that the governor had discarded the process process alreasy concluded by them.
He advised the governor not to do anything that could prejudice the pending appeals in courts.
Following the death of Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, on April 22, 2022, there was a crisis as the kingmakers engaged the Oyo State Government in a legal battle over the selection of a new monarch.
After a nomination process by the ruling house, the kingmakers met, screened 82 contestants and chose Prince Lukman Gbadegesin, whose name was forwarded to the Oyo State Government for ratification.
However, there was opposition to the choice of Gbadegesin by three of the kingmakers, which prompted Oyo State Government to order a repeat of the exercise.
The majority of kingmakers, led by the Basorun of Oyo, High Chief Yusuf Ayoola, however, took the government to court.
Sobaloju, representing the kingmakers in court, in his letter to Makinde, said: “We wish to restate that in view of the pending appeals, High Chief Yusuf Akinade Ayoola Layinka & Ors v. Governor of Oyo State & Ors and the pending application for interlocutory orders of injunction restraining Your Excellency, servants, agents, assigns, and or privies or otherwise and howsoever from aborting the process for the selection/appointment of the candidate for filling the vacant stool of Alaafin of Oyo, duly conducted by the kingmakers of Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy and or removing the appellants/applicants as the kingmakers of the Alaafin or dissolving the Oyomesi in Council and or appointing or selecting warrant chiefs to conduct or start a fresh process or exercise for the filling of the vacant stool of Alaafin of Oyo, pending the determination of the appeal against the ruling of Justice Akintola of High Court of Oyo, delivered on April 16, 2024, it would be subjudice for Your Excellency to take any step that may render the decisions of the Court of Appeal nugatory.”
He said if the governor proceeded to commence the fresh process to fill the vacant stool of Alaafin of Oyo, such action “would be subjudice and tantamount to lawlessness and disregard of the superior courts of record, an act which Your Excellency ought to distance yourself from.”
He said the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, had at various times frowned on parties before the court engaging in self-help.
“Particular reference is made to the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Ajuwon & Ors v. Governor of Oyo State & Ors. (2021) LPELR-55339(SC), where the Supreme Court states ‘…it is unthinkable for a democratically elected governor to embark on unwholesome and undemocratic tendencies.’
“We, therefore, once more request and urge Your Excellency to suspend any plan to kick-start a fresh process for the filling of the vacant stool of Alaafin of Oyo during the pendency of a motion for injunction pending appeal, in obedience to the law and integrity of our courts,” Sobaloju stated.
