The Oyo State Government has insisted that its appointment of Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin of Oyo Empire stands.
This is after five out of the seven kingmakers of the kingdom, known as the Oyomesi, opposed the state government’s decision to appoint the new monarch on Friday.
“We are going to make further comments when it is necessary. For now, the statement the government has put out will suffice,” Dotun Oyelade, the state’s Commissioner for Information, told Premium Times on Saturday.
Oyelade also said that the government’s decision to appoint Owoade was final.
In their objection, the five kingmakers accused Seyi Makinde, the governor of Oyo State, of bypassing the proper process that involved the kingmakers selecting the new Alaafin through a majority vote, and according to the Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy Declaration of 1967.
The five Oyo high chiefs stated that they had already selected Lukman Gbadegesin, an Alaafin of Oyo candidate, through a majority vote as the next monarch in 2022.
On July 6, 2024, FIJ reported that Lamidi Oyewale and Asimiyu Atanda, two Oyomesi chiefs, told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) how Gbadegesin offered each of the five kingmakers in the kingdom N15 million bribes during the Alaafin selection process.
At the time, S.M. Galadanchi, the EFCC counsel, told a high court in Oyo State that Atanda and Oyewale had admitted to the EFCC that the kingmakers decided to choose Gbadegesin as Alaafin Candidate after he offered them N15 million each.
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FIJ had exposed Gbadegesin for his history of bad business and the multimillion-naira debt he once created for a friend.
On May 20, 2023, FIJ published a story on how Gbadegesin chose not to repay a N20 million loan that Omosalewa Akinleye, his UK-based friend, helped him secure from a bank in 2021.
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When the loan became N48 million due to several months of unpaid principal and interest, Akinleye resorted to selling her assets so she could pay the interest.
By then, Akinleye had become a high blood pressure patient due to the stress and anxiety she was subjected to. It was later revealed that Gbadegesin had planned to spend about N200 million in his bid to become the next Alaafin of Oyo.
—FIJ
