By Kolawole Ojebisi
The new Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade, Elewu Etu 1, has revealed how he received the announcement of his name as the successor to the late Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi.
The new monarch made the revelation during an interview with Sunday Tribune which he granted hours after his coronation.
“I was in Canada. Around 5 o’clock Central Standard Time in Canada – that should be around 11 p.m. Nigerian time, because then Nigeria was six hours ahead of Canada, I was sleeping and when I woke up, I decided to just check my phone. The next thing, I received a message from my younger brother who lives in Nigeria. The message he sent was a link. I was surprised. The link he sent to me had a headline which reads: ‘Governor Makinde approves Prince Abimbola Akeem Owoade as Alaafin-elect’. I thought he was playing pranks on me but then I clicked on the link, I took a look again, I read it and said, ‘What’s going on?’ I quickly went to my wife and said, ‘Come, look at this! Look at what I am seeing. I’ve been chosen, I’ve been selected.’ She said, ‘Let me see’, and I showed it to her. She didn’t believe it and said, ‘Are you sure?’ and I said, ‘Dear, look at it’. She took a look for the second time and after getting herself back, she asked, ‘So, what is going to happen now?’ I said, ‘We are moving to Nigeria!’ Honestly speaking, I was happy when I heard the news that I had been selected. My wife too was happy.” Oba Owoade, said.
The new Alaafin insisted that he did not influence his emergence as king stressing that he never met Seyi Makinde before the governor approved him after due consultations using traditional and other means.
“Now, let me tell you this: I swear to Almighty God, I didn’t know the governor. I never met him before. It was based on Ifa divination that I became the Alaafin of Oyo. After looking through my profile, they did a lot of background checks to make sure that I have good education and experience and everything worked together for good for me. I must tell you I didn’t know anybody, I didn’t know Obasanjo. So, I will commend the governor because he respected our culture and tradition.” the new monarch added.
