- Says Makinde’s Action Unacceptable
By Afolabi Samuel Odunayo
A faction of the Oyo town kingmakers, known as the Oyo Mesi, has opposed any plan by the Oyo State Government to start a new process for selecting the Alaafin of Oyo.
In a letter to Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, Kunle Sobaloju (SAN), counsel for the kingmakers, expressed their opposition.
This response was prompted by media reports suggesting the government’s intention to disrupt the initial process concluded by the kingmakers.
Sobaloju advised the governor to avoid actions that might prejudice pending court appeals.
The conflict arose after the death of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, on April 22, 2022. The Oyomesi and the Oyo State government have since been embroiled in a legal battle over selecting the new monarch.
Earlier, the kingmakers had selected Prince Lukman Gbadegesin from among 82 candidates following the ruling house’s nomination process. They then forwarded his name to the Oyo State government for certification.
However, the Gov Makinde-led administration ordered a rerun of the process due to opposition from three other factional members of the Oyo Mesi.
Led by High Chief Yusuf Ayoola, the Bashorun of Oyo, the kingmakers filed a suit against the Oyo State government for attempting to revise the standing selection process.
Represented by the Ibadan-based lawyer, the Oyomesi said in the letter sent to the Oyo State governor thus: “We wish to restate that in view of the pending appeals in Appeal No: CA/IB/134/24 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 Oyo 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 16th ofApril 2024, it would be subjudice for Your Excellency to take any step that may render the decisions of the Court of Appeal nugatory.
“Commencing a fresh process to fill the vacant stool of the Alaafin of Oyo, such action would be sub judice and tantamount to lawlessness and disregard of the superior courts of record, an act which Your Excellency ought to distance yourself from.”
Speaking on the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter, the letter added further: “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.”
