Alaafin faults Makinde on Oyo Council of Obas and Chiefs

By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, has denied claim by Governor Seyi Makinde that he was among the three traditional rulers consulted on the decision to begin rotation of the chairmanship of Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs.

Makinde had made the claim on Thursday when he inaugurated Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, as Chairman of the newly inaugurated Oyo Council of Obas and Chiefs at the House of Chiefs, State Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.

The Council was last constituted 15 years ago. However, the Alaafin was absent from Thursday’s event, a move interpreted as a protest against the decision to begin the rotation of the chairmanship of the council.

The late Lamidi Adeyemi, the predecessor of Owoade as the Alaafin had always insisted on being the permanent chairman of the Council as the foremost traditional ruler in Oyo state.

Indeed, the failure to inaugurate the Council for the past 15 years was believed to be due to the reluctance of the Alaafin to accept the rotation of the chairmanship.

Owoade is toeing the same line as his predecessor.

However, Makinde said at the inauguration of the Council on Thursday that he consulted with Alaafin and two other top three traditional rulers in the state on the decision to begin rotation of the chairmanship of the Council.

He listed them as Oba Rashidi Ladoja, the Olubadan of Ibadanland; Oba Akeem Owoade, the Alaafin of Oyo; and the Soun of Ogbomosho, Oba Ghandi Olaoye as the three traditional rulers he consulted.

Makinde said the chairmanship position will rotate every two years among the three traditional rulers with Olubadan taking the first turn.

However, in a statement issued on his behalf by Bode Durojaiye, his spokesperson later on Thursday, the Alaafin denied that he was consulted.

He also denied giving his consent on the decision to begin rotation of the chairmanship of Oyo Council of Obas and Chiefs.

“The Palace hereby wants to state clearly that there was no time that His Imperial Majesty, the Alaafin of Oyo , Oba Engineer Abimbola Akeem Owoade 1, held any meeting with either the State Governor or any of the two traditional rulers mentioned above.

“Also the Alaafin did not tell the Governor or make a categorical statement on his endorsement of rotational Chairmanship among the the three traditional rulers in the State,” the statement indicated.

However, the Alaafin did not reveal his position of the rotation of the chairmanship in the state.

Rather, he said his position and and the Entire Oyo Community on the general issue of the State Council of Obas and Chiefs has been enunciated in a Memo delivered to His Excellency by the Oyo Council of Elders.