LITIGATIONS, fear of more litigations and the state governor’s stance continue to drag the processes
towards announcement of the next Alaafin of Oyo and the Soun of Ogbomoso.
The late Soun of Ogbo- moso, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi, died on December 12, 2021, while the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, died on April 22, 2023.
Though, respective king- makers of the two towns have conducted interviews and screening for candi- dates, even up to the stage of nominating Oba-elect, awaiting the state gover- nor’s approval, there has been some calm in recent weeks owing to quite a number of factors.
While a Soun-elect has been nominated and for- warded to the state govern- ment for approval, the Oy- omesi is bidding some time before forwarding the name of the Alaafin-elect to the state government.
At various fora, Governor Seyi Makinde, who is the approving authority, has in- sisted that due process must be followed to prevent a sit- uation where the announce- ment of the new monarchs is greeted with rancor and a plethora of litigations.
Thus far, there are already a number of litigations chal- lenging the choice of the Soun-elect, while there are court cases challenging the processes leading up to the choice of Alaafin-elect by the Oyomesi and those chal- lenging the Alaafin chief- taincy declaration.
While there has been ruling in one of the cases challenging the nomination of Prince Afolabi Ghandi Olaoye by the kingmakers as Soun-elect, there are still pending cases challenging the nomination of Ghandi.
The state governor’s stance, it was gathered, is that all cases concerning emergence of the next Soun should be vacated to pre- vent a situation where the Soun has to attend to cases challenging his eligibility cum emergence even while on the throne.
The governor also asked the Oyomesi to be patient and adhere to due process in arriving at the Alaafin-elect, to prevent a repeat of the situation where a monarch in the state was removed by the court after many years.
The governor’s admoni- tion comes against the back- drop of petitions and litiga- tions against the perceived choice of the Oyomesi. There are no fewer than three litigations against the process leading up to the emergence of the next Alaafin.
One litigation was struck out last week for wrongly claiming that a person had been chosen when no an- nouncement had been made.
Another litigation is chal- lenging the Alaafin chief- taincy declaration for recog- nizing two ruling houses and excluding other children of Atiba while one more litiga- tion is arguing that the said declaration had been pro- nounced defective by the then military government. However, a top member of the Oyomesi, in a con- versation with the Nigerian Tribune, maintained that it is not perturbed by court cases as long as the kingmakers are adhering to legal processes and laid down statues concerning the emergence of the next Alaafin.
The Oyomesi member maintained that the gover- nor has not questioned its decision, but that it was only bidding time, in accordance with the governor’s call for patience, before forwarding the nominee to the state government.
