On Wednesday, May 14, public attention diverted to Oyo when news broke that the Oyo State House of Assembly was going to review the chieftaincy law that declared the Alaafin of Oyo the sole permanent chairman of the Council of Obas and Chiefs in the state. Tension had began to gather as people of Oyo saw the said ammendment as a ploy to strip their monarch his traditional authority he has enjoyed over others in the state.
While public was waiting for a statement from the 46th Alaafin, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade, on Thursday his flight landed in Abuja, and on Friday, he was a royal guest to President Bola Tinubu in the Presidential Villa where he went with no fewer that eight other traditional rulers from Oyo and Kwara State.
Walking in royal splendour, decked in ofi fabric and accompanied by his wife, Olori Abiwumi Owoade, the Alaafin alighted into the waiting arms of the president’s details who led him to the room where Tinubu later met him and his entourage, including the Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Sefiu Oyebola Adeyeri, the Okere of Saki, Oba Khalid Olabisi Oyeniyi, the Oloro of Oro, Oba Joel Olaniyi Oyatoye, the Ona Onibode of Igboho, Oba Abdulrasheed Adetoyese Jayeola and others.
The president’s arrival sparkled the room with his pleasantries he chanted in Yoruba, sooner after which the conversation took off. He told the Alaafin of his acknowledgement of the traditional institution as an important partner government needs to fulfill its purpose in the office, urging royal fathers to rise to their duties.
Though jocularly, Tinubu said Oba Owoade’s return to Canada after his appointment had been announced in January caused a stir to the extent that he nearly contacted President of Canada to seek information about his whereabouts.
“We were together in Brazil where he told me he wouldn’t run for office again. I wanted to ask him whether he can help me locate my Alaafin. But I was later assured that you went to sign off,” he revealed.
The president congratulated the Alaafin and said that the stool on which he sits after succession struggle could not have been his if God had not designed it to be so, liking it to his road to the presidency in 2023.
Still extolling his virtue as a credible Nigerian who was doing the country proud in his engineering field in Canada before the palace, the President added, “You have lifted the name of Oyo, even while in Canada. Now, you return home to carry the legacy forward. The Yoruba race has a future in your hands.”
The attentive Alaafin, in a prepared speech, appreciated the President and reminded him of his quality as a warrior who, according to him, had “conquered many battles with courage and compassion”, adding that “Today, Nigerians are hungry for a new vision—one that brings hope, fairness, and progress to every corner of this nation. Oyo stands with you. The Yoruba are ready. Nigeria is ready.”
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