I’m the only monarch with authority to install titles covering Yorubaland — Alaafin

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade I, has stated that only the throne of Oyo has the authority to confer chieftaincy titles that carry the name “Yorubaland.”

The monarch made this declaration during the installation of Senator Abdul-Aziz Yari as Obaloyin of Yorubaland and Barrister Seyi Tinubu as Okanlomo of Yorubaland on Sunday at Aganju Forecourt, Aafin Oyo.

Oba Owoade emphasised that chieftaincy in Yoruba culture is not a matter of favour or decoration but a duty that comes with responsibility. 

He explained that the throne of Oyo has historically served as a central coordinating authority for the Yoruba people, a role recognised both during colonial administration and in post-independence governance.

The Alaafin highlighted that titles bearing the name “Yorubaland” are collective titles representing the Yoruba people as a whole, not individual towns or kingdoms, and must therefore be conferred by an authority whose reach spans the entire region. 

He noted that colonial records, post-independence councils, scholarly works, and the Supreme Court of Nigeria have all affirmed this historical authority.

Oba Owoade described the newly installed titles as positions of trust requiring courage, loyalty, and service to the Yoruba people. 

He added that such honours are meant to bind recipients more closely to Yorubaland and reinforce that authority, tradition, and respect for boundaries are central to sustaining Yoruba culture.

He urged the new titleholders to serve with humility and to ensure that their honours contribute to unity, dignity, and the collective good of Yorubaland.

He said partly, “We are gathered here today for a purpose that goes beyond celebration. We are here to witness history and to place responsibility where tradition has long placed it. Chieftaincy, in our culture, is not an act of favour. It is not decoration. It is duty, conferred only when history, authority, and responsibility align.

“From the earliest organisation of the Yoruba people, authority was never vague. Our forebears understood structure. This understanding gave Yorubaland stability long before modern governance arrived.

“The throne of Oyo emerged in that history as a coordinating authority, by responsibility. When colonial administration came, it did not invent this reality; it encountered it and recorded it. By 1914, Oyo Province had become the largest province in Southern Nigeria, covering 14,381 square miles. It was bounded in the north by Ilorin and Kontagora, in the east by Ondo and Ijebu, in the south by Ijebu and Abeokuta, and in the west by French Dahomey. This reflected recognised leadership over a wide and diverse space.

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“This history explains why certain chieftaincy titles are different in nature. Titles that bear the name “Yorubaland” are not local titles. They are collective titles. They speak not for one town or one kingdom, but for the Yoruba people as a whole. Such titles must therefore proceed from an authority whose reach, by history and by law, extends across Yorubaland.

“Today, I do not speak to provoke debate. I speak to state order. Among the Yoruba, authority has never been a matter of assumption or convenience. It has always been a matter of history, structure, and law. Thrones were not created equal in function, even though all are sacred in dignity. From the earliest organization of Yorubaland, the Alaafin of Oyo occupied a central and coordinating authority—an authority that extended beyond the walls of Oyo and into the collective political life of the Yoruba people. This was not self-declared. It was recognised, enforced, and sustained across generations.

“Colonial records acknowledged it. Post-independence councils preserved it. Scholars documented it.

“And finally, the Supreme Court of Nigeria affirmed it. The law is clear. History is settled. Chieftaincy titles that bear the name Yorubaland—titles whose meaning, influence, and obligation are not confined to a single town or kingdom—fall under a singular, established authority. That authority is the throne of Oyo.”

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