LITIGATIONS, fear of more litigations and the state governor’s stance continue to drag the processes towards the announcement of the next Alaafin of Oyo and the Soun of Ogbomoso.
The late Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi, died on December 12, 2021, while the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, died on April 22, 2022.
Though respective kingmakers of the two towns have conducted interviews and screening for candidates, even up to the stage of nominating Oba-elect, awaiting the state governor’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 forwarded to the state government for approval, the Oyomesi 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 insisted that due process must be followed to prevent a situation where the announcement of the new monarchs is greeted with rancour and a plethora of litigations.
Thus far, there are already a number of litigations challenging 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 challenging the Alaafin chieftaincy 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 the emergence of the next Soun should be vacated to prevent 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 admonition comes against the backdrop of petitions and litigations 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 announcement had been made.
Another litigation is challenging the Alaafin chieftaincy declaration for recognising two ruling houses and excluding other children of Atiba while one more litigation is arguing that the said declaration had been pronounced defective by the then military government.
However, a top member of the Oyomesi, in a conversation 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 statutes concerning the emergence of the next Alaafin.
The Oyomesi member maintained that the governor 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.
