Eminent Lawyer and Politician Oba Mekunu Owolabi Salis has congratulated Oyo governor, Seyi Makinde, over the successful emergence of a new Alafin of Oyo following the demise of the immediate past Alafin,Oba Lamidi Adeyemi.
The Ikorodu-born Lagosian who is Olori Eyo Alagere of Lagos and Jagun Bashorun of Ibadanland also congratulated the new Oba-elect,Prince Abimbola Owoade, for the divine grace and mother luck, coupled with his personal sterling qualities,that granted him victory over other contestants during the epic race for the highly coveted Alafin throne.
He remarked that the emergence of the new Alafin was indeed one of the best things that could ever happen not only to the Oyo people but the Yorubas and the institution of Obaship in Nigeria as a whole.
Though, there has been a call that there should be a reform of the Alafin and Ooni stools such that any Yoruba person can ascend to both thrones; this will make the privileges attached to both thrones gain strong and full recognition of all Yorubas.
“As a Yoruba traditional High Chief,I am extremely elated because rarely have we had it so well,to have chosen such a highly competent technocrat for the exalted seat of Alafin” said Salis who is also the Akinyegun of Owuland and the Eze gburugburu of Abia State.
“As a young man who attended some of the best universities in the world, with impressive academic distinction,earning a Bachelor’s and Masters degrees, garnered in the highly exacting sphere of Mechanical Engineering,coupled with his professional exposure with some of the best Engineering firms in the world,our great Oyo Kingdom could not have settled for a better king” he stated further.
“It is against this background that we could see in this unique prince,the exemplary case of a man who was not only born great,but went ahead to achieve greatness unto himself”
“It is equally for this reason that I cannot but commend the new Alafin-elect,for his princely carriage,and consciousness which ostensibly implied that he had probably anticipated this moment of glory and had therefore prepared by deliberately grooming himself well in advance for its arrival” said the ex – Lagos State gubernatorial contestant and the first Black African to travel to the North and South Pole,within a season.
Noting that the demise of the immediate past Alafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi,had left a grievous void which had demoralised patriotic Yoruba sons and daughters,who hitherto had habored fears on the possibility of finding a suitable replacement,the eminent Lawyer and scholar, said it was therefore a thing of joy that the emergence of the new Oba-elect had gone a long way in assuaging any lingering fears hitherto harbored in that regard.
He stated that the ancient Oyo Kingdom doesn’t deserve less when we consider it not only as a pride of the Yorubas in Nigeria and diaspora,but Africa and the black race as a whole.
Digging deep into history,he recalled that at the peak of its glory,the great Oyo empire which existed long before the advent of the British colonial overlord,wielded imperial dominion over a sprawling expanse of kingdoms,which extended as far back as Accra on the West,and the banks of the Niger on the East, adding that the fact that King Sango, who was deified after his death, as the god of thunder and lightning in the Yoruba mythology is still worshipped throughout Yorubaland, Dahomey,Benin and even in diaspora land like Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago,among others are ample attestations to the grandeur majesty and influence commanded by this great empire before the advent of the British colonial powers. Alafin as a title is also celebrated in Brazil.
“As a keen student of history, researcher and political scientist,one also notes with a sense of pride that the theory of separation of powers and its composite checks and balances had not only been the dominant theme in the administration of the old Oyo empire, but indeed originated from this great Yoruba kingdom despite the erroneous impression which had often credited the originative authorship of that popular political theory in democratic checks and balances, to Montesquieu the notable French philosopher.
“The complex and intricate but coherently systematised constitutional apparatus of democratic checks and balances is indeed a salute to the creative political engineering and political sophistication of the Yorubas”said the notable scholar and researcher.
The fore-going according to him, is therefore the reason why the Oyo Kingdom require a king with the stature and visionary qualities to propel it to glory and its former leadership status,in tune with the emerging pace of modernity and civilization, adding that there couldn’t have been a better choice than the present Alafin-elect to achieve that tall order vision,in emulation of his fore-runner,Abiodun Atiba,who ranked as the most prosperous Alafin in the history of the old Oyo empire,who in his memorable era propelled the Oyo empire to the zenith of its glory.
“I am therefore seizing this opportunity once again to thank and rejoice with our beloved governor,Seyi Makinde,the Alafin-elect,Prince Owoade,the Oyomesis,my fellow kinsmen in the Oyo Kingdom,and the Yorubas in general both in Nigeria and diaspora for the auspicious era of progress that Oba Owoade’s era promises.It is my utmost prayers that the Almighty Lord above and the spirit of his ancestors will guide and enlighten his path to success.” prayed the Oba Mekunu.
and then