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Alaafin Saga: Makinde Vows To Prosecute Kingmakers

Alaafin Saga: Makinde Vows To Prosecute Kingmakers
  • PublishedJanuary 13, 2025

Seyi Makinde, the governor of Oyo State, promised to prosecute those who took bribes during the delayed selection process of the new Alaafin of Oyo.

Osun Defender reports that on July 6, 2024, it was reported that Lamidi Oyewale and Asimiyu Atanda, two Oyomesi chiefs, told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) how Gbadegesin offered each of the five kingmakers in the kingdom N15 million bribes during the Alaafin selection process.

At the time, S.M. Galadanchi, the EFCC counsel, told a high court in Oyo State that Atanda and Oyewale had admitted to the EFCC that the kingmakers decided to choose Gbadegesin as Alaafin Candidate after he offered them N15 million each.

Before the hearing, the court had rejected the Oyomesi chiefs’ request to stop the EFCC from probing them for taking bribes from Gbadegesin.

The chiefs had also claimed the Oyo State Government was using the EFCC to witch-hunt them.

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The chiefs’ application was rejected on grounds of incompetence.

However, speaking on Monday at a conference where he presented the staff and certificate of office to Akeem Abimbola Owoade, the 46th Alaafin of Oyo, Makinde said the government would not let those who attempted to destabilise the state’s traditional institutions off the hook.

“Those who are still hellbent on destabilising our traditional institutions in Oyo, the government is not letting down, we will prosecute them,” Makinde said.

“The money they collected, they will still be prosecuted except they go to the Kabiyesi and they move to…If he forgives them, I will also forgive them.”

He also emphasised that the stool of the Alaafin is not for sale. This is amid controversies of favouritism among the kingmakers of Oyo town.

“The Alaafin’s stool is very important, not just to Oyo State but, to the entire Yoruba race. So under my watch, I made it very clear that the stool is not for sale. It is not a stool for us to toil with,” Makinde said.

On Friday, Makinde appointed Owoade as the new Alaafin of Oyo, nearly three years after the death of Lamidi Adeyemi, the previous Alaafin, in April 2022.

The Oyo State Government affirmed that Owoade’s appointment was final even as the kingmakers accused the governor of bypassing the protocol.

Five of them stated that they had already selected Lukman Gbadegesin, an Alaafin of Oyo candidate, through a majority vote as the next monarch in 2022.

Makinde has, however, maintained that the kingmakers did not follow due process and took bribes during the selection process.

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