It is the Turn of Alaafin Owoade

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Every ascension of an Alaafin is an important moment in Yoruba history.  So is it with the coming of our father, Alaafin Abimbola Akeem Owoade, who began his reign with the symbolic outing in Oyo on Saturday March 29, 2025.  The Alaafin traditionally represents Yoruba military power.  So potent was his power that one of the panegyrics of Olodumare was Alaafin Ode Orun, the Alaafin of the celestial space.  The empire is gone now, but the symbol and the relevance are still there.  Therefore, it was not surprising that the Oyo people put up a great show to signal the beginning of a new reign.  Times have changed and this is symbolised by the presence of His Eminence, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, whose forefathers destroyed the old Oyo capital and seized the crown of the Alaafin.  Of course, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, the Ooni of Ife, and Arole Oodua, led a retinue of Yoruba Obas to the ceremony.

The Ooni’s presence was symbolic and important especially for the future of the Yoruba nation.  Oba Adeyeye, since his ascension about 10 years ago, has been trying to restore the amity of old among Yoruba obas before politics intervened especially during the Second Republic.  In 1988, I was in court when Justice Aderoju Aderemi, son of the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi, delivered a judgement in favour of Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the Alaafin, who had wanted to install my late boss, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, as the Aare Ona Kakanfo, the traditional head of the Oyo Imperial Army. One of Alaafin’s chiefs, Amoda Olorunosebi, the Ashipa of Oyo, had taken the Alaafin to court, challenging his powers to appoint an Aare Ona Kakanfo. The court ruled that the Alaafin had the power.  The following morning, Abiola was installed the Are Ona Kakanfo. 

But the struggle in Oyo was not for the chicken-hearted.  Few years after Abiola became the  Kakanfo, Olorunosebi was murdered in a gruesome manner in 1992.  His family held the Alaafin responsible for his gory fate and refused to present another candidate for the position of Ashipa.  One of Olorunosebi’s sons, Ismaila, was our staff in TELL magazine.  One day, he joined two of his colleagues for an official assignment in Lagos.  When the company van reached Pen-Cinema, Agege, Ismaila said he would like to pick something in the market and asked the others to wait for him. They did.  He has not returned till today.

Olorunosebi was a descendant of Oja, who had provided refuge for Oyo stragglers after Alaafin Oluewu was killed in battle in the 19th Century, betrayed by his own generals, and the capital was quickly evacuated.  Oja’s friend, Atiba Atobatele, a son of Alaafin Abiodun, eventually was crowned the Alaafin in exile and he made Ago Oja his temporary abode.  He believed, with the help of his two formidable generals, Kurumi of Ijaye and Oluyole of Ibadan, he would soon recover his old capital and Oja, his friend, would be well compensated for his benevolence and hospitality.  However, both Kurumi and Oluyole only paid lip service to the interest of their overlord and pursued their own separate ambitions.  Therefore, Atiba never recovered his city and Ago Oja became Oyo till today.  Owoade is the 7th Alaafin to reign in the new capital.

History has therefore cut out the assignments for Alaafin Owoade. One is to find reconciliation with the family of Olorunosebi and the larger citizens of Ago Oja, the traditional owners of the present Oyo. After the assassination of Olorunosebi, they had refused to present another candidate for the stool of Ashipa.  Instead, they appointed an Oba Alagooja who also constituted his own Council of Chiefs.  The case is still in court.  

Kabiyesi Owoade should realise that there is no need to play the old game by the old rules that dominated the later years of his illustrious predecessor, Alaafin Adeyemi. When he was installed the Alaafin in 1970 by the regime of then Brigadier Adeyinka Adebayo, the military Governor of the West, Oba Adeyemi became the fourth Alaafin to work alongside Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the Ooni.  When Aderemi became the Ooni in 1930, the Alaafin then was the legendary Oba Siyanbola Ladigbolu whose reign was to span 1911 to 1944.  It was with Oba Ladigbolu that Aderemi organised the first Yoruba Obas Summit of 1935.  The meeting, presided over by the Ooni, was hosted by Alaafin Ladigbolu in Oyo.  Among leading princes of Oduduwa that attended was the Oba of Benin, Oba Akenzua II, who was on the throne from 1933 to 1978.  When Ladigbolu joined his ancestors in 1944, he was succeeded by his cousin, Adeniran Adeyemi, whose reign ended dramatically in 1954 when he was deposed by the Western Regional government of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. That paved the way for Bello Gbadegesin Ladigbolu II, son of Oba Siyanbola Ladigbolu.  Oba Ladigbolu died in 1968, and he was succeeded in 1970 by our father, Oba Olayiwola Adeyemi III, son of the deposed Adeyemi II.  Alaafin Adeyemi III was to reign for 52 eventful years.  Through the reigns of these Alaafins; Ladigbolu I, Adeyemi II, Ladigbolu II and Adeyemi II, Ooni Aderemi, who reigned for half-a-century, remained on the throne and served as the leader of the House of Oduduwa.

Aderemi’s long reign witnessed revolutionary changes.  When he came to the throne in 1930, Nigeria had only three administrative units, the Colony of Lagos, the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria and the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. By the time he died in 1980, Nigeria had been divided into 19 states, including Oyo, where he remained the chairman of the Council of Obas.  The Alaafin, as it was in the Western State, remained his Vice-Chairman.  When the Ooni became too enfeebled to preside over meetings, the Alaafin became the acting-chairman of the Oyo State Council of Obas.  Then the Ooni joined his ancestors in 1980.  Baba Alaafin wrote a petition to Governor Bola Ige that he would like to be appointed the substantive chairman of the Council of Obas.  Ige refused.  Instead, he announced that the newly installed Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, would be the Chairman of the Council of Obas.  When Dr Omololu Olunloyo from Ibadan became governor in October 1983, he too preferred to follow tradition.

At the centre of the struggle was the interpretation of the Arole tradition that is the mainstay of Yoruba obaship.  In ancient times, the ancestors have created a rulership system that revolved around a mythological figure, Oduduwa, who received the right to rule in perpetuity from Olodumare, the Supreme God.  His descendants derived their rights to the various thrones in Yorubaland and beyond from him.  Every of his sons, wherever they settled, have the right to become the oba as long as they are gifted with the crown from Oduduwa or any of his descendants. There are many stories where an Ife prince had come to a community with his entourage, and they succeeded in upturning the autochthonous rulership. An example is the great Benin Kingdom. 

Every oba is the representative, or heir, of the first Oduduwa descendant to occupy his throne.  He cannot be promoted nor transferred.  It is this Arole tradition that gives the Alaafin precedence over every oba in Oyo State including the Soun of Ogbomosho and the Olubadan of Ibadan who are presiding over bigger polities.  The Alaafin is the Arole of Oranmiyan, the most famous grandson of Oduduwa.  He is also Sango, a deified Alaafin and every other oba that have reigned before him and he can invoke their powers if need be.  Professor Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, once told a story about an incident when he visited the late Alaafin Adeyemi, who in a jiffy, invoke Sango to send down the rain!   

It is the Arole Tradition that makes every oba a living ancestor.  When the prince is led into the Ipebi preceding his coronation, it is to transfigure him.  In those few weeks of seclusion, he would be properly cooked and immersed into the sacerdotal essence of his office. When he emerged from the Ipebi, he would have become a new person.  Note that this is true mostly of the obas who direct descendants of Oduduwa are and who brought their original crowns from Ile-Ife. It does not apply to the new generation oba.   

It is the Arole Tradition that makes the Ooni the Arole Oduduwa.  During the First Republic, Ooni Adesoji Aderemi led other Yoruba obas to Oyo at the investiture of Chief Ladoke Akintola, the Premier of the Western Region, as the Aare Ona Kakanfo.  Akintola had impressed it on Oba Ladigbolu that he would prefer to be styled the Kakanfo of Yorubaland and not just that of Oyo.  When Aderemi stood up to deliver his speech, all other obas present, including Alaafin Ladigbolu, laid their irukere (decorated horse whisk), the symbol of their royal authority, on the ground as a sign of respect to the Arole Oodua.

Last week, Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi did not have the opportunity of addressing the august audience at the Alaafin formal outing.  It was an historic opportunity missed.  There are many more opportunities ahead for the two top monarchs to collaborate and work for the interests of the Yoruba people and Nigeria.  Owoade has now join the League of the Living Ancestors.  History beckons to him to create his own unique imprint so that the generality of the Yoruba people all over the world would know that we have entered a New Era.  It is his turn. Congratulations, Alaafin Owoade!

Babarinsa, a founding editor of TELL Magazine, is the Chairman of Gaskia Media Ltd