Behold The King! How Ifa Bypassed The Kingmakers And Chose Owode As Alaafin Of Oyo
The Oasis Reporters
January 14, 2024
Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde (right) presenting the certificate and staff of office to the new Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Abimbola Owode, held at Executive Chamber, Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Ibadan. PHOTO: Oyo Gov’s Media Unit
An excerpt from the Tuesday Musings of Tribune Columnist, Suyi Ayodele
Last Friday, January 10, 2025, Oyo State Government announced Prince Akeem Owode as the new Aláàfin of Oyo-elect.
The state government said that its announcement was final.
Hours after the announcement, an audio went viral.
In the audio, the Àwíse Àgbáyé (Chief diviner worldwide), Professor Wande Abimbola, spoke about the circumstances surrounding the selection of Prince Owode as Aláàfin-designate.
The former Vice-Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, said that following the near impasse that characterised the selection of another Ikú Bàbá Yèyé for Oyo, he was contacted by Governor Seyi Makinde to use Ifá divination to select a new Aláàfin. He added that he travelled down from his US base to Oyo, and spent 10 days on the divination mat, asking Ifá about all the eligible princes.
Ifá, he added, picked Owode and the report, 21 pages, was put together by the Òyìbó wife of the Àwíse and sent to the governor.
My curiosity arose when Baba Abimbola said that almost a year after submitting the report, Governor Makinde called again to ask for another Ifá divination to select two alternatives to the first choice by Ifá. The renowned Babalawo said that that could probably be to avoid a situation where, after investigation on the character of the initial choice, there were found some blemishes on his personality!
I was alarmed that Àwíse Àgbáyé could express that line of argument after Ifá had made a choice among many princes presented for divination!
Like Baba Abimbola said, nobody has ever questioned his integrity in all the positions he has held in academics and politics. The hallmark of a Babalawo is truthfulness. Asking the Àwíse Àgbáyé to consult Ifá on the all-important matter of Aláàfin is the right choice. But I am worried that when Governor Makinde asked for a second divination, he did not lecture the governor that Ifá kìí paró (Ifá does not lie), Òpèlè kìí s’èké (Òpèlè does not play tricks), and insisted that there would be no second divination.
I am shocked that Baba did not insist that Ifá is Elérìí Ìpín (the one who witnesses destiny), and as such, knows the destiny of Owode right from his conception, and that Ifá would not in any way make the mistake of choosing a picaro as the Aláàfin!
I am not a Babalawo, but I know that Baba Abimbola knows that no matter what anyone might have done in the secret, Ifá has the capacity to reveal it as contained in the common refrain by Babalawos that “ìtànsán oòrùn yí ó fi ó hán (the breaking of the sun will reveal you)!
My second problem with the selection process is the fact that it was the governor, and not the Òyómèsì (Oyo kingmakers), who consulted the Àwíse Àgbáyé for divination. In that audio, the Àwíse asked all Yoruba to stick to the culture of the race. One of the cultures of the race pertaining to the selection of an oba is that the kingmakers are the ones who do the selection through the guidance of Ifá.
Oluwasegun Oladosu and Ajayi Adetokunbo Olaiya, in the paper: “Kingship and Integrity in Yoruba Traditional Society” (Nigerian Journal of Christian Studies / Vol. 4 No. 2 (2021), page 173), affirm this position when they posit that: “While the choice of the king could rotate among the ruling houses, some towns or cities do not have that privilege. Rather than praying and fasting over who becomes the next Oba, these communities go spiritual by invoking the Ifá to tell them the candidates for the Kingship.
Those communities still believe it is better to keep it real by consulting Orunmila to protect the tradition of the land. In the ancient town of Oyo, choosing the Aláàfin requires its unique process of enquiring from Òrúnmìlà likewise in Ile-Ife. This enables the Òyómèsì, the kingmakers, to make ‘the right choice’….”
The question begging for answer here is: who were the Òyómèsì present when Àwíse Àgbáyé made the divination for Governor Makinde?
Did they include the five living Òyómèsì, or were those accused of taking bribes from one of the candidates excluded and the number made up by the government-appointed Òyómèsì? Would Ifá tolerate this abnormality?
Since the passing of Aláàfin Lamidi Adeyemi III on April 22, 2022, this would be my third piece on the ancient throne of Oyo. In the two previous articles: “Aláàfin: Message to Òyómèsì, Makinde”, published on April 26, 2022, and “Aláàfin Stool: Putting culture to the sword?”, published on September 26, 2023, I expressed the fear that once the Yoruba race got the selection of Aláàfin wrong, there would be nothing left for the race.
The Oyo State Government has confirmed the choice of Prince Akeem Owoade as Aláàfin-by giving him his staff of office by Governor Makinde and Oba Owoade entered Oyo town on Monday in grand style! All Oyo sons and daughter, nay, the entire Yorubaland, have no option than to accept the situation as it is now and hope that whatever might have happened, at the fullness of time, Ifá himself will allow the breaking of the sun to reveal all. We wish the Aláafin, Oba Owode, a prosperous reign on the throne of his forebears.
KABIYESI O!
