PRESS RELEASE
A VEHEMENT REJECTION OF THE BILL SEEKING TO DIMINISH THE INSTITUTION OF THE ALAAFIN OF THE PERMANENT CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE OYO STATE COUNCIL OF OBAS AND CHIEFS
Issued by: Oyo Development Council (ODC)
Date: May 15, 2025
The Oyo Development Council (ODC), acting in sacred trust of the illustrious people of Oyo Alaafin and as custodians of our civilizational creed, rises with all the gravity of our collective inheritance to vehemently reject the Council of Obas and Chiefs (Further Amendment) Bill, 2025, currently before the Oyo State House of Assembly. This Bill, co-sponsored by members of the legislative house including the Speaker and Chairmen of relevant Committees, seeks to radically alter the very marrow of our traditional leadership structure by eroding the permanent chairmanship of the Alaafin of Oyo in the Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs.
We reject this move, not with timidity, but with the fiery clarity of ancestral authority, historical legitimacy, legal precedence, and moral consciousness.
From the mists of antiquity, the Alaafin of Oyo has stood as the embodiment of Yoruba sovereignty. The title “Alaafin” meaning “Owner of the Palace” is not a mere appellation, but a sacrosanct institution born of divine kingship and meticulous political engineering that once gave the Oyo Empire dominion beyond what is known as South West Nigeria today but into the swath of West Africa extending from the fringes Dahomey to Niger spring of the North.
The Alaafin was not only a monarch but the supreme lawgiver, the head of the Oyo Mesi (who are possessed with the power of kings in their own right), the anointer of generals, the patron of knowledge, and the first among equals in the Yoruba traditional order. The Alaafin was and still is the primus inter pares.
To this day, there is no chieftaincy title in Yorubaland with the kind of historic national jurisdiction as that held by the Alaafin. The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, and other pan-Yoruba titles derive legitimacy only through the seal of the Alaafin. Even the Olubadan and the Soun, whose stools are noble and revered in their own right, are localised in essence and scope, their cultural sovereignties, however respected, cannot be construed as rivals to the imperial orbit of the Alaafin’s throne.
If we have to be honest with truth, this a bid and subtle attempt to dethrone the History itself. The proposed amendments to Section 3 and 5 of the Council of Obas and Chiefs Law, Cap. 37, Laws of Oyo State, 2000, attempt to recast the singularity of Alaafin chairmanship into a “concurrent” office shared with the Olubadan and the Soun. This dilution, wrapped in legislative finery, is a blatant usurpation, an attempt to flatten centuries of historically evolved hierarchy into a politically convenient equality.
Legally, the permanent chairmanship of the Alaafin is not a ceremonial benevolence but a statutory recognition of pre-existing customary law. The Western Region Law No. 38 of 1959, which predates the current Council Law, affirmed Alaafin’s pre-eminence. The extant ordinance and Treaties that signified Alaafin as primus inter pares, now under attack. Any attempt to tamper with such embedded custom, especially without consultation with traditional stakeholders and custodians of the institution, is ultra vires, unconstitutional, and an abuse of legislative privilege.
“Customary law is the organic or living law of the indigenous people… and must be treated with the same force and respect as written statutes.”
This Bill, in its current form, is nothing short of a legislative assault on the living law of the Yoruba people.
To the Legislative Arm, we ask, what history shall remember you for, as builders of heritage or as vandals of civilization?
To the Judiciary, we call upon your sense of justice to be the bulwark against the desecration of one of the Nigeria ancient institutions. You are the last hope, not just of the common man, but of culture itself.
To the Executive Arm, the Governor, the one upon whom the state rests in trust must not allow political expediency to triumph over institutional integrity. History is watching.
To the Traditional Council of Oyo State, we say this collectively, speak now or be eternally compromised. The silence of a King is never neutral, it is either a roar or a resignation.
This is a rallying cry to every Sons and daughters from Oyo, to every Yoruba soul whose veins pulse with ancestral pride, this Bill must be rejected in its totality. From Lagos to London, from Ibadan to Indiana, we must rise with one voice, *“Not on our watch!”*
Let petitions fly, let advocacy resound, let our representatives know that the dignity of the Alaafin is the dignity of us all. Let us not sleep while our inheritance is legislated into oblivion.
The Alaafin’s stool is not just a throne. It is a covenant with history, a contract with the gods, a bastion of Yoruba unity, and a citadel of resistance against the erasure of identity.
Alaafin is not just a King, it is the heart that beats the drum for the Yoruba race. And when that drum is threatened, every Yoruba dancer must pause, turn, and protect the drummer. It is the principle of life and nature. “Ohun gbogbo to ba ni’bere dandan ni ko’lopin”.
This too shall pass, from about 500 year ago from the day of Oranmiyan in the land of Ekodomido, to Oyo Katuga, to Oyo-Ile, to 80 years of foil to Oyo Igboho, and now in Oyo Atiba. Alaafin has paid the price.
Vehemently, we reject this Bill, not as a matter of politics, but as a matter of existence. Let history record this as it is.
We spoke. We stood. We prevailed.
ODC!
…. dide fun idagbasoke Oyo.
Oyo ni wa, A’logbon lo’ri!
Signed by
Secretary, pro,
Coordinator.
