A Pro-Oyo Alaafin group, Oyo Forum, Abuja, has rejected recent developments surrounding the traditional leadership structure in Oyo State, insisting that the Alaafin of Oyo remains the supreme authority within the state’s traditional order.
In a statement signed by Chairman of the Oyo Forum, Segun Owolabi, Ambassador Tunde Mustapha, the group described the traditional hierarchy of Oyo as a “settled historical reality” that should not be altered by administrative or political decisions.
“The traditional hierarchy of Oyo is not a matter of administrative convenience or political experimentation,” the forum said, adding that “at its apex stands the Alaafin of Oyo—supreme by history, civilisation, and sacred continuity.”
The statement comes amid ongoing controversies following the recent inauguration of the Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs, under a rotational leadership arrangement endorsed by the state government.
According to the forum, any framework that places the Alaafin’s stool on the same level as other traditional stools constitutes “a profound historical error” and an intrusion into what it described as a deeply rooted civilisational order.
“Oyo is not merely a contemporary political or administrative entity. It is a civilisation of global resonance,” the forum stated, pointing to the historical influence of the Old Oyo Empire across West Africa and the diaspora.
The group also expressed concern over the absence of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Abimbola Owoade, at the inauguration of the council, describing it as symbolic and significant.
“In societies governed by historical consciousness, symbols are not decorative; they are foundational,” the statement said.
Rejecting the rotational principle as it applies to the Alaafin’s stool, the forum maintained that “the throne of the Alaafin does not submit to rotational logic or procedural symmetry.”
The forum called on Governor Seyi Makinde and the Oyo State Government to reverse any arrangement that it believes diminishes the historical status of the Alaafin and to explicitly reaffirm the throne as the apex of Oyo’s traditional structure.
While acknowledging the constitutional powers of the state government and the House of Assembly, the forum warned that such powers must be exercised within the bounds of tradition.
“Our tradition cannot be erased by an act of any assembly,” it said.
Describing the situation as political rather than cultural, the forum argued that political decisions affecting traditional institutions are reversible.
“What has transpired is political, not cultural,” the group said, adding that, “what is political is reversible.”
