A concerned group of youths in Oyo township has raised the alarm over what they termed an “unnecessary and dubious delay of the presentation of new Alaafin of Oyo,” and thereby, called on concerned authorities to do the needful.

The group under the aegis of Progressives Youth of Atiba (PYA), said, “The patient of the people of Oyo is being tampered with, hence, to avoid a possible protest to meet the people’s demands, the relevant authorities should act fast.”

Representing the group, Comrade Adeyemi Ibrahim Abiodun, charged that “The state government and the kingmakers should act fast and present a new Alaafia of Oyo to the people,” and allow peace to reign in the manner recently witnessed in Iseyin and Ogbomoso.”

He said, “The youths of Oyo Alaafin are bitter about the current situation of not having an Oba, one year and eight months after the passing of the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III.”

“We call on the state government under the leadership of Governor Seyi Makinde to set processes in motion for the emergence of a new Oba to be installed as the new Alaafin of Oyo, set an ultimatum to put a stop to embarrassing actions made by the kingmakers so far,” he added.

Adeyemi said, “The youths are not happy and are now fully ready to protest and visit the house of every member of Oyomesi one after the other.”

“Of course, they are our fathers, and we can not in any way disrespect them. But the information reaching us about the selection of the new Oba is increasingly becoming embarrassing. We are the youths of the town. Our future is determined by the quality of the leader we have.

“Look at Oyo, you hardly see a factory with 50 workers apart from Amo Farm Limited, Awe. When it comes to development, Oyo is lagging. We need a vibrant, educated, capable youth as the new Alaafin. A king with listening ears and accommodating, not someone whose intention is to deal with people,” Abiodun said.

He continued, “It is now over a year and a half that the immediate king joined his ancestors, and the kingmakers who are supposed to be coordinators are now the ones being coordinated by the indigenes, which is very pathetic.

“We can’t instal the Chief Imam, and yet we don’t have a new Alaafin. If those who are unnecessarily delaying the selection of Alaafin knew the gravity of the sins they have committed by not allowing a full Central Mosque’s Chief Imam position to be occupied for too long, they wouldn’t have tried to delay the process.

“If the name they claimed to have submitted didn’t get approval, are there no other contestants? If they had done the right thing, the government would have approved their recommendation. We cannot allow sentiments to delay the prosperity of Oyo.

“We youths are feeling the pains more than the older ones because we are their future of Oyo. Most of us are graduates and have nowhere to work. Even though we are creative, any creativity without little funds to kick start will become a complete stupidity.

“We are not lazy and very creative. The Oyomesi should give us new Alaafin that will attract development. We are tired of riding Okada. We have a lot to contribute to the society if we are allowed,” he emphasised.

The state government should take over the process from our Babas if they refuse to be corrected. Some people say it used to take up to three (3) years to appoint Alaafin, we consider such a regime as the Iron Age. 1970 and 2023 are different eras. We can’t allow that in the new millennium,” Abiodun concluded. (Nigerian Tribune)

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