Nineteen years after the death of the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Chief MKO Abiola, there is the possibility that a new one may emerge soon.
Although the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, who is to install the new ‘generalisimo’, has yet to make an official statement on this, some reports have thrown up the name of the President of the Oodua People’s Congress, Otunba Gani Adams, as a possible candidate.
One of the reports noted that the possibility was contained in a statement by an Oyo chief while remarking at a programme organised by Adams.
When contacted, Adams said he could not comment on the matter for now.
One of his aides, who preferred to speak on the condition of anonymity, said any declaration or confirmation on the choice of the Aare Ona Kakanfo should not come from him (Adams).
According to him, the Alaafin has the prerogative to choose a candidate and convey his choice to the people.
“It is God that puts people in positions. In this case, God has given the Kabiyesi (Alaafin) the power to decide that,” he said.
In an interview granted by the Alaafin not long ago, however, he recalled the circumstances that produced the Abiola as the Aare Ona Kakanfo.
He had said, “There is no problem but time has changed. The time we appointed Abiola was an opportune time when Abiola was using his wealth to better humanity. He was funding universities and giving scholarships to students. What he did cut across Yoruba land to the extent that people saw him as higher than a president. It is a good thing that he came from Yorubaland. He was a gift to Yorubaland and humanity. His football team, Abiola Babes, was better funded even than the national team. Players were given houses and cars. His other investments also gave better life to workers.”
When the interviewer pressed him further, the monarch stressed, “You are a journalist, a man of the world. Give us a list of five people that can be appointed. It is not my duty alone to find people; it is your own duty too to come up with names.”
Efforts by our correspondent to reach the monarch on the matter on Thursday did not yield fruits as he could not reply calls put to his phone.
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