I consulted Ifa oracle that chose new Alaafin, all kingmakers consented – Prof Abimbola

I consulted Ifa oracle that chose new Alaafin, all kingmakers consented – Prof Abimbola

Fresh details of how Ifa oracle played a major role in the final selection of Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin of Oyo have emerged.

Wande Abimbola, a 92-year-old Yoruba language and literature professor and Ifa priest, said he was involved in the entire process.

The former vice chancellor of University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile Ife, said all the Oyo kingmakers were present during the Ifa consultation that chose Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin.

Abimbola spoke in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune on Saturday.

The selection of the new Alaafin of Oyo has become controversial after the death of the former monarch in 2022.

Although the state governor, Seyi Makinde, has announced and presented a staff of office to a new Alaafin Owoade, five out of seven Oyomesi members/kingmakers are backing Prince Luqman Gbadegesin for the position.

They are threatening legal action if the governor failed to rescind the decision.

But the Ifa priest (Prof Abimbola) recalled that the governor had asked him to conduct the Ifa consultation for the new Alaafin because “the kingmakers were fighting among themselves”.

“I was happy and surprised too that we could find a governor who says that we should consult Ifa. A year or two ago, we divined and it was so easy to pick someone, anyone — I didn’t want to know the person,” Abimbola said.

“That was how Ifa selected a person. We did it and for a long time, we didn’t hear anything again.

“Actually, I came home for the marriage of one of my sons in Lagos. When the governor heard that I was around, he said he was just about to send for me again because he was ready, and the kingmakers were fighting among themselves.

“Even in modern times, culture demands that they would ask Ifa also. That may not be the primary method of selection, but they would ask Ifa, and that is our own tradition.

“Now, it is not the case that the kingmakers were bypassed; they were there while we consulted Ifa to choose the best. The Oyo Mesi were there only they had split into two. And one section took the governor to court; that he must take the candidate they presented. There were five kingmakers. They used to be seven. Two of them had died, remaining five.

“I did not insist on the choice of the candidate, the kingmakers approved him. It turned out that the candidate is a good man when his file was presented.

“We did the divination a long time ago and as an academic, I wrote a 21-page report on the divination process. When they called me four or five days ago, I asked for the report.”