By Zika Bobby
Lawyer and politician, Oba Mekunu Owolabi Salis, has congratulated Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde on the successful emergence of a new Alafin of Oyo. This development follows the passing of the immediate past Alafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi.
As Olori Eyo Alagere of Lagos and Jagun Bashorun of Ibadanland, Salis also extended his congratulations to the new monarch, Prince Abimbola Owoade. He praised the divine grace and personal qualities that enabled Prince Owoade to triumph over other contestants in the race for the throne.
Salis noted that Oba Lamidi’s demise had created a void, demoralizing patriotic Yoruba sons and daughters who feared finding a suitable replacement.
However, with the emergence of the new Oba, those lingering fears have been assuaged.
He reflected on history, recalling the glory days of the Alafin, and likely implying that the new monarch’s ascension marks a promising new chapter.
Salis reflected on history, recalling the glory days of the Alafin, and likely implying that the new monarch’s ascension marks a promising new chapter.
He recalled that at the peak of its glory, the great Oyo empire which existed long before the advent of the British colonial era, wielded imperial dominion over a sprawling expanse of kingdoms, which extended as far back as Accra on the West, and the banks of the Niger on the East, adding that the fact that Sango, who was deified after his death, as the god of thunder and lightning in the Yoruba mythology is still worshipped throughout Yorubaland, Dahomey, Benin and even in the diaspora like Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, among others are ample attestations to the grandeur majesty and influence commanded by this great empire before the advent of the British colonial powers.
“As a keen student of history, researcher and political scientist, one also notes with a sense of pride that the theory of separation of powers and its composite checks and balances had not only been the dominant theme in the administration of the old Oyo empire, but indeed originated from this great Yoruba kingdom despite the erroneous impression which had often credited the originative authorship of that popular political theory in democratic checks and balances, to Montesquieu the notable French philosopher. It
“The complex and intricate but coherently systematised constitutional apparatus of democratic checks and balances is indeed a salute to the creative political engineering and political sophistication of the Yorubas” he said.