By Damola Emmanuel
Traditional rites leading to the installation of a new monarch for the ancient town of Ogbomoso in Oyo State may have kicked off on Friday with the arrival in the second largest city in the state of the Soun-elect, Prince Afolabi Ghandi Laoye.
A former pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Prince Laoye, arrived the city to the applause of many to kick-start a series of rites prescribed for beholders of the powerful stool, culminating in his installation as the new Soun of Ogbomosoland.
According to a report by Punch newspaper, the Soun-elect, a successful entrepreneur-cum-motivational speaker who was ordained pastor by the RCCG in 1992, arrived in Ogbomoso early in the morning in a helicopter that landed at Ogbomoso Grammar School. His convoy, thereafter drove straight to the palace, hailed by jubilant residents.
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State had, Saturday, September 2, 2023, approved the selection of the America-based RCCG pastor as successor to Oba Jimoh Oyewumi Ajagungbade III who joined his ancestors on December 12, 2021.
Before he passed onat age 95, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi Ajagungbade III had Ogbomoso for 48 years, a period marked by ethereal peace and progress.
However, the selection of the Prince Afolabi Ghandi Laoye as the new Soun was not smooth sailing as his choice became a matter of litigation.
Ironically, the legal challenge to Prince Laoye’s selection came from the Laoye Ruling House itself as the chairman of its screening committee, Alhaji Abdulwahab Laoye, declared that the Family had not selected anybody to mount the throne.
He dismissed the selection of Ghandi Laoye as social media rumour and a product of hallucination of the authors.
“We did not select Ghandi,” Abduulwahab Laoye had declared way back in February. “He is not among the 11 that the screening committee selected from 23 applicants. We do not want the matter to degenerate to the level of litigation.
“We scheduled a meeting on February 23 (2023) and invited the council to observe. But the council hijacked the process from us and added another seven persons on the claims that the seven persons equally obtained the Expression of Interest form, thereby raising the number of the applicants to 18.”
The matter was, however, put to rest when the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Olusegun Olayiwola, issued a statement on Saturday, September 2, 2023, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, proclaiming the endorsement of Prince Ghandi Laoye as having received the Governor’s approval, as prescribed by law.
“His Excellency congratulates the new Soun-elect on his ascension to the throne of his forebears,” Olayiwola said in the statement.
