The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has tasked Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, to follow due process in the selection of the next Alaafin of Oyo. MURIC Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, made the call in a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday.

Akintola said that the authentic kingmakers of Oyo, who are known as Oyomesi, had selected Prince Lukman Adelodun Gbadegesin as the next Alaafin, but that the Bashorun of Oyo, High Chief Yusuf Akinade Ayoola, had wrongfully picked another candidate, Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu, and filed a suit against the Oyomesi in court, but lost the case.

Akintola urged Makinde to announce the candidate’s name picked by the Oyomesi and backed by the court’s pronouncement.

He said that Archbishop Ladigbolu’s attempt to come through the backdoor to the throne of the Alaafin of Oyo was illegal, illegitimate, unlawful, and unconstitutional.

”Communal clashes which claim hundreds of lives and destroy properties worth billions of naira will be avoided if state governors respect the rule of law and follow due process. Vested interest from official circles in matters relating to tradition often end in tragedies,” Akintola said

Speaking further, he also urged Makinde to prove that the label given to him as the governor who likes to install Christians only as Yoruba kings is unsuitable for him.

“Tongues are wagging, not only in Oyo town but in the whole state as well as in the whole South West. This time around, Makinde has to prove that the label given to him as the governor who likes to install Christians only as Yoruba kings is unsuitable for him.”

“This year alone, it happened in Ogbomosho where a Redeemed Church pastor, Afolabi Ghandi Olaoye, was crowned as king and in Iseyin where another pastor, David Olawale Oyebola has emerged the Aseyin.

“As a peace-loving and dialogue-inclined human rights organization, MURIC urges the state governor to allow the choice of the authentic kingmakers of Oyo town to prevail by announcing Prince Lukman Adelodun Gbadegesin as the next Alaafin of Oyo without any delay,” he said