Following the death of the Alaafin of Oyo Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the installation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, as the Aare Baasofin of Yorubaland has been suspended.
The event was scheduled to take place on Friday, May 27, 2022, as part of activities to mark the lawmaker’s 60th birthday.
The late Oba Adeyemi honoured Gbajabiamila with the traditional title which means the supreme lawmaker of Yorubaland in September 2021 while the ceremony was left for later.
According to the invitation earlier sent out, presidential aspirant Bola Tinubu was supposed to be the chairman of the occasion.
Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi was slated to be the royal father of the day while singers Ebenezer Obey and K1 De Ultimate were to entertain guests at the event.
However, announcing the suspension of the ceremony, the lawmaker’s spokesman Lanre Lasisi in a statement on Sunday said, “You will recall that his Royal Highness, the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III communicated the conferment of the title of Aare Baasofin of Yoruba Land to Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila through an appointment letter dated September 7, 2021, and presented to the Speaker on Thursday, September 30, 2021, at the National Assembly, Abuja, by members of the Oyomesi Council led by the Bashorun of Oyo Kingdom, High Chief Olayinka Ayoola, who is the traditional Prime Minister of Oyo Kingdom and Bishop Ayo Ladigbolu.
“Upon which the Speaker, in turn, accepted the appointment with gratitude to God. However, due to the tight work schedule of the Speaker, the Chieftaincy ceremony could not hold throughout 2021, until this year when the date of May 27, 2022, was agreed with the palace but as God in his majesty will have it the revered monarch passed on Friday night before the distribution of Invitation cards for the event (May Allah grant him Aljanah Firdaus).
“Naturally, the event can no longer hold as the Speaker, the entire Yoruba race, Nigerians home and abroad mourn the demise of the widely respected Monarch.”
