Hundreds of residents of Ogbomoso, on Thursday, beiseged the palace of the Soun of Ogbomoso to behold their new king, Oba Afolabi Olaoye.
The sight of the Soun on Thursday was an end to seven days of Olaoye in seclusion and terminated 21 months wait of residents of Ogbomoso for a new king after the death of the then Soun, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi.
Anticipating the sight of their new king, residents, from about 8am, arrived Ogbomoso High School from where Oba Olaoye was to lead a procession to the Soun’s palace.
Traffic snarl greeted the procession, just as there was a swarm of people following apart from those in and around the palace keen to see and hear the new king.
Upon arrival at the palace square, the king received homages of all forms, before entering the palace where a prayer, praise and worship session was held.
While Mr Laolu Gbenjo enlivened the palace atmosphere with songs of praise and worship, Pastor Gbile Akanni gave a sermon and led prayers for the king and Ogbomoso.
Pastor Gbile Akanni, in his exhortation, said it was God who makes kings and as long as Oba Olaoye was a bonafide son of Ogbomoso, Oba Olaoye was destined by God to be king.
Handing Oba Olaoye a bible, Akanni declared that Ogbomoso was in for liberation and a new glory.
After reading psalm 24 in Yoruba, Oba Afolabi Olaoye declared that a new light, new day, new era of progress and development was upon Ogbomoso.
He asserted his commitment to taking Ogbomoso to greater heights, attracting companies, ensuring creation of jobs in the town.
Noting that he was not unaware of those displeased with his emergence, he called on the aggrieved persons to come around and join hands with him in the interest of progress and development of Ogbomoso.
Oba Olaoye argued that it would be preposterous for anyone to claim to love the town and fester crisis in the town.
Oba Olaoye said: “Today, Light has come upon Ogbomoso, this does not mean there wasn’t light before but it’s new light in Ogbomoso.
Ogbomoso is a big town, all indigenes of Ogbomoso home and abroad will be glad to be indigenes of Ogbomoso.
‘There will be new developments in Ogbomoso. Ogbomoso will be different from other towns in terms of development, peace. Everyday, we’ll see God’s compassion.
“It is a new day in Ogbomoso land. A new light is here. You all know what we went through before this day happened. To those still aggrieved, let us join hands for the progress of Ogbomoso. This is God’s doing, let’s work together to achieve great strides for Ogbomoso.
“We cannot say we love this town and allow crisis. We will make Ogbomoso better. God has sent me to do great things, to bring about development of Ogbomoso. I’m not here as king to simply dominate, acquire wealth, make names.
“I’m here to take Ogbomoso to enviable heights, heights that our forefathers envisaged that makes Ogbomoso stand out in Yoruba land such that Ogbomoso indigenes will be cherished anywhere they are seen.
“The work to develop Ogbomoso has started. You will see the difference. We do not think, you’ll see the difference. Many companies are coming to Ogbomoso. Jobs will be plenty such that no more will we have Ogbomoso indigenes search for jobs.
“I do not talk too much, you’ll see action by God’s grace. The work has started, let’s join hands for development of Ogbomoso land.”
Questioned about what transpired during the king’s days in seclusion, the Aare Ago of Ogbomoso land, who is head of kingmakers, High Chief Sobalaje Otolorin said no rituals were done in seclusion.
He said the king only stayed away from public for seven days in compliance with statutory laws and tradition.
He said Ogbomoso kings and chiefs alike have days of seclusion just to learn how to conduct when relating with people.
Otolorin said: “Today is the seventh day. According to tradition, he is supposed to pay homage. After homage, he comes to the palace.
“Even when we chiefs are installed, we have to stay at home for seven days. There is no ritual done in those seven days. You are free to entertain people. You are free to watch television. Ogbomoso’s style is different from other Yoruba town.
“Yes, we have to abide by the law that we have to stay away from public for some days. We have to teach him how to do, how to follow some people, how to thank some people, that is it.”
Speaking, a community leader in Ogbomoso, Dr Saka Balogun advised the new king to prioritize seeking amicable reconciliation with other contestants and those aggrieved.
On a pastor becoming king, Balogun said what was imperative was for Oba Olaoye to be open minded and be open to adherents of all religions.
Balogun said: “I will say the first step to take is to effect very amicable reconciliation with his immediate past contestants because it was not easy to get him acceptable as a candidate.
“It flowed that some of the contestants sent petitions, went to court. So, I think the first thing to do is to effect reconciliation and he is pivotal to that. ‘Without his body language and express language for peace, that area will remain turbulent for quite some time.
“There has been challenges here and there but because I believe he is the choice by God, that is why he has been able to overcome all the challenges and I believe he will overcome whatever remains of the challenges.
“And I believe that one of the ways to overcome the challenges is reconciliation and there are quite a good number of us, men of goodwill, who will assist him to get that done.
“If the man of God believes that he is coming to lead his people and believes that not all his people are Christians, he will use a different approach to handle the community which is multi-religious, different from what he used to do, to shepherd his church.
“He must be open-minded, he must be aware that if God had wanted everyone to follow the same religion, God was capable of doing it. It’s in the Qu’ran that if God wanted everybody to be a Muslim, God had the power to do it. He wanted diversity, for progress, for understanding, that is why we have so many religions. “Both Christian, Muslim, traditional worshippers are from the same stock. So, we are all creation of God. The Oba must have an open mind and must be very familiar with the historical process.
“If you count, there has been more Soun that has been toed the line of traditional religion, a few others have been Muslims and very few, in fact only one, late Oba Emmanuel Olajide Olayode, 1966-1969 was Christian.
“The new Oba is aware of all these and the major challenge in terms of religious diversity can be properly faced and solved by being open minded. Nobody will ask him not to be a Christian. We are not asking him to come to the mosque. “But he must be open to all, Christian, Muslim, traditional worshippers. He must be aware and ready to understand the practices of these others and to give them the traditional support to carry on.”
Among those present were the Oluwo of Iwo land, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale; President, Ogbomoso First Group, Mr Olusegun Adekunle; Senator Ayo Adeseun; Honourable Olukayode Akande, Ogbomoso chiefs and high chiefs; among others.