Alaafin of Oyo joins his forebears 110 days after Olubadan, Saliu Adetunji

Alaafin of Oyo joins his forebears 101 days after Olubadan, Saliu Adetunji, News Live Nigeria can report. 

Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III has joined his forebears 110 days after the demise of late Olubadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji who died on January 2, 2022.

Report has it that the monarch passed on in the late hours of Friday at the Afe Babalola University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State, at the age of 83.

A source close to the palace told News Live Nigeria this morning that the remains of the top Yoruba traditional ruler have been brought to Oyo town in the early hours of Saturday and traditional rites have begun.

The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, is expected to make an official announcement upon receiving the report of the monarch’s passing from the Bashorun of Oyo, Yusuf Akinade, the head of the ‘Oyo Mesi’, who will now lead Oyo town before a new Alaafin is installed.

The monarch had been sick and a plan had been made to fly him abroad before he passed on late Friday night.

A source familiar with the medical travel plan said his tickets and those of a few wives were already procured.

He was crowned on November 18, 1970, succeeding Oba Gbadegesin Ladigbolu I. He was known popularly as Iku Baba Yeye.

His death came months after the two other senior Oyo State monarchs – the Olubadan of Ibadan, Saliu Adetunji, and the Soun of Ogbomoso, Jimoh Oyewumi – died. All happened in less than five months.