The annual Oranyan festival held in honour of the first Alaafin of Oyo has been reportedly postponed due to a delay in the selection and announcement of a new Alaafin by the kingmakers and the Oyo State Government.
This was made known on Monday by one of the strong contenders to Alaafin stool, an 85-year-old retired Methodist Archbishop, Reverend Ayo Ladigbolu while speaking with journalists.
It was gathered that a letter has been written to the sponsors of the festival that the 2023 edition of Orayan may not hold because of the selection process and announcement of a new Alaafin which is still in abeyance at the moment.
Revd Ladigbolu said, “We don’t know where the selection process stopped. All I know is that it is between the kingmakers(Oyomesi) and Oyo State Government. If anyone from the royal lineage says he knows, it means he doesn’t know what he’s saying”.
“All people who are not even journalists keep asking us when a new Alaafin will be installed. Oyo residents always ask us. In fact, just today(yesterday) I had to write sponsors of our annual festival that I’m not sure if Oranyan festival will hold this year. It usually holds the first and second week in September every year.”
“For the past eleven years, we have been celebrating Oranyan festival but when there’s no king on the throne, it becomes doubtful if we can hold the festival. I told our festival sponsors that there may be factors which may call for the postponement of the festival this year. So, if I know where the selection process reached, I won’t write such a letter.”
When asked on the implications of marking the festival without an Alaafin, he was not specific, saying the most appropriate thing is to have a king on the throne while marking the festival.
“What is most appropriate is for Alaafin to be present at the celebration. We held that of last year even though Oba Lamidi Adeyemi had joined his ancestors, just to commemorate the memorial of our departed king thinking that by now another king would have been installed.”
“But, this year, we won’t have any excuse holding the festival while the Alaafin stool remains vacant. The festival is to celebrate Oranyan who was the first Alaafin of Oyo. It is to display the beauty of Yoruba rich cultural heritage and it will be highly important to have the king on the throne because he’s the one to preside over the festival”.
The Chief Press Secretary, Mr Suleiman Olanrewaju, while speaking on the delay in the announcement of a new Alaafin, he said he needed to gather information before saying anything.
“I will have to gather information before I can say anything. When I gather the information, I will send it to you”, he said.
The festival has been celebrated regularly for the past 11 years without interruption to celebrate the life of the first Alaafin of Oyo.
