Oyo Kingdom Gets A New Alaafin

The ancient Oyo kingdom on Friday got a new paramount leader, the successor of the late Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, as Alaafin. The new monarch whose approval to seat on the throne has been given by Oyo state Governor, Sheyi Makinde, is Oba Akeem Owoade.

Oba Owoade, 49, is an ex-banker, engineer and property merchant who runs the Manitoba Limited, a real estate investment and financial services business in Manitoba, Canada.

He is one of the surviving children of Pa Rasaki Ibiyosi Owoade, of the Owoade-Agunloye lineage, the descendant of Aremo Aderounmu Iyanda Owoade, Agure Compound, Oyo town.

A product of the Baptist High School, Saki, Oyo State, Oba Owoade he took early interest in Engineering, one he began to materialize in earnest as a student of the Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, Ogun state, for his Diploma before going ahead to complete his Higher National Diploma at the Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo state.

Obviously not done with his academic adventure, the new king went to the United Kingdom where he enrolled at the University of Sunderland and later, the Northumbria University, to grab his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering.

Oba Owoade had a working stint at the Oil Reach Company, Glasgow, the United Kingdom, where he functioned as a Planning Engineer, before moving over to Canada to take up appointment with the Manitoba Hydro, one of the biggest power and natural gas utility providers in the North American country.

President of 100279 Manitoba Limited, a Manitoba, Canada-based real estate investment and financial services outfit, Oba Owoade is a philanthropist of note whose contributions to the several individuals and groups, including the pan-Yoruba cultural group, Egbe Omo Oduduwa, earned him accolades as a true Yoruba cultural icon, a fitting toga for his new role as Alaafin of the great Oyo kingdom.

Buoyed by his working slogan, “if we are to preserve culture, we must continue to create it”, the new monarch no doubt stands on a firm footing as one king that is poised to lift the cultural profile of Oyo to greater heights