Alaafin appoints new Oyo Chief Imam

he Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, on Tuesday, appointed a lawyer, Bilaal Akinola, as the new Chief Imam of Oyo land.

According to a statement by his Director of Media and Publicity, Bode Durojaye, the appointment follows the demise of the late Chief Imam, Mashood Ajokidero III, who passed away in early 2023.

Addressing the new Chief Imam, the Alaafin said, “Having passed through the duly screening test, I have the pleasure to inform you that you have been selected by me as the new Chief Imam of Oyo. The moment is not only significant for our people, but also sacred in the eyes of Allah, for leadership in Islam is a truth that demands humility, sincerity, and justice.”

Born on April 15, 1965, to Shaykh Bilaal Ogunbado of Imam Ogunbado compound, Akeugberu Oyo, in the Oyo West Local Government Area, the new Chief Imam studied Law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in Kaduna State.

While performing his duties, Oba Owoade also addressed the importance of child protection for national growth.

Speaking to pupils from the Federal College of Education (Special) Basic School, Durbar, Oyo town, he said, “Children represent the future and ensuring their healthy growth and development ought to be a prime concern of all. It is a fact that nations that experience prosperity are where family stability is jealously guided.”

The Alaafin emphasised that development planning without enforceable laws, policies, and social services would be futile.

He cited Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Nigeria’s Child Rights Act 2003 as frameworks for protecting children, lamenting that abuses continue due to lack of social consensus and political will.

“This is so, not because we do not have laws and policies on child protection but due to lack of social consensus and political will to successfully implement laws and policies. It could be heartbreaking reading about inhuman and degrading treatment being meted out to Nigerian children both at home and institutional level,” he said.

Oba Owoade highlighted cases of corporal punishment in schools, neglect, deprivation of basic needs, and sexual abuse, including child marriage, often perpetrated by fathers, uncles, guardians, male teachers, and clerics. He warned that such abuses leave lifelong psychological scars on children.

On national development, the Alaafin said, “The only way citizens can cease to be prisoners of their historical geographical spaces, times, bounded by cultural languages and societies into which they were born, is to completely revolutionise their historiography.”

He urged Nigerians to support the present administration in its efforts to transform the country, stressing the link between strong families and societal stability.

 “The increasing rate of family marriage breakdown and its attendant effect on the children and the society at large has become a ticking time-bomb because it has given rise to increase in criminal activities by the children of broken homes.

“It is important that we recognise the role of marriage in building a strong society, especially if we want to give children the best chance in life. What you learn from a very early age has a great deal to say about the person you will eventually become and the life you lead,” he said.