All is now set for the coronation of Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade 1, as the 46th Alaafin of Oyo.

Born 47 years ago to a prominent royal family of Owoade-Agunloye in Oyo town, the new Alaafin of Oyo,  Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade 1, is one of the sons of Aremo Aderounmu Iyanda Owoade of Agure Compound, in the ancient Oyo Town.

Oba Owoade completed his Secondary School education at Baptist High School, Saki, Oyo State.

His father worked with the Oyo North Agricultural Development Programme (ONADEP), which helped the Oke-Ogun Community boost agricultural productivity.

He studied Mechanical Engineering at Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, Ogun State for National Diploma, from 1994-1997 and Higher National Diploma(HND) at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State from 1999-2001.

He did his mandatory national youth service with the Nigeria Gas Company as a Mechanical Intern/Planner in 2002. He worked with Oceanic Bank International Plc in Warri as a Cashier from 2003-2004.

He attended University of Sunderland (2008) and Northumbria University (2012) from where he earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering respectively.

He became certified in Project Management in June 2015 (PMP holder). He held a Planning Engineering position at Oil Reach Company, Glasgow, United Kingdom for some years before moving to Canada.

Until his selection as the new Alaafin, he was the Project Coordinator at Manitoba Hydro, Canada, one of the largest electric power and natural gas utility providers in Canada.

It was gathered that besides hotels and guest houses that have been fully booked for guests, posters and billboards of the new Alaafin. adorned every nook and cranny of the town.

Major township roads are being rehabilitated to make them motorable for guests who will attend the historic event as residents are in high spirits amid pomp and pageantry in motorcades around the town.

At the Olivet Baptist High School, the main venue of the ceremony, special canopies for the guests are being erected, while security arrangements are in top gears.

Apart from the popular Akesan market which will be under lock and key for the event, all other markets in and around the town will also be shut.

The monarch, according to the Director of Media and Publicity to the Palace, Bode Durojaiye, has urged the people to celebrate with moderation, warning that, beating the drums of vendetta, persecution and acrimony are ill wind that will not blow any good.

He said: “Promoting peace and communal unity is a collective responsibility of every indigene of the ancient town,’’ Alaafin Owoade said.

Meanwhile,  the  Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission ( FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has described the coronation of the 46th Aláàfin Ọ̀yọ́,  Ọba Abímbọlá Akeem Ọ̀wọ́adé, as a giant leap in Yoruba renaissance.

In a congratulatory message issued on Friday, Olaopa said the coronation of a new Aláàfin of Ọ̀yọ́ is always an event that possesses social, political, and cultural symbolism and significance.

“This is why I deeply congratulate His Imperial Majesty, Ọba Abímbọlá Akeem Ọ̀wọ́adé, on the ascension of the throne of his fathers. This is an event whose significance transcends Yorùbáland and reverberates into the Yorùbá diaspora and the entire world where Yorùbá sociocultural and political influence is felt,’’ he said.

‘’Aláàfin is “wearing big shoes not just as the successor of the charismatic and highly influential leadership of past rulers, from Aláàfin Atìbà Atọ́batẹ́lẹ̀ to the unforgettable Aláàfin Lamidi Adéyẹmí—the traditional geniuses whose deep sense of history enabled them to curate the cultural relevance of the ancients and their traditional wisdom and institutions. He is also the inheritor of the great ancient tradition and heroic achievements of the leadership accomplishments from Ọ̀rànmíyàn to Ṣàngó, whose foresight and selfless humanism laid the foundation of the formidable Ọ̀yọ́ Empire, and a cultural philosophy that gave the idea of the ọmọlúwàbì to the world.

 ‘’Olaopa urged Alaafin Owoade to “stand above the recurring adversarial relationship that seems to define the relationship between the Aláàfin and the Ọọ̀ni of Ifẹ̀. This is one historical moment when the Aláàfin needs to be meticulous and deliberate in deploying his status, as the symbol of cultural unity, to articulate a relational framework that will ensure that all cultural and political resources are harnessed towards the task of making Yorùbáland a source of exemplary leadership that undermines the depth of irrelevance to which traditional rulers and traditional institutions have been reduced in Nigeria’s contemporary sociocultural and political reckoning.’’