The late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, died on Friday April 22, 2022 at Ekiti and was quickly brought back to Oyo for burial arrangements. Although traditionalists took charge of the burial process, performing several rituals on the Alaafin’s corpse, they allowed the Chief Imam to observe a Janazah (Islamic prayer for the dead) on him.
Islamic prayers for the dead are held publicly to allow a large crowd have the opportunity to participate in the prayer. It is believed by the Muslims that the more the crowd that observes Janazah, the more the sins of the person that Allah (God) forgives.
However, Oba Adetoyese Olakisan, a traditionalist who spoke with PUNCH described the public display of Alaafin Oba Lamidi Adeyemi’s corpse as a taboo to the tradition that installed him as a King.
akisan, who is Oluaye Oba Ogboni Agbaye, said since the monarch was neither installed in church nor in a mosque, but was made an Oba through traditional procedures, the same should have been adopted for his burial to avoid negative repercussions.
He also expressed concern about the death in succession of many prominent traditional rulers in Yorubaland, even though he admitted many of the monarchs that died in recent past in some Yoruba-speaking states were old.
He, however, insisted that the monarchs were not old to remain on the throne if certain things were done according to the traditions of Yoruba people.
He warned against surrendering Yoruba traditional religion to the domination of foreign religions to avoid negative aftermath.
“During the installation of the Oba, he was not installed in church or mosque. A process was followed before his installation. How his corpse was displayed outside during a prayer session by some Islamic clerics is against the tradition. It is a taboo.
“So many Obas are passing on. These are Obas that were installed in a proper Yoruba way. These monarchs that died were not too old to remain alive. They are Obas. They should live long.
“We have allowed foreign religion to dominate our own traditional religion. We didn’t start as Muslim or Christian. We all started as traditionalists. We should return to our traditional ways of handling certain situations,” Olakisan concluded.