Soun of Ogbomosoland His Imperial Majesty Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye Orumogege III, has returned to his domain after sojourning for weeks in his former base at the United States of America.
His travelling out of the city, it was learnt, was sequel to the phase one of the renovation works ongoing in the palace (covering the interior), which incidentally coincided with the time of nullification of his appointment as Soun by an Oyo State High Court sitting in Ogbomoso on October 25.
The Oba who for a few weeks took “a deserved rest” in America pending ruling on his application for stay of execution of the judgment is now back as preparations for his coronation activities slated for December 14 to 19 gear up.
“Oba Ghandi Olaoye returns Thursday night, and his first act is to make a public appearance to express appreciation for the support of his people during the period of hiatus,” Rev’d Peter Olaleye, who is the press secretary to the monarch, told Oyo EyeWitness.
“The people of Ogbomoso and beyond have shown tremendous support at all stages – after his selection, during the long wait for official approval, at the time of installation, approval period and the court’s initial setback.
Arriving at the palace
“It is appropriate he returns the love by mixing and mingling with his people since they are the primary reason he is on throne. However, the Kabiyesi intentionally asked the event not be publicized and so, we refrained from mobilizing people in order to control the crowd.
“But you can see it is turning into a carnival sort of, people are excited to see him in flesh and he is determined to walk the whole length, over a kilometre distance to the palace, so, he can have the opportunity to express gratitude to a larger number of people,” Rev’d Olaleye further stressed, maintaining the Oba is propelled by a robust vision to change the narrative of the city – “I believe you are aware His Majesty has come up with a twenty-five year development plan for the zone, which will be unveiled in a later date.
“He is on the stool to make positive impact and not to feather parochial nest or oppress anyone. His major focus is further progress and development of this princely city and zone.”
In the meantime, the “long, weary” trek to the palace at Oja’gbo/Oja’jagun from his private residence at Gaa Masifa has begun surrounded by his people, who are ecstatic seeing him in their midst, intermittently waving his horsetail.
“I just love Oba Ghandi, I can’t believe he will come down to this level to relate with us. He has the people, he is the choice of the people, and by extension, the choice of God,” one of the men among the growing crowd, who identified himself as Kolawole Abidogun, enthused while speaking with Oyo EyeWitness.
“I beseech everyone to come together to form a bulwark of support around the Kabiyesi so that he can have a successful reign. His success on the throne is for all our collective good, if he failed (God forbids), it will be a monumental setback. His emergence is a project sanctioned by God and that is why he has triumphed in spite of all hurdles,” Mr. Abidogun added.
