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Alaafin and son, Oyo. Circa: 1950s




Alaafin Ọba Adeniran Adeyẹmi II(Seating on the throne) and his son, current Alaafin of Oyo, Ọba Lamidi Olayiwọla Adeyemi III sitting at the feet of his father.


Before Alaafin Adeyẹmi II ascended the throne of his ancestors in 1945, his own father, Ọba Adeyemi I Alowolodu, had reigned from 1876 to 1905. Adeyemi II would sit on the royal seat from 1945 until he was unceremoniously dethroned in July 1954. This was as a result of the NCNC crisis and his fall out with the deputy leader of the Action Group Party, Chief Bode Thomas.


He was said to have been rude to the Alaafin at an Oyo Divisional Council meeting because the Alaafin did not stand up in reverence to him (he was the chairman of the council while the Alaafin was a member, but this was in itself an aberration - as the Balogun of Oyo


 Oba Adeyemi II Adeniran, insulted, stood and then told Bode Thomas to go home and bark like a dog. 


Later, he started coughing blood and died while walking back home leaving his entourage. 


Image source: Justine Cordwell Collection, Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies of Northwestern University/ Kehinde Thompson/ Nigeria Nostalgia Project.

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