Traditionalists Condemn Open Display Of Alaafin’s Corpse

Traditionalists have condemned the open display of the corpse of the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi on Saturday.

According to the Oluaye Oba Ogboni Agbaye, Adetoyese Olakisan, the body of the monarch should not be displayed outside for people to see before he was buried.

Olakisan said since the late monarch was not installed in a church nor a mosque, but through traditional means, the same way should be employed for his burial.

He also wondered why Yoruba monarchs died in succession, even though he noted that some of the monarchs are old.

Olakisan, however, stated that the Yoruba monarchs are not too old to still be alive if certain things were done according to the traditions of the Yoruba people.

He warned against adopting foreign religions, adding that the Yoruba people started as traditional worshippers.

He said, “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 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.”