AUnited States-based surgeon Prince Ajibade Adeladan has joined the race to the Alaafin of Oyo’s throne, saying he was ready to abandon his thriving career to become the next Alaafin.
Adeladan, who spoke to The Nation in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, said mounting the throne of his forefathers will be a dream fulfilled.
As one of the 65 candidates cleared for the throne, Dr Adeladan said the Alaafin throne should be occupied by a charismatic prince who has a good sense of history and a good reputation.
The prince, who is a psychiatrist, neurologist and addiction medicine practitioner, said his focus would be to elevate the status of the throne higher and transform the ancient town through medicare and agriculture.
He said: ”With all my experience, with how I have seen how things are done, even though I have been in the medical field, I am very much interested in agriculture because I worked in Nebraska. Nebraska is an agriculture state. I have interacted with farmers, I interacted with ranchers and I come to Nigeria, those things are not there, those things are not readily available, farms are small. In Nebraska, you are driving like 100 miles, you see maize, and wheat for more than 100 miles.
“So, I said to myself, we can do all these too in Nigeria. We may not be able to build planes, build rockets or submarines but we can at least do all those things. We should be able to generate electricity, we should be able to grow enough food with the fertile land that God has blessed us with. And now I have the opportunity to champion that if enthroned as the Alaafin. We will achieve at a larger scale with the throne than doing it alone as an individual even though I have started as an individual now.”
The Alaafin hopeful revealed that he had started enrolling indigenes into health insurance for healthcare affordability, adding that his long-term plan was to facilitate the setting up of a teaching hospital in Oyo which will help improve healthcare delivery in the ancient town.
Source: The Nation
