‘Yari Would Have Been Senate President Save For Tinubu’s Intervention In 2023’, Says Rep Adeyemi

The lawmaker representing Oyo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Akeem Adeyemi, has stated that Senator Abdulaziz Yari would have become the Senate President in 2023 if President Bola Tinubu had not intervened to ensure religious balance in Nigeria’s political hierarchy.

Adeyemi, son of the immediate-past Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, stated this on Monday while speaking on an Oyo-based radio station, a day after the installation of Yari as the Obaloyin of Yorubaland.

LEADERSHIP reports that the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade, had on Sunday, December 21, 2025, installed Yari as Obaloyin and Seyi Tinubu, the son of President Tinubu, as Okanlomo of Yorubaland.

Speaking on the virtues of the former Zamfara State governor, Hon. Adeyemi described him as a detribalized Nigerian politician who plays politics without bitterness.

“Senator Abdulaziz Yari would have been the President of the Senate in 2023 if President Tinubu had not stepped in to maintain religious balance. There were concerns about the religion of the president, a Muslim, and the vice president, a Muslim. We were also set to have Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abass as Speaker. So, some interests felt it was right to have a Christian as the Senate President. That is why Senator Godswill Akpabio emerged as the president of the Senate.

“Despite that, Senator Yari did not rock the boat; he has continued to give full backing to the Senate President in the course of legislative duties. This is why you see the support and representation at his installation yesterday (Sunday) in Oyo, which cuts across party and religious lines,” Adeyemi, who is popularly called Skimeh, said.

Addressing the controversy surrounding the Yorubaland coverage of the chieftaincy titles conferred by the Alaafin, Adeyemi dismissed this, stating that it was a succession tradition from past Alaafins, which Oba Owoade had sustained.

“It is the tradition for the Alaafin to bestow such chieftaincy on anyone he deemed fit across Yorubaland. Alaafin Bello Gbadegesin reigned from 1960 to 1968; Adeyemi Lamidi Atanda from 1971 to 2022; Abimbola Owoade, April 2025. He was keeping to the tradition; he had not taken a step outside of his forefathers. They’re all from the same loin.

“Installing chieftaincy titles across Yorubaland is what his fathers were doing. This is not even a long story. Alaafin Adeyemi III installed Aare Afe Babalola as Baamofin of Yoruba land.

“So Oyo is best in history and culture. Oyo monarchs followed what’s in the pipeline. That’s the tradition,” the lawmaker said.