Who is King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, achievements, and relationship with Rev Willy Kintu Muhanga, Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya, Anglican Bishop Eustance Kamanyire, King Patrick David Mathew Kaboyo Olimi III, Queen Best Kemigisa Kaboyo and the early life and education of the current Omukama of Tooro in Uganda.
Oyo Nyimba Kabamba, King Iguru, often known as King Oyo, is the current Omukama of Tooro in Uganda.
Rukirabasaija Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba-Iguru Rukidi IV is his full title and name.
Early Life and Education
On April 16, 1992, King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru was born to King Patrick David Mathew Kaboyo Olimi III and Queen Best Kemigisa Kaboyo.
He is a Mutooro by tribe.
Oyo succeeded his father as the 12th ruler of the 180-year-old Kingdom of Tooro three and a half years later, in 1995.
Aside from his formal obligations, King Oyo attended school and socialised with his peers as a child. His rank, however, required that he attend private school and be accompanied at all times by a personal security guard.
Oyo spent two years in London where he attended preschool from.
When he returned to Uganda, he enrolled in The Aga Khan Primary School in Kampala.
He eventually attended Kampala International School Uganda for high school, where he excelled in art, music, maths, and swimming.
Later, King Oyo enrolled at Winchester University in the United Kingdom to pursue a degree in business management. Three years later, in October 2013, King Oyo received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Winchester.
King Oyo Nyimba has not married yet.
Kingdom Duties
Traditionally, the title given to King Oyo Nyimba is the Omukama meaning “King,” and Rukirabasaija meaning “the greatest of men.”
Despite being the Batooro’s sovereign king, Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru’s power is limited to cultural obligations.
Oral history claims that in 1822, Prince Olimi Kaboyo Kasunsunkwanzi, son of Rukirabasaija King of Bunyoro, conquered the southern half of his father’s Kingdom and established what is now known as Tooro.
Because his father, King Kaboyo, died in 1995, the crown prince was compelled to act as king during his childhood.
The rites to give over power to Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru began at 2 a.m. on September 12, 1995, a week after the Omukama Kaboyo’s funeral. At the age of three, he became the youngest modern monarch.
The rites included fake combat at the palace door between the enemy troops of a “rebel” prince and the royal army, as well as a test of Oyo’s divine claim to the throne in which the Omusuuga (leader of the royal clan) prayed to the gods to strike Oyo dead if he was not of royal lineage.
After passing the test, Oyo was allowed to play the Nyalebe, a sacred Chwezi drum, much like his forebears. The blood of a slain bull and a white hen was then sprinkled on him.
Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru was crowned King at 4 a.m. in front of a joyous audience and entered the Karuziika palace as the new monarch of the Kingdom of Tooro.
He was given his first meal as King, which was millet dough. He sat on a virgin girl’s lap and vowed loyalty to the Crown while lying on his side on the ground.
The cultural rituals (Emirwa y’Obuhangwa) were followed by a religious service presided over by Anglican Bishop Eustance Kamanyire of the Rwenzori Diocese which is situated in Fort Portal.
King Oyo’s reign began on September 12, 1995, and he was crowned on April 17, 2010. President Museveni attended the coronation ceremonies and congratulated the new King.
Three regents were tasked with watching King Oyo’s development into the role of King and managing the Kingdom’s cultural matters during the King’s childhood and youth.
His mother, Queen Best (the Queen Mother), his aunt/godmother, Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya, his uncle, Prince Jimmy Mugenyi, and President Museveni served as regents at the moment of his coronation.
King Oyo identified the late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi as the Kingdom’s “defender” and invited him to the Kingdom’s 6th coronation anniversary celebrations in 2001.
Achievements and Awards
King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru is officially the world’s youngest reigning monarch at the age of three. In the Guinness Book of Records, he surpassed Mswati III of Swaziland, who was crowned king at the age of 18.
One of the King’s primary responsibilities is to solicit donations for economic and social welfare programmes that benefit his citizens. These include projects in health, education, economics, and culture.
With the help of his regents and family, Oyo travels the world in search of foreign aid for Toro’s progress.
Recently, Oyo received 100 wheelchairs on behalf of the Kingdom, which was dispersed throughout Toro’s five provinces.
The Kingdom also supports other humanitarian programmes through the Batebe Foundation of Toro, which operates a special education fund for disadvantaged children.
Oyo began a project to build an ICT centre, a youth centre, and a model farm.
He climbed Mount Rwenzori as part of a 10-day Royal Expedition to Margherita Peak in 2022 to call attention to climate change.
King Oyo is also a 2019 Global Top 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD – New York) – Politics & Governance (Class of 2019) awardee.
Controversies
King Oyo Nyimba was hauled to Fort Portal’s High Court over the selection of the current kingdom premier.
Rev Willy Kintu Muhanga, chairperson of Tooro clan chiefs, Saulo Nyakabwa Mugasa, former Tooro kingdom supreme council – Orukurato speaker, and Rusoke Bunago sued the king together with four kingdom officials.
The petitioners challenged Oyo’s appointment of Kiyingi as the kingdom’s premier through their lawyers at Atuhaire & Co. Advocates. They claimed that the Orukurato, which met on August 26 and appointed Kiyingi, was irregularly constituted since it lacked a speaker and a deputy speaker because Eng Julius Mwirumubi, who chaired the council meeting, was never sworn in as the supreme council’s speaker.
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