Martins Olasehinde
ADO EKITI, Nigeria – Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti Division, has ordered that the Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti, Oba Femi Olugbesoye, be deposed for refusing to present himself for necessary traditional rites before his ascendancy to the throne.
On December 21, 2019, Olugbesoye was approved as the Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti, a town in Nigeria’s southwestern Ekiti state.
However, the presiding judge, Justice Jide Aladejana, made the pronouncement while delivering judgment in the suit filed by Prince Olakunle Fadare and four others, challenging Olugbesoye and four others over his ascendancy to the throne.
Fadare and four others had said in court that Olugbesoye did not perform the necessary traditional rites, a claim the defendants dismissed, saying the court lacked jurisdiction.
In the judgment delivered on September 30, 2024, Justice Aladejana held that “In the circumstance, the sole issue formulated is resolved in favour of the claimants against the defendants. The action of the claimants succeeds.”
The judge pronounced, “I consequently declare that the failure and refusal of the first defendant to present himself for coronation rites by the Aoropare in line with the Native Law and Custom of Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti is wrongful.
“I also order the second to fifth defendants to depose the first defendant as the Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti in line with the Customary Law of Iloro Ekiti.
“I make an order of injunction restraining the first defendant from parading himself as the Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti.
“Finally, I make an order of injunction restraining the second to fifth defendants from dealing with or recognising the first defendant as the Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti.”
In the matter, the claimants approached the court in April 2022 seeking, among other things, “a declaration that the failure and refusal of the first defendant to present himself for coronation rites in line with the native law and custom of Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti is wrongful.”
The claimants also sought a declaration that the Ajero of Ijero Ekiti is not a prescribed authority over the Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti chieftaincy and that the Ajero of Ijero Ekiti has no traditional or legal right to install or coronate an Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti.
They also canvassed a court order directing the second to fifth defendants to depose the first defendant as Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti in line with the native law of Iloro Ekiti.
The claimants sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the second to fifth defendants from recognising or dealing with the first defendant as Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti, as well as another restraining the first defendant from parading himself as Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti, Ekiti State.
In his defence, the first defendant, who urged the court to dismiss the claimants’ claims in their entirety, denied desecrating, violating, or defiling the customs and tradition of Iloro Ekiti in any way to warrant being sanctioned or removed from office. He contended in his preliminary objection that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The first defendant claimed that the claimants could only approach the court by way of judicial review or order of mandamus.
The second to fifth defendants, who also urged the court to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction, described the matter as “grossly incompetent” and an “abuse of court process.”
Meanwhile, counsel for the first defendant, Owoseni Ajayi, who said an appeal had been filed against the judgment, stated, “We are on appeal, but we have not been given a date yet.”
(With Punch Newspaper)