Court sacks monarch in Ondo

The Ondo State High Court, sitting in Ondo town, has ordered the deposition of Oba Babajide Oluwole, the Olu‑Oke of Oke‑Igbo in the Ile‑Oluji/Oke‑Igbo Local Government Area. The court nullified his appointment after determining that he was not a member of the ruling house entitled to fill the vacant stool of the town.

The challenge was brought by two princes of the Aare Kugbaigbe Ruling House—Rufus Adekanye, Head of the House, and Temitope Adeoye, Secretary—who approached the court to contest the state government’s enthronement of Oba Oluwole. The kingmakers joined the suit. Their lawyer, Mr. Sola Ebiseni, argued that the defendant was not a member of the Aare Kugbaigbe Ruling House, which was the turn‑taking house, and therefore the stool remained vacant.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Ademola Enikuemehin, the court affirmed that Oluwole was not a member of the ruling house entitled to produce the king and was consequently ineligible for the throne. The judge ordered that “the Olu‑Oke of Oke‑Igbo Chieftaincy … is subject to the Declaration in Part Two of Justice Adeloye Judicial Commission of Inquiry on Chieftaincy Matters and the Chiefs Law CAP 27, Volume 1, Laws of Ondo State 2006.”

Justice Enikuemehin explained that, under the Olu‑Oke Declaration, eligibility to the throne is restricted to male descendants of five lineages: (1) Odo Eleyowo, (2) Aare Kugbaigbe, (3) Kuole Oloje, (4) Aderin Ologbenla, and (5) Ajibike Adedimeji. Only members of the Aare Kugbaigbe Ruling House may be proposed as candidates when it is that house’s turn. Since it is currently the Aare Kugbaigbe’s turn, the house must present a candidate to fill the vacant stool.

The court found that the fifth defendant, Oba Oluwole, is not a descendant of the Aare Kugbaigbe and therefore not qualified under the declaration to be proposed as a candidate or to hold the title of Olu‑Oke of Oke‑Igbo. Accordingly, the court issued an injunction restraining the fifth defendant from parading himself—or allowing himself to be paraded—as the Olu‑Oke, and from enjoying the rights and privileges of that office. The injunction also restrains the defendants jointly and severally from further asserting the recognition, rights, and privileges of the Olu‑Oke of Oke‑Igbo.