39 years after, residents, family seek review of Isheri-Olofin chieftaincy in Lagos

Residents of Idimu and several communities in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State have called on the state to review the position of Oba Wahab Balogun as the traditional ruler of Isheri-Olofin settlement.
According to them, such community never existed and Balogun has no legal or customary claim to the obaship of the area.
They said what exists is Isheri-Idimu, which is one of the tenants of the mother community of Idimu, was quite different.
In a petition signed by stakeholders in the affected communities, led by Alhaji Shamsideen Adebimpe, mostly from the Olorunfunmi Family of Idimu, they said the state government erred in the creation of Isheri-Olofin out of Idimu Kingdom and that the action should be reviewed in the interest of peace and justice.
According to Adebimpe, who stated that the community where Balogun rules over doesn’t exist, maintained that the documents being relied on by the monarch to stake his claim were forged, adding: “Any archival material that replaces Isheri-Idimu with Isheri Olofin contradicts Section 43 of The National Archive Act of 1992.”
Specifically, Adebimpe accused the traditional ruler of altering and forging portions of the Intelligence Report Less Central Awori, saying the monarch and his agents have in the past removed no fewer than 24 pages as well as caused alteration of 18 areas in the said document, which changed the nomenclature and coordinates of the areas.
He added that Balogun allegedly used the same forged document to secure a judgment fraudulently from a Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo, whom he (Adebimpe) said was misled to arrive the decision to recognise Balogun as a monarch.
The residents are also faulting the installation of Balogun as the traditional ruler of the said kingdom, saying both actions are illegal and lacking any legal or customary basis as they (actions) were carried out fraudulently as the state government had in the past been misled to take such actions.
The traditional ruler has been embroiled in series of controversies regarding his status as a traditional ruler as well as his non-existing customary rights over lands located in various communities in the area.
Articulating the grouse of the community further, Adebimpe, who described himself as a stakeholder, stated that the actions of Balogun threatens the peace, welfare and wellbeing of over 650,000 residents of the area if left unattended to.
Adebimpe, in an affidavit he disposed to through his lawyer on behalf of the affected communities, dated May 3, 2019, stated that the monarch in the process of his emergence as a traditional ruler forged and altered some archival materials relating to Idimu with a view to create a non-existing sphere of influence for himself, his family and his cronies.
The petitioner also stated that Balogun had further spurned the valid order of a competent court issued on October 17, 1984 and January 19, 1985 to stop parading himself as monarch and that one of the sittings of the court indeed maintained that he had ceased to parade himself as an Oba.