The Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has been told by an Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan that he does not have the right to instal 21 new Obas, which he recently did.
The court declared Ajimobi’s installation of the Obas as unconstitutional, illegal, null, void and of no effect.
So also did the position affect the outcome of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up last year by Ajimobi, which eventually reviewed the 1957 Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration and other Related Chieftaincies laws in Ibadanland, leading to the controversial installation of 21 crown-wearing Obas in Ibadanland.
The judgement followed the suit filed by one of the High Chiefs who declined to be crowned, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, against Ajimobi and the panel headed by Justice Akintunde Boade (retd).
Ladoja was a former Governor of Oyo State and the Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland
In her first judgment, Justice Olajumoke Aiki held that wearing of beaded crowns is an exercise which is beyond the purview of Sections 10,12 and 25 of the Oyo State Chiefs Law, stating that Section 25 of the Chiefs Law could not be treated in isolation to the provisions of Parts Two and Three of the Chiefs Laws of the State.
The court also said the provisions of Parts Two and Three of the Chiefs Laws, particularly Sections 10, 12 and 25, did not give power to the governor to review the Olubadan chieftaincy declaration, noting that Ajimobi exercised his power beyond the constitution and the provisions of the Chiefs Laws made by the House of Assembly.
The court said: “A judicial commission of enquiry could not amend or further amend, review or further review the chieftaincy declaration.”
Ajimobi had on May 19, 2017 set up the Akintunde-led panel.
Ladoja kicked against the report submitted by the panel on which a White Paper was later published in the Oyo State Gazette No. 14, Vol. 42 by Authority on August 23, 2017.
The amended declaration on regulating the selection to the Olubadan of Ibadan Chieftaincies and related matters was published in the Oyo State Gazette No. 15, Vol. 42 by Authority in Ibadan on August 24, 2017.
Following the declaration of the panel’s report, Ajimobi on August 27, 2017 at the Mapo Hall, Ibadan amidst drums and fanfare elevated eight among the 11 High Chiefs of the Olubadan-in-Council led by Senator Lekan Balogun, the Otun Olubadan of Ibadanland, as well as 13 Baales.
They were installed as crown-wearing and coronet-wearing monarchs in Ibadanland to the disapproval of the Olubadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, and Ladoja.
Ladoja, who refused to accept the beaded crown, had filed two cases against the review at the state High Court.
He jointly filed the initial suit with his immediate senior on the Otun Olubadan chieftaincy line, Oba Lekan Balogun, but Balogun later backed out of the cases, claiming that he had earlier misunderstood the intention of the governor.
The claimants had prayed the court, in the suit number marked M/317/2017, to restrain the commission “from sitting, accepting any memorandum or in any way taking any step in furtherance of its assignment, pending the determination of motion on notice in respect of the subject”.
However, in the second suit, Ladoja asked the court to set aside the report of the commission and prayed the court to nullify the proceedings of the panel and its reports.
The report of the recommendation having been nullified and the panel itself declared illegal, the court noted that the exercise of installing the 21 Obas was a nullity and of no effect whatsoever.
In his reaction, the counsel to Ajimobi, Nurudeen Adegboye, said: “The judge has invested a lot of effort, energy and precious judicial time on the judgment. Though we hold a different view from the view of the judge or the court, the court’s view is the one that is biding.
“So, we have applied for the copy of the judgment. We will look at it again and based on the instruction of our client, because it is our client that has the right to appeal or not, if he gives us the instruction or if he feels he wants to accept the judgment, it is left to him.”
Also, Babatunde Akinola, who stood in for the lead counsel to the claimant, Michael Lana, told newsmen simply: “The judgment was okay.”
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