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An Oyo State High
Court, on Wednesday, ordered the dethronement of Oba Samuel Adebayo
Adegbola, the Eleruwa of Eruwa, 13 years into his reign.

The presiding
judge, Muktar Abimbola, in a three-hour judgement, hinged his verdict
on his findings that the name of the current occupant of the throne was
proposed by a faction of the Ajao Alapinni family, in contravention of
the custom and chieftaincy declaration of the town.

The court also
ordered that the Oyo State government, the state attorney general,
Ibarapa East local government, and the chiefs of the town stop
recognising the deposed monarch as the Eleruwa.

It also ordered the
conveyance of a meeting of the kingmakers of the town within seven days
from the judgement where a list of recommended candidates to the stool
will be produced. The judge also said that the list must include names
of Rasheed Oyedepo Ajao and Joseph Oke, who approached the court for
inclusion in the list.

In spite of
protests by other ruling houses that it was not his turn then, Mr.
Adegbola was recommended by the kingmakers to the Oyo State government
which later installed him in 1998.

The court submitted
that he should not have been nominated for the throne since he was from
the Akalako ruling house where his predecessor, Bolanle Olaniyan, also
came from. Mr. Olaniyan died in 1994, and Laribikusi and Akalako, the
two ruling families, had been struggling to produce the next
traditional head of the town.

James Olatunde
Idowu and Rasheed Oyedepo Ajao, who approached the court for redress
over the ascension of Mr. Adegbola, joined the governor of Oyo State,
the AG, Ibarapa LG, Mr. Adegbola, Jacob Adewusi, Femi Atanda, Idowu
Okeowo, E. Ojebisi and Mr. Kasali I in their suit.

They prayed the
court to declare the selection and approval of the monarch by
kingmakers ultra vires, null and void, and give an order to set aside
the purported nomination, selection and approval of the first defendant
(Mr. Adegbola) as the new Eleruwa of Eruwa.

The plaintiffs also
sought an order of the court to restrain the 2nd-10th defendants from
recognising or continuing to recognise Mr. Adegbola as the Eleruwa of
Eruwa, as well as an order directing the 2nd-6th defendants and the
Ikolaba of Eruwa, if any, to reconsider the nomination made by the
Laribikusi Ruling Quarters and select a candidate to the stool of
Eleruwa for approval of the 8th defendant.

Presenting the
summary of his findings on the suit, the judge granted all the eight
requests of the plaintiffs and gave judgement in their favour. He
punctured the claim of the deposed monarch that he hails from the
Ajao-Alapinni royal family, saying that the evidence before the court
proved otherwise as minutes of meetings of the family and records of
attendance of their meetings did not show that he ever attended any of
their meetings.

The judge also said
he discovered that the meeting that produced Mr. Adegbola was factional
and that it gives recognition to Mr. Sanusi Alao as the eldest person
of the ruling house, saying it was unlawful for Mr. Sangotiku to summon
a meeting since he was not recognised as the eldest.

“The exercise by
the kingmakers is ultra vires, null and void. The first defendant is of
female line… I hereby hold that there is merit in the plaintiff’s
case and it subsists that the first defendant being the member of
Akalako which produced the last king, it is a bastardisation of the
customary law of Eruwa. The approval of the first defendant by the
eigth defendant (Oyo State government) is hereby set aside and that it
should not accord recognition to him as the Eleruwa of Eruwa,” the
judge said.

Lasun Sanusi,
counsel to the plaintiff, praised the judgement, describing it as
“brilliant, comprehensive and incisive”. According to him, the verdict
had confirmed the saying that though the machinery of justice grinds
slowly, it grinds surely and fine. The judgement also attracted wild
jubilation at the court premises as those who came from Eruwa burst
into songs of victory as the news was broken to them.

Meanwhile, the deposed monarch had vowed to challenge the judgement
at the Appeal Court. Describing the court’s position as a miscarriage
of justice, Mr. Adegbola told journalists that he had instructed his
legal team to proceed to the appellate court to seek a reversal of the
judgement.