The Akire stool became vacant after the demise of the immediate past ruler of the town, Oba Boladale Oseni Oyegunle who died in 1987. The then Oyo State government immediately set a machinery in motion to fill the vacant stool and after necessary procedures were followed, a candidate from the Aketula ruling family, Prince Tajudeen Ijaduola Olanrewaju was nominated to become the next Oba. One of the children of the late Akire, Pa Atanda Oyegunle who spoke with the Sunday Trust in Ikire explained that the nomination of Prince Tajudeen was approved by the kingmakers and the name of the nominee was forwarded to the then Oyo state military administrator, Col. Adetunji Olurin (rtd.) to announce the appointment of Prince Olarenrewaju as the new Akire of Ikire.
Pa Atanda Oyegunle narrated: “Shortly after the demise of my father, the stage was set for the appointment and installation of Prince Tajudeen Ijaduola Olanrewaju from the Aketula ruling house as the successor of my late father in 1987. However, a controversy suddenly cropped up when one of the ruling houses, Ladekan faulted the Akire of Ikire Chieftaincy Declaration of 1958 under which Prince was nominated. The Ladekan ruling house insisted that the Prince Tajudeen cannot become the next Akire, claiming that Aketula is not a valid ruling house in the town. This action of the Ladekan ruling house thwarted the process of the appointment and installation of the Prince. The Ladekan ruling house ran to an Ile-Ife High Court to challenge the inclusion of Aketula ruling house in the Akire of Ikire Chieftaincy Declaration of 1958. That was how the Ladekan ruling house succeeded in stopping the then military administrator from announcing the appointment of Prince Olanrewaju as the new Akire of Ikire”.
Speaking with Sunday Trust at his residence in Ikire, Prince Olanrewaju corroborated the explanation of Pa Atanda Oyegunle and expressed regret that if not for the action of the Ladekan ruling house, he would have been on the throne for the last 27 years. He said the case started at the Ile-Ife High Court, moved to the Appeal Court in Ibadan and eventually ended at the Supreme Court, Abuja.
His words: “I was duly nominated in 1987 to become the next Akire when the stool became vacant after the demise of the immediate past Akire, Oba Oyegunle. My nomination from Aketula Ruling House of Ikire was based on the 1958 Akire of Ikire Chieftaincy Declaration. My nomination went through all the required processes and was approved by the kingmakers and forwarded to the then Oyo state government to announce my appointment and install me as Akire. But a suit filed at Ile-Ife High Court by the Ladekan ruling house halted the process of my installation and scuttled my joy”.
Prince Olanrewaju told Sunday Trust that the Lanbeloye ruling house that produced the current occupant of the throne, Oba Olatunde Falabi took the advantage of the situation and joined the case instituted by the Ladekan ruling house.
Prince Olanrewaju explained: “Falabi manoeuvred the situation and wriggled his way to the throne, relying on a position of the Ile-Ife High Court which granted his prayers on the case. I was not satisfied with the position of the Ile-Ife High Court and went to the Appeal Court, Ibadan to challenge the judgment of the Ile-Ife High Court.
Prior to the installation of the occupant of the throne then, the Ladekan ruling house that instituted the case and the remaining two ruling houses in Ikire, Onisokan and Disamu ran to the Appeal Court and sought a stay of execution on the position of Ile-Ife High Court that favoured Falabi’s ruling house. The stay of execution was granted by the Appeal Court and the Appeal Court then restrained the then military administrator from installing Falabi as Akire but he also ran to the Supreme Court to appeal the decision of the Appeal Court”.
The matter dragged on from 1987 until April 11, 2014 when the Supreme Court in a unanimous judgement delivered by Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, Justice Sulieman Galadima, Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, Justice Kumai Bayang Aka’AHs and Justice John Inyang Okoro eventually favoured Prince Olanrewaju and his Aketula ruling house by affirming that the 1958 Akire of Ikire Chieftaincy Declaration by which the government of the old Oyo State commenced the filling of the vacant stool of Akire of Ikire after the demise of Oba Oyegunle in 1987 remains valid and the only means by which the successor to Oba Oyegunle could be appointed.
Sunday Trust reliably gathered that before the Supreme Court judgement was delivered, the state Ministry of Justice which had been following the case advised the state governor that if Prince Olanrewaju wins the case, there would be need to depose the incumbent monarch and install Prince Olanrewaju as the new Oba. When the Prince eventually won the case, there was jubilation in Ikire but the incumbent monarch insisted that the Supreme Court did not remove him.
When Sunday Trust visited Ikire, it was obvious that indigenes of the town have been thrown into total confusion with both Prince Olanrewaju and Oba Falabi claiming the throne of Akire of Ikire. Majority of the people of the ancient town are in the dark on who is the authentic traditional ruler among the two individuals. This has caused palpable tension in the ancient town as information kept spreading that Oba Falabi has been sacked by the Supreme Court, but the embattled monarch insisted that he was not sacked.
For Prince Olanrewaju, now that the Supreme Court has given final judgement on the matter and set the injunction of the lower court aside, he wants the Osun State government to act appropriately by deposing Oba Falabi and installing him. In his letter to the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, dated April 22, 2014, after the Supreme Court judgement, the Prince, through his lawyer, Emmanuel Abiodun, said the government of old Oyo state and its successor in the state of Osun have waited patiently to abide by the final court decision and urged Governor Rauf Aregbesola to do the needful by requesting the incumbent monarch to vacate the stool so as to complete the job commenced by the then Oyo State government and allow him to reap the fruit of the judgement.
However, Oba Falabi on April 9 ran back to the Ikire High Court and sought a court protection to prevent the state government from deposing him. According to suit No: HRE/08/2014 filed by his lawyer, Nathaniel Oke (SAN), Oba Falabi said he has not committed any offence to warrant his deposition by the state government and sought court order to retrain Governor Aregbesola from deposing him.
Oba Falabi joined the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Barrister Wale Afolabi, the Commissioner for Chieftaincy Affairs, Barrister Kolapo Alimi and four of Ikire kingmakers, Chief Daudu Aro, Chief Rafiu Morakinyo Oke, Chief Alawode Basiru and Chief Adebayo Aduke as well as Prince Olanrewaju as respondents in the suit.
Oba Falabi in his statement of claim at the Ikire High Court stated that Aregbesola invited him to a meeting in Osogbo on April 15, 2014 and discussed the issue of the Supreme Court judgement with him. He said Aregbesola insisted that he (Oba Falabi) should be preparing to vacate the throne as the Akire of Ikireland. Oba Falabi said the Commissioner for Justice who was at the meeting told him (Falabi) that an alternative arrangement of comfortable accommodation would be made for him at any other town he desires with some money to live the rest of his life because they (government) wants the deposition to be peaceful.
Oba Falabi told the court that he rejected the offer and that his (Oba Falabi’s) rejection of the offer did not go down well with Aregbesola and both the Commissioners for Justice and Chieftaincy Affairs who were at the meeting. The embattled monarch said the Attorney General told him at the meeting that it would be in his (Oba Falabi’s) own interest to leave the throne peacefully.
When the matter came up at the Ikire High Court, the presiding judge, Justice R.A Shiyanbola struck out the case but Oba Falabi’s counsel said the striking out of the case by the Ikire High court does not represent its end. When the news went around Ikire town that Oba Falabi’s case was struck out a large crowd of indigenes of the town celebrated the development just as heavily armed riot policemen were spotted in the town trying to maintain law and order.
Since the Supreme Court judgement, there has been heavy presence of security agents in Ikire as police patrol teams were strategically positioned in various areas in the community, including the palace of Akire. Residents including market women, commercial motorcyclists and artisans and other categories of people on the streets and neighbourhood were sighted paying homage to Prince Olanrewaju when he was coming back from the Ikire High Court.
Reacting to the judgment in a chat with Sunday Trust, Prince Olanrewaju said “the judge respected the Supreme Court judgment, having realised that he could not adjudicate in the matter. Ikire people are happy with me because they know that I’m their genuine traditional ruler”.
When contacted, Falabi said: “I don’t want to talk on the matter. You can meet my lawyers. Those people you see celebrating are not from Ikire. They brought them in. That is not the way to go about it”.
For the second time, in another suit with reference number HRE/09/2014, on May 23, Oba Falabi through his counsel, Nathaniel Oke, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), sought an interlocutory injunction as claimant, restraining Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Commissioner for Justice, Wale Afolabi and Commissioner for Chieftaincy Matters, Kolapo Alimi from dethroning him as the Akire of Ikire pending the determination of the substantive suit.
At the court on Friday, May 23, counsel representing Prince Olanrewaju, Barrister Olalekan Thanni in a counter affidavit said “the judgment of the Supreme Court presented by the claimant in HRE/08/2014 set aside the judgment of the High Court pursuant to which the claimant was appointed as the Akire”.
The presiding judge, Justice R.A Shiyanbola, who adjourned the matter to Friday, May 30, 2014 expressed the need to give the matter a speedy trial. The case was also transferred to the Osun State High Court, Osogbo.
Speaking with Sunday Trust on the matter, Osun State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Wale Afolabi said he could not comment because of a pending suit on the case. He also said he could not react to the monarch’s claim that the state government persuaded him to leave the throne quietly and get money and house. Afolabi said, “I cannot comment on those issues until we finish the whole case because any statement at this stage could be sub judice”.
