Awujale Stool: Court warns parties to maintain status quo

ABEOKUTA — AN Ogun State High Court, sitting in Ijebu-Ode, yesterday, warned parties involved in the legal dispute over the succession to the Awujale stool against taking any action capable of undermining the court process or altering the existing status quo.

Justice A. A. Omoniyi gave the warning while presiding over the suit instituted by the Fusengbuwa ruling house in connection with the succession process for the vacant stool of the Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland.

The judge’s position followed a request by counsel to the Fusengbuwa ruling house, Otunba Olusegun Otayemi, that the court restrains the parties from taking any step capable of changing the existing situation pending the determination of the suit.

Addressing the court, Otayemi urged Justice Omoniyi to make an order preserving the status quo, arguing that the parties should not be allowed to take actions that could affect the subject matter of the case while the litigation was pending.

Responding, Justice Omoniyi said there was no basis at that stage for the court to assume that either party would take such a step.

The judge, however, warned that any party who acted contrary to the court’s directives would be stopped and required to return to the position it occupied before such action was taken.

Justice Omoniyi’s position effectively put the parties on notice that the court would not tolerate any attempt to alter the circumstances surrounding the disputed succession process while the matter remained pending.

Also speaking, counsel representing the kingmakers, Kunle Kalejaiye, SAN, cautioned the parties against any conduct that could amount to disobedience of an injunction, stressing that such actions could attract legal consequences.

Kalejaiye referred to the principle established in Ojukwu v. Governor of Lagos State, noting that parties to a suit are expected to respect the court process and refrain from taking steps that could defeat or undermine an injunction.

He submitted that parties should not act in a manner contrary to the court’s directives, even where a formal temporary injunction had yet to be drawn up.

The development is the latest in the legal dispute over the process for selecting a successor to the late Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, who died in July 2025 at the age of 91, after reigning for 65 years.

The Fusengbuwa ruling house subsequently approached the Ogun State High Court, challenging the stoppage of the succession process after it had completed its internal nomination exercise.

The ruling house contends that it had discharged its statutory responsibility by convening its meeting and completing the nomination process within the period prescribed by law.

In the suit filed on August 21, 2026, the Fusengbuwa ruling house is asking the court, among other reliefs, to determine whether the Ogun State Government has the legal authority to halt or interfere with the selection process.

It is also seeking a determination of whether the provisions of the Ogun State Obas and Chiefs Law 2021 permit the government to stop the nomination and selection process under any guise.

At yesterday’s proceedings, Justice Omoniyi, who is due to proceed on annual vacation, returned the case file to the administrative judge for reassignment.

The case was subsequently adjourned until September 23, 2026, for mention.