Court stops Oyo from appointing parallel monarch

Justice K.A. Adedokun of the Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan, on Tuesday, restrained the state government from nominating and installing a parallel Aresaadu while Oba Abraham Oyerinde, the Aresaadu of Iresaadu in Surulere Local Government Area of the state, remains on the throne.

In suit No. HOI/6/2026, Adedokun granted the prayers of the applicant, Oba Adeyeye, after listening to the arguments of his lawyer, Mr. S. Raji.

The judge granted the injunction, restraining the “Government, Emiolu Ruling House and the Kingmakers from nominating, appointing or approving any candidate for the Aresaadu of Iresaadu Chieftaincy nor taking any step in that regard pending the hearing and final determination of the Motion on Notice.”

The court further held, inter alia, that, “Having read through the application and the two affidavits in support of same as well as Exhibits A, A1, B, C & D attached to same, it was established that the right of the Applicant is under threat and same needed to be protected by this Honourable Court.

“The circumstances of this case make it one of the deserving instances when an interim order of this Honourable Court should be granted. Consequently, I found merit in the application and same is accordingly granted as prayed.”

Oba Adeyeye was forced to approach the court yet again to obtain the fresh order after the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters allegedly failed to attend to his letters, including the previous court orders, and proceeded with the nomination process.

The Certified True Copy of the fresh court order was made available on Monday, September 14, 2026, by Oba Adeyeye, along with other relevant chieftaincy documents and subsisting court judgments.

Recall that the monarch had earlier appealed to the government through the Acting Governor, Chief Adebayo Lawal, and Governor Seyi Makinde on September 6, 2026, to urgently stop the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Ademola Ojo, from allegedly appointing a parallel Aresaadu of Iresaadu in alleged disobedience of subsisting court orders.

Oba Oyerinde’s appeal was contained in a statement he personally signed and made available to journalists concerning his travail regarding the Aresaadu throne since 2019.

He noted that Ojo, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, had in September 2025 and September 2026 written two separate letters to the chairman of Surulere Local Government to commence the process of nominating a parallel Aresaadu, allegedly premised on the claim that a court judgment had nullified his appointment as the substantive Aresaadu.

Oyerinde therefore called on the governor to direct the immediate stoppage of meetings already commenced by the chairman of Surulere Local Government and the Emiolu Ruling House to nominate a fresh candidate for the Aresaadu throne, which, he said, had not been declared vacant by any court of competent jurisdiction.

“Your Excellency, Sir, it is of extreme importance and urgency to again call your attention to a disturbing matter as it relates to the injustice meted out to me as Aresaadu of Iresaadu, HRM Oba Abraham Olafimihan Adeyeye, by the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, headed by Hon. Ademola Ojo.

“The Ministry has just issued a fresh letter in September 2026 to the Chairman of Surulere Local Government, directing him to instruct Emiolu Ruling House to nominate a candidate for appointment as a parallel Aresaadu while I am still on the throne.

“Not only has the Court of Appeal, in Appeal No. CA/I/291/2002, ruled that it is not the turn of Emiolu Ruling House to present a candidate for the throne, but also the subsequent suit, Suit No. HOI/4/2019, filed by Emiolu Ruling House to challenge my appointment, has since been dismissed without any appeal against it.

“I had made an earlier appeal in an open letter published in Tribune on October 28, 2025, in this regard when the Ministry issued a similar letter to the Chairman of Surulere Local Government sometime in September 2025 to initiate the process of appointing a parallel Aresaadu from Osunbiyi Ruling House, a process that had been concluded, supervised and documented by government officials more than seven years ago and which culminated in the approval by former Governor Abiola Ajimobi.”

• I’m not Makinde’s surrogate, says Oyo APM gov candidate
• Medical lecturers warn against increased admission
• Nigeria’s disturbing baby trafficking racket

Oba Adeyeye highlighted the sequence of events from the time of his appointment as Aresaadu to the current status in numbered paragraphs, saying this was to assist the governor in taking an informed decision.

He said, “The stool became vacant after the death of Prince Jimoh Oloyede in December 2018. Both Ruling Houses made representations to the government regarding which of them should produce the Oba, as directed by the Court of Appeal judgment in Appeal No. CA/I/291/2002. After examining the Court of Appeal the governmentagreed that it was still the turn of Osunbiyi Ruling House.

“I, Oba Adeyeye, was nominated by Osunbiyi Ruling House. My nomination was approved by the Kingmakers appointed by the government. The appointment of Oba Adeyeye was approved by the governor, and I was given the instrument of office in May 2019. The Certified True Copy of the Letter of Appointment dated May 24, 2019, is attached as Annexure A, while the Instrument of Office dated the same day is attached as Annexure B.

“Emiolu went to court seeking reliefs that it was their turn to produce a candidate to fill the then-vacant throne of Aresaadu of Iresaadu in Suit No. HOI/4/2019. The suit was decided by the High Court, Orile-Igbon, and dismissed. The CTC of the judgment delivered on March 24, 2023, is attached as Annexure C.

“The appeal against the High Court judgment was struck out upon being withdrawn by Emiolu Ruling House. The CTC of the withdrawal dated May 2, 2024, is herewith attached as Annexure D. Government failed to accord me the necessary recognition due to the influence of a member of Emiolu Ruling House in its cabinet, Mr Olasunkanmi Olaleye.

“Because of the withholding of recognition by the government, I filed a suit against the government to compel it to accord me recognition, Suit No. HOI/19/2020. Judgment was delivered by the court directing the government to recognise me as the substantive Aresaadu and to release my entitlements to me. The CTC of the court judgment delivered on February 2, 2021, is attached as Annexure E.

“Government refused to obey the court judgment despite the absence of any appeal. This attitude of government emboldened the Emiolu Ruling House to proceed to court a second time, asking the court to declare that, notwithstanding all that had transpired above, the Osunbiyi Ruling House had refused to nominate any candidate for the throne as directed by government about seven years ago, despite being aware that an Oba had been appointed — Suit No. HOI/19/2024.

“The suit is yet to be determined. Also, the Kingmakers went to court to demand that Osunbiyi Ruling House be ordered to present their nominated candidate to them all over again — Suit No. HOI/7/2024. The suit is still in court. Members of Osunbiyi who contested and lost at the nomination exercise equally went to court to challenge my appointment — Suit No. HOI/8/2024. The suit is yet to be determined.

“The Ministry of Justice, after reviewing the records and the court judgments, issued several legal advices to the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters to obey the court judgments and recognise me as Aresaadu, but the Commissioner failed to accede to the advice. A CTC of one of the legal advices dated January 11, 2024, is attached as Annexure F.

“Again, Oba Adeyeye went back to the very court that gave judgment directing government to accord him recognition to ask that the judgment be obeyed by filing contempt proceedings against the affected government officials who are involved in or aiding and abetting disobedience of the court order in the exercise of a fresh nomination process. The contempt proceedings are still pending and yet to be determined. Copies of the contempt proceedings filed on October 17, 2025, are attached as Annexure G.

“The Oyo State High Court order of injunction restraining the respondents from nominating or appointing any candidate for Aresaadu Chieftaincy, dated September 11, 2026, in Suit No. HOI/6/2026, is attached as Annexure H.

“In total disobedience to all subsisting judgments of court, and while this matter is still a subject of litigation before the courts, the Surulere Local Government set in motion the process of appointment of a parallel Aresaadu of Iresaadu to fill a non-existent vacancy.”

The monarch consequently appealed to the acting governor to urgently direct the withdrawal of the letters issued by the commissioner and, in addition, direct the stoppage of any meeting organised by the chairman of Surulere Local Government and the Emiolu Ruling House to nominate a fresh candidate for the throne of Aresaadu, which he said had not been declared vacant by any court of competent jurisdiction.

The monarch also asked the government to nullify the entire process of any fresh nomination to the non-vacant Aresaadu chieftaincy stool, describing it as an illegality and alleged disobedience of subsisting court orders, and to sanction any erring government officers found culpable.