Court upturns sack of 75 monarchs in Ogun, urges status quo

Abiodun appoints Selimot Ottun as 17th HoS

A High Court sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, yesterday, upturned the demotion of 75 monarchs sacked by Ogun State Government, insisting that status quo should be maintained until the court rules otherwise.

The judge, Justice A.A. Akinyemi, in his ruling on the interlocutory injunction filed by the 75 Coronet Obas through their counsel, Otunba Olumide Oniyire, said that the relationship that existed between the claimants and the defendants prior to the termination of their appointments and promotions on February 6, 2020, should be maintained pending determination of the suit.

The claimants are, therefore, seeking a declaration that the activities and recommendation of the review committee is an afterthought and a nullity. Oniyire had accused the state government, alongside its machineries, of allegedly intimidating and assaulting the Obas from parading themselves as monarchs, saying that hostility towards the purported demoted 75 coronet Obas began after that revocation of the appointment on February 6, 2020.

In her own submission, the defence counsel, O.A. Dankuwo, urged the court to give them a date to file their processes, arguing that the status quo should be after the revocation of the appointment of the coronet Obas.

Meanwhile, Governor Abiodun yesterday appointed Mrs. Selimot Olapeju Ottun as the new Head of Service (HoS) in the state.Abiodun, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, in Abeokuta, the state capital, said that the new Head of Service came into her new position with impeccable pedigree and service record. She is to replace Amope Ajibola Chokor who bowed out of the public service at the weekend.