Tension is currently brewing in the Ute community in Ose Local Council of Ondo State following the alleged plan to bury the deposed monarch of the town, Major Michael Adetunji Oluwole (rtd), in the palace following his demise on Thursday.

Oluwole, who was deposed by an Ondo State High Court sitting in Owo, on May 21, died in the palace and there is an alleged move to hurriedly bury him within the Olute of Ute’s palace.

While raising the alarm over the development, the Olule family of Ute, in a petition written to the State Police Command, appealed that a breakdown of law and order in Ute town should be prevented, stating that Oluwole had been removed as Olute of Ute, and as a result, his corpse could not be buried in the Olute Palace.

The family in the petition filed through their counsel, Oladele Oladejo, emphasised that the appeal filed by the deceased at the Court of Appeal should naturally be dead, stressing that a dead man cannot maintain an action in the court.

“Our clients instituted the suit against the Executive Governor of Ondo State and Major Michael Adetunji Oluwole (rtd) in 1995 in respect of Oluwole’s illegal occupation of the Olute’s stool.”

On the 21st day of May 2024, the Ondo State High Court, Owo Judicial Division, Per. Hon. Justice Ademola Enikuomehin, delivered his judgment and declared, among others, that the appointment of Major Michael Adetunji Oluwole (rtd) as the Olute of Ute in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State was unlawful, illegal and void.

“That the said appointment was set aside by the court and that fresh selection from our clients’ family (Olule family) be done in line with the custom and tradition of Ute.

“That Rtd. Major Michael Adetunji Oluwole filed an application for injunction restraining our client and the Ondo State Governor from setting in motion an exercise for fresh selection, but the same was dismissed on 10th July, 2024, by Hon. Justice B.J. Akinwumi.

“Our client informed us this morning, 12th day of September, 2024, that the deposed Oba has passed on and his body was brought in to the Palace of Olute of Ute for burial.

“We strongly believed that in Yoruba land and any other town or communities in Nigeria, once a reigning Oba died, his body would be buried in the palace where his predecessors in office were buried, but once an Oba has been removed by a competent law court and the judgment is yet to be set aside or declared null and void, such a deposed Oba remains removed for life, and such a person becomes an ordinary man and no longer enjoys the status of Oba, and if such a person died, he cannot be buried in the palace.”

The Olule family had also in August 1, 2024 appealed to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to set machinery in motion to fill the vacant stool following the judgment delivered by Justice Enikuomehin.