Seriki House sues Ajimobi over plan to instal Olubadan-elect

A NEW twist was added to the Olubadan succession saga yesterday when the Seriki lineage approached an Ibadan High Court in a bid to stop the Oyo State Governor, Senator Isiaka Ajimobi and the Olubadan-In-Council from installing the Olubadan-elect, Alhaji Saliu Adetunji.

In a motion filed by its counsel, Mr. A.G. Adeniran, the Seriki family lineage, comprising its leader, Chief Adebayo Oyediji, Chief Olalekan Adisa Fakunle, Chief Aside Abinupagun and Chief Gabriel Amoo, on behalf of themselves and the Seriki Chiefs of Ibadanland, the family prayed for an interim injunction restraining the state governor, the state Attorney-General, Chief Lekan Balogun and Chief Solomon Adabale from appointing or approving the appointment of Chief Saliu Adetunji as the new Olubadan of Ibadanland.

Other respondents listed in the case which was filed on Tuesday at the Oyo State High Court of Justice, Ibadan, were Chief Saliu Adetunji, Chief Rashidi Ladoja, a former governor of the state and Chief Eddy Oyewole.

Others were Chief Kola Daisi, Chief Owolabi Olakulehin, Chief Olufemi Olaifa and Chief Tajudeen Ajibola.

In the suit listed as No. 1/149/16 at the High Court Registry, the Serikis, among others, are seeking for the following reliefs:
• A declaration that after the death of the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana Odugade I, the first claimant (Chief Adebayo Oyediji) is the person entitled to be appointed as the next Olubadan of Ibadan;
• An order directing the state attorney-general to set the machinery in motion to appoint Chief Oyediji as the next Olubadan of Ibadan;
• A declaration that there is at present no Ekerin Olubadan, Ashipa Olubadan, Osi Olubadan, Otun Olubadan, Ekerin Balogun, Ashipa Balogun, Osi Balogun, Otun Balogun and Balogun chieftains in Ibadan;
• An order setting aside the said promotions of the third defendant;
• A declaration that there is at present no kingmaker for the Olubadan of Ibadan;
• An order of this honourable court restraining the fourth to the 11th defendants from acting as kingmakers to appoint the third defendants or any other person as the Olubadan of Ibadan; and
• An order of this honourable court restraining the third from presenting himself to the fourth to the 11th defendants, or to anybody else for appointment as the Olubadan of Ibadan.

But besides the aforementioned, the Serikis in a 21-count prayer have asked the court to restrain Chief Saliu Adetunji from presenting himself for installation as Olubadan in deference to an earlier High Court judgment of November 21, 2008 in suit No 1/421/07.

They also alleged that in defiance of a High Court judgment, the defendants have filled certain vacancies in the ensuing chieftaincies as they occurred without having any regard for the orders of injunction of the High Court restraining them from doing so.

In an interview with The Guardian, yesterday at his Monatan Residence, on the outskirt of Ibadan city, the Head of the Seriki chieftaincy family, Chief Adebayo Oyedeji, who is the Osi Seriki of Ibadan, averred that there had been surreptitious moves by certain interests to suppress his family and the various cases it had won in the past, especially at the Supreme Court, which he said, are being swept aside at the moment by the defendants.