Osun Court restrains Adeleke from appointing new Olojo of Ojo amid chieftaincy dispute

An Osun State High Court sitting in Ede has restrained Governor Ademola Adeleke and other relevant authorities from appointing or installing a new Olojo of Ojo in Egbedore Local Government Area of the state, pending the determination of a motion before the court.

The interim injunction, granted by Justice K. Akano on Thursday, October 29, 2026, followed a legal challenge instituted by five princes representing themselves and other members of a ruling house in the community.

The applicants, identified as Princes Babatunde Hammed Adegoke, Taofeek Adekunle Adegoke, Nathaniel Olaniyi Adelakun, Abiodun Adelakun and Olukunle Oyetunji, approached the court through their counsel, A. Mikaheel, in suit number HED/18/2026.

Those listed as defendants include Governor Adeleke, the Osun State Attorney-General, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and the Egbedore Traditional Council.

Also joined in the suit are Prince Mike Abiola, representing members of the Onimolodun Ruling House, and High Chief Falowo Jamiu Adebayo, representing the kingmakers and warrant chiefs involved in selecting the traditional ruler.

The applicants sought an interim injunction preventing the defendants and anyone acting on their behalf from appointing, installing, declaring or recognising any candidate as the Olojo of Ojo until the court determines their pending motion.

Granting the application, Justice Akano ordered that no candidate should be installed, appointed, declared, recognised or accepted as the community’s traditional ruler pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed on March 11, 2026.

The order, issued under the seal of the court on October 29, effectively suspends further action on filling the vacant traditional stool until the pending application is resolved.

The development follows growing disagreement over the succession process in Ojo, where the Odusola Ruling House recently raised concerns about alleged moves to impose a candidate from the Onimolodun Ruling House.

At a stakeholders’ meeting involving Ojo indigenes, representatives of the Odusola family called for transparency and adherence to the community’s traditional succession arrangement.

The family argued that the Onimolodun Ruling House, which produced the immediate past monarch, Oba Olayinka Gbolagade Tiamiyu, should not produce his immediate successor.

It maintained that the Odusola Ruling House was entitled to present the next candidate based on the community’s rotational succession arrangement.

However, the competing claims over succession remain matters of dispute and have not been conclusively determined by the court.

The latest injunction is an interim measure rather than a final judgment on which ruling house is entitled to produce the next Olojo of Ojo.

The parties are consequently expected to await further judicial proceedings before taking additional steps concerning the vacant traditional stool.