The Akure Division of the Court of Appeal has admitted fresh evidence in the crisis rocking the chieftaincy stool of Olu-Oke of Oke-Igbo in Ile-Oluji/ Oke-Igbo Local Government of Ondo State.
The stool has been rocked by crisis after Justice Ademola Enikuomehin of the Ondo Division of the State High Court on April 13, 2023, nullified Oba Babajide Oluwole’s appointment as the right traditional ruler for the title.
The court decision follows a suit filed by two princes from Aare Kugbaigbe Ruling House, Prince Rufus Adekanye and Prince Temitope Adeoye, head and secretary of the house.
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The ruling house had sought declaration that Oluwole is not a member of Kugbaigbe Ruling House, noting that it is its turn to produce candidate to fill the vacant stool.
But at the weekend, the lead counsel for the appellants, Olalekan Ojo SAN, sought leave to amend his notice of appeal, adducing new evidence of the registered declaration of the chieftaincy.
He also applied for injunction to restrain the respondents from taking steps to appoint a new Olu-oke and that all actions taken in that direction be vacated by the court.
Adeola Yusuf, counsel representing the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Kayode Ajulo SAN, who appeared in the matter for the first time, informed the court that she was yet to be properly briefed on the processes of the case.
The led counsel for Are Kugbaigbe Ruling House, Chief Sola Ebiseni, argued that the application to adduce evidence of the registered declaration made by the appellants in 2020 when the case ended at the High Court since 2018 was legally inadmissible and a waste of time hearing the appeal.
Ebiseni also reminded the Appeal Court that the High Court had set aside the appointment of Chief Oluwole as Olu-Oke of Oke-Igbo by describing his ascension as ‘illegal’
He said the court had ordered the government to invite the Are Kugbaigbe Ruling House to present a candidate for the vacant throne, saying the deposed Oba filed his notice of appeal, after which he died on April 30, 2025, at the age of 94.
The counsel, however, described the application for injunction as an act of indolence, pleading with the court to also disregard the appellants who refused to prosecute their appeal but ask the court to act in vain.
However, the Appeal Court presided over by Justices Omoleye, Shagari, and Obiorah observed that the appeal was of much of public interest, admitting that the hearing had been delayed despite opportunities granted by the court and ruled out all applications for joining the appeal as interested parties.
The appeal court granted the application to amend the notice of appeal and directed the counsel to the appellants to proffer arguments on the new evidence sought to be adduced in his amended brief.
It, however, declined hearing the motion for injunction and ruled that it is “put in abeyance”, urging counsel for the parties should ensure that their clients take no steps that may breach the peace of the community.
The case was later adjourned for further hearing till October 20.
