By Dayo Johnson Akure

The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State, has affirmed the judgment of the State High Court which removed Oba Babajide Lawrence Oluwole as the Olu-Oke of Oke-Igbo in Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo Local Government Area.

Recall that the Ondo State government had approved Oba Oluwole’s appointment as Olu-Oke of Oke-Igbo in 2018, following the death of Oba Timothy Fasawe.

However, the Aare Kugbaigbe Ruling House, through its counsel Chief Sola Ebiseni, challenged the appointment.

The claimants argued that Oluwole belonged to the Bamgbala Family, which is not part of the Aare Kugbaigbe Ruling House, and that he was not nominated by the ruling house.

They also contended that the new Traditional Ruling Quarter system used for Oluwole’s appointment, which extended eligibility to several indeterminate families, was alien to the community’s customary law.

The law, they said, recognises only five ruling houses constituted by descendants of the community’s five founders, which have produced its 16 past rulers.

In a judgment delivered, Justice Ademola Enikuomehin of the High Court upheld the claimants’ case and ordered Oluwole’s removal as Olu-Oke of Oke-Igbo.

Dissatisfied, Oba Oluwole filed a Notice of Appeal on April 17, 2023, through his counsel Olalekan Ojo, SAN.

The appeal, amended on May 30, 2025, on 12 grounds, sought to set aside the lower court’s judgment.

He argued that by the Executive Council’s decision, the previous customary law contained in the White Paper on the report of the Justice Adeloye Commission of Inquiry no longer regulated appointment to the chieftaincy.

Oluwole also argued that the judgment, delivered more than three months after final addresses, was invalid.

In the lead judgment delivered by Justice M.L. Hassan, with Justices P.O. Affen and P.C. Obiorah concurring, the Court of Appeal dismissed Appeal No. CA/AK/97/2023 for lacking in merit.

Meanwhile, the state government has approved the appointment of Oba Akintoye Felix Adeoye as the new Olu-Oke of Oke-Igbo.

Oba Adeoye, a lawyer and former President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, is from the Aare Kugbaigbe Ruling House.

Speaking with newsmen, the new monarch’s lead counsel, Chief Sola Ebiseni, said the judgment affirms the customary law of the Olu-Oke of Oke-Igbo chieftaincy as earlier found by Justice Enikuomehin. He added that the ruling will further unite the ancient town.