DEJI vs AKEREDOLU: Court dismisses Akure monarch’s suit, affirms Iralepo of Isinkan as Oba
An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure, the state capital, struck out a case filed by the Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade, challenging the appointment of the Iralepo of Isinkan on account that, to the Deji, the Iralepo is not an Oba as recognised by the state government.
The court held that the appointment of the Iralepo of Isinkan as an Oba of his community stands.
In the case with suit no: AK/111M/2021 filed on October 22, 2021 by the Akure monarch, he prayed the court to affirm that the Ondo State Government had no powers to recognise the Iralepo of Isikan, an autonomous community in Akure South Local Government, as Oba.
The applicant claimed that a judgement of the Court of Appeal had declared that the Iralepo of Isinkan was a quarter Chief under the Prescribed Authority of the Deji of Akure.
But attorney to Oba Olugbenga Ojo, the newly appointed Iralepo of Isinkan and the Isinkan community, Chief Sola Ebiseni, raised a preliminary objection challenging the locus standi of the Deji to institute the action being not a member of Isinkan or of any of its Ruling Houses.
In the preliminary objection, it was stated that the applicant failed to fulfill the conditions precedent to instituting the action under the Chiefs Law.
It was also submitted that the suit of the Deji lacked merit on grounds that the Instrument of Appointment of the Iralepo of Isinkan made by the Executive Council on May 11, 2005, has not been challenged by the Deji or any other person in any court and on the basis of which Oba Joseph Olu Ojo was appointed in 1995.
Handing down his verdict, the presiding judge, Justice Olusegun Odusola dismissed the preliminary objection holding that the applicant’s originating processes disclosed sufficient interest to institute the action which he said disclosed a reasonable cause of action.
On the merit of the case, the Court held that the appointment of the Iralepo of Isinkan as a recognised Chieftaincy subsists on grounds that the Instrument of appointment legally made by the Executive Council had not been challenged or set aside.
Consequently, the court dismissed the suit of the Deji and the Akure community, saying it lacked merit.
