An Osun State High Court sitting in Ede has issued an interim injunction restraining Governor Ademola Adeleke from appointing, recognizing, or installing a new Olojo of Ojo in Egbedore Local Government Area until a pending motion is fully determined.
This judicial directive stems from lawsuit number HED/18/2026, initiated by A. Mikaheel on behalf of five aggrieved individuals belonging to the local ruling house. The plaintiffs, namely Princes Babatunde Hammed Adegoke, Taofeek Adekunle Adegoke, Nathaniel Olaniyi Adelakun, Abiodun Adelakun, and Olukunle Oyetunji, approached the judiciary to safeguard their ancestral rights and interests regarding the vacant traditional stool.
What are the details of the lawsuit?
The claimants filed the legal action on behalf of their wider family against multiple respondents, which include the Osun State Governor, the State Attorney-General, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, alongside the Egbedore Traditional Council. Additional defendants named in the suit are Prince Mike Abiola, representing the Onimolodun Ruling House, and High Chief Falowo Jamiu Adebayo, acting on behalf of the kingmakers and warrant chiefs overseeing the selection procedure.
The initial application sought to block all involved parties, their agents, and representatives from proclaiming, acknowledging, or installing any individual as the incoming monarch while the substantive legal battle is ongoing.
How did the court rule on the matter?
Justice K. Akano granted the application via a formal ruling issued on October 29, 2026, copies of which were made publicly available in Osogbo.
"An order of interim injunction is hereby granted restraining the defendants, their allies, agents, privies, successors and/or whosoever is claiming through them from installing, appointing, declaring, recognising and/or accepting any candidate as Olojo of Ojo," Justice Akano declared.
The presiding judge confirmed that the restrictive order will remain operational until the determination of the motion on notice, which was officially filed earlier on March 11, 2026.
This legal development unfolds amidst broader traditional stool disputes within Osun State. A separate legal challenge was recently launched by four ruling houses in Ijabe, located within the Odo-Otin Local Government Area, opposing state government actions regarding the appointment of a new Onijabe.
The Ijabe families are actively contesting a decision made by the Osun State Executive Council on October 23, 2026, which reportedly set aside the community's 2018 revised chieftaincy declaration and ratified the selection of Babatunde Omotosho Tajudeen as the Onijabe of Ijabeland. State authorities had formally publicized that specific appointment through an official bulletin released by Kolapo Alimi, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment.