An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan on Friday dismissed a suit filed by the Seriki chieftaincy lineage seeking the nullification of the appointment of Oba Saliu Adetunji as the Olubadan of Ibadanland.
The lineage includes the following chiefs Olalekan Fakunle, Rasheed Abinupagun, and Gabriel Amao.
They also challenged the consistent occupation of the Olubadan throne by both the Balogun and Olubadan chieftaincy lines.
Justice Muniru Owolabi, while dismissing the case for lacking in merit, said that it was not the business of the court to promote the claimants to the position of Olubadan and other vacant positions in the Olubadan-in-Council.
Owolabi said that the 1959 Chieftaincy Declaration of Oyo State had regulated the selection and promotion of the chiefs up to the position of Olubadan of Ibadanland.
He said that the recommendations of the December 1989 consent judgment between Seriki line and other chiefs had not been amended in the state’s chieftaincy declaration governing the appointment and promotion to the Olubadan throne.
The judge further said that the customary law governing any vacancy in the Olubadan line had not been amended and, therefore, the court could not set aside the appointments made into those positions till date.
He said the consent judgment recognising Seriki line could not be presumed to be the law governing appointment and filling of vacant positions in the Ekerin Olubadan, Ekerin Balogun up to the Olubadan of Ibadanland when it had not been included in the law.
Owolabi said the consent judgment was supposed to be taken to the appropriate authority, which was the Oyo State Government, for approval under the chieftaincy law of the state.
