Selecting another occupant of the exalted Awujale of Ijebuland stool may drag longer than expected, as the leadership crisis rocking the Fusengbuwa Ruling House has been taken before an Ogun State High Court sitting in Ijebu Ode.
The ruling house is next in line to produce the next Awujale.
Some branches in the ruling house namely Adeberu, Olufadi and Ayora/Tunwase of Fusengbuwa ruling house, Ile Nla, Agunsebi, Ijebu Ode have dragged the Ogun State government, former National President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Otunba Abdulateef Owoyemi, founder of Eye Foundation Hospital, Dr Kunle Hassan, and two others before an Ogun State High Court, sitting in Ijebu Ode over the leadership crisis rocking the ruling house.
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According to the suit filed on September 17, and made available to journalists on Thursday, representatives of the three royal families, Adedokun Ajidagba, Adeleke Adeyemi and Ademola Sonaya, urged the court to stop Owoyemi from parading himself as the head (Olori Ebi) of the Fusengbuwa ruling house.
Recall that the Fusengbuwa ruling house is the next to produce the Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebu land after the demise of 91-year-old Oba Sikiru Adetona on July 13, after reigning for 65 years.
Adedokun, according to the documents filed before the court, asserted that Owoyemi has no ancestral link to the Ile-Nla compound in Agunsebi, the historic family house of Fusengbuwa.
He listed the ruling house’s eight recognised branches as Olufadi, Ayora/Tunwase, Shenowo, Okuyandewo, Oshinuga, Adekenu, Adebiyi, and Adeberu.
He claimed that Owoyemi hails from Ikoro-Ekiti and not Ijebu-Ode, a position he affirmed was corroborated by the late Awujale of Ijebuland, during a court proceeding at Ijebu-Ode in 2018.
Adedokun said his appointment as Olori-Ebi of Fusengbuwa was ratified on November 23, 2023, with official notification sent to the Ogun State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and the late Adetona.
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He declared that he remains the authentic head of the Fusengbuwa ruling house and that the court should accede to the request of the three royal families and stop Owoyemi from parading himself henceforth as the head of the ruling house.
The court is, however, yet to fix a date for the hearing of the suit
