Royal rumble: Family drags Gov Fayemi to court, wants Oba-elect disqualified

The Famokiti royal family of Orin Ekiti, in  Ido/Osi Local Government, Ekiti State, has sued  the state governor, Kayode Fayemi, to court for allegedly imposing “a traditional ruler from an anonymous royal family” on the community as the new Olorin-elect.

In a suit number HAD/44/20 filed at the Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti Division, the Famokiti royal family is urging the court to nullify the selection of Adeniran Oluwafemi Ajibewa from the Ajibewa Ruling House as the Olorin-elect on the premise that such royal dynasty never existed in the history of the town.

• Maintain peace in your domain, Fayemi charges Ilomu – Ekiti monarch
• Fayemi signs Sexual Violence Against Children law

The suit was filed by Princes Gbenga Fajulugbe, Olaniyi Fajulugbe and Segun Olatoye, representing the Famokiti royal dynasty as plaintiffs.

Joined as defendants are Adeniran Ajibewa (1st), Samuel Ajibewa (2nd), Governor Kayode Fayemi (3rd), the state Attorney General (4th), state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs (5th) and Secretary, Ido/Osi Local Government (6th).

In the legal document deposed to by their lawyer, Obafemi Adewale, the plaintiffs said the selection was a flagrant violation of the Ekiti State Chieftaincy Law, Olorin Chieftaincy Review of 1977 and the Morgan Report of 1988, which recognised only Famokiti and Olubunmo as the two existing ruling houses in the town.

The plaintiffs contended that the recent Justice Jide Aladejana Judicial panel of enquiry set up by Fayemi to review chieftaincy matters in Ekiti State turned down the request for the creation of the Ajibewa dynasty and gave a recommendation that only the Famokiti and Olubunmo ruling houses should be recognized.

Based on the foregoing, they craved for an injunctive order setting aside the selection, nomination and approval of the 1st defendant as the Olorin-elect.

They also sought an order restraining the governor or its agents from going ahead with the installation of Ajibewa as king or taking further steps, pending the determination of the substantive case.

Also sought was a declaration that the 1st defendant was neither from Famokiti nor Olubunmo and that Famokiti was the next to produce the new Olorin.

Following the selection and approval of Adeniran Ajibewa as the Olorin-elect, the two ruling houses had on June 4, 2020 written a protest letter to Gov Fayemi, saying Oluwafemi Ajibewa was not a recognised prince in the town.

The letter, written through the Law Chambers of Obafemi Adewale and Co, insisted that a gazette purportedly signed on June 3, 1999 establishing the Ajibewa royal dynasty was “a product of forgery and a flagrant mutilation of historical facts about the community.”

However, the state government, through the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prof Adio Folayan, has always maintained that due diligence was followed in the selection of Ajibewa as the Olorin-elect and that no law or tradition was circumvented.