The Court of Appeal, Akure Judicial Division, has sacked the Jegun of Idepe, Okitipupa, Oba Micheal Adetoye Obanuga, and ordered him to vacate the throne with immediate effect.
The sacked monarch has been on the throne since 2003, spending 11 years as Jegun of Idepe.
The court also ordered that a fresh selection process, which must exclude the sacked monarch and the ruling house which produced him, be initiated by the government immediately.
The judgment of the Appeal Court was in line with an earlier verdict of an Ondo State High Court, Okitipupa Judicial Division, which sacked the traditional ruler over faulty selection process in December, 2005.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Mojeed Adekunle Owoade, dismissed the nine-year-old appeal filed by Oba Obanuga on the grounds that it lacked in merit and failed in its entirety.
In a unanimous verdict supported by the presiding judge, Justice Sotonye Denton West and Justice Cordelia Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo, the court upheld the decision of the trial judge of the Lower High Court, Justice J. Akintoroye, which was delivered on December 14, 2005, that the Oba was not selected at a proper or valid meeting of the kingmakers to the Jegun of Idepe Chieftancy.
Appellants in the appeal case No: CA/B/146/2006, Oba Obatuga and High Chief Felix Oladejoye Obamonire had filed 12 grounds of appeal through their lawyer, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), in which they raised seven issues for determination.
Also, respondents in the appeal, Prince Raymond Adewole Oyebokun, High Chief J. Akindejoye and six others, filed their cross appeal through their lawyer, Kola Olayiwola.
Among the issues raised by the appellants, they disagreed with the verdict of the lower High Court that the election of Oba Obatuga contravened Section 8A (5) of the Chiefs Law of Ondo State.
They also asked the court to determine whether the learned court was not in grave error to give judgment in favour of Prince Oyebokun and some High Chiefs, who were the plaintiffs at the Lower Court, adding that they have no ‘Locus standi’ to sue for themselves and on behalf of others.
But, the court in its judgment tackled the grounds of the appeal one after the other, with the seven issues raised and held that the appeal failed in its entirety, thereby upholding the position of the lower court.
Justice Owoade noted that the learned trial judge, Justice Akintoroye found that 16 of 26 kingmakers were denied their customary right to select a Jegun of Idepe in the exercise leading to the emergence of the Oba.
While ordering that the deposed monarch and his ruling house cannot partake in the fresh selection process, the court quoted Section 11(A) of the Chiefs Law of Ondo state, which it said introduced equity and fair play into chieftaincy issues.
According to the provision of the law, “Where a ruling house whose turn it is to present a candidate to fill a vacancy in accordance with the provisions of Section 8 of this Edict had been so called and had presented a candidate, who having undergone all the processes of selection prescribed under that Section and 8A, and was duly appointed to fill the vacancy and performed functions as such Chief before his candidacy for whatever reason was subsequently annulled, that person so appointed shall be deemed to have reigned and it shall be the turn of the next ruling house to present a candidate to fill the vacancy, and where there is only one ruling house, that Chief whose candidature has been annulled shall be deemed to have reigned and shall not be qualified to be considered again”.
Also, the presiding justice of the appellate court, Justice Denton West, in supporting the judgment, held that the kingmakers, like the candidates or contesting parties to a chieftaincy stool are equally clothed with Locus to challenge irregularities in a selection process.
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