The Olushi Onigbesa Royal Family of Oshodi has asked an Ikeja High Court to affirm its right to produce the Oba of Oshodi amid an ongoing dispute involving rival royal families.
Yaya Oseni-Agedegudu and Kabiru Eeyantan filed the suit, No. ID/1457GCMW/2026, on behalf of the Onigbesa Royal Family through their counsel, Omoniyi Akinmola.
The claimants are seeking a declaration that the family is entitled to produce the traditional ruler of Oshodi.
They are also asking the court to restrain the Lagos State Government, its agencies and the rival Oshodi Tapa and Arota families from recognizing or installing another person as Oba.
According to the claimants’ lawyer, the dispute centres on the recommendation of a standing tribunal of inquiry into chieftaincy matters.
The Lagos State Government constituted the tribunal to determine whether the Baaleship of Oshodi should be upgraded to an Obaship.
The tribunal, chaired by retired Justice A.O. Silva, began sitting on June 1, 2005, and concluded its proceedings before submitting its findings to the state government in 2012.
Akinmola said the tribunal recommended the Onigbesa Royal Family as the family entitled to produce the Oba. He maintained that subsequent attempts by rival families to overturn the recommendation had failed in court.
The lawyer said the Oshodi Arota Ologun family first challenged the recommendation at the High Court. According to him, the court dismissed the case in a judgment delivered on September 24, 2014. The family subsequently appealed, but the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on March 25, 2020, with costs.
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Akinmola added that the Supreme Court later dismissed the family’s appeal on July 13, 2021, also with costs. He further cited other suits involving the Oshodi Tapa and Oshodi Ologun families, which he said were struck out by the High Court.
According to the claimants, none of the successive court decisions invalidated the tribunal’s recommendation that the Onigbesa family should produce the Oba.
The claimants alleged that the Lagos State Government changed its position after initially taking administrative steps toward implementing the tribunal’s recommendation.
Akinmola challenged a letter dated October 20, 2022, written by the then Lagos State Attorney-General, which recognized the Oshodi and Arota families as entitled to produce the Oba.
The lawyer argued that the position was based on a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of earlier judgments relating to a 206-acre parcel of land in Oshodi.
He maintained that those judgments concerned ownership of the 206 acres and did not determine traditional rulership over the wider Olushi Onigbesa territory.
Akinmola also told the court that the state government had previously treated the Onigbesa family as entitled to produce the traditional ruler.
He said that following the tribunal’s recommendation, the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs notified the Agedegudu Ruling House in August 2012 that it was its turn to present a candidate.
He further stated that the Joint Chieftaincy Committee of Oshodi/Isolo Local Government approved the nomination at its meeting on June 9, 2021.
The Tapa Chieftaincy Family, in its defence, urged the court to dismiss the case. The family described the suit as frivolous and accused the claimants of attempting to circumvent earlier judgments concerning ownership of land in Oshodi. The court is now being asked to determine the competing claims over the right to produce the Oba.
NAN
