Court restrains Osun from tampering with obaship selection process

The Osun State High Court sitting in Ejigbo has granted an order restraining the Osun State Government from tampering with the selection process of the new traditional ruler of Bode Osi in Ola-Oluwa Local Government Area of the state. 

The applicant, Prince Sabitu Buliyaminu Ariyo, through his counsel, Sulaiman Akano, had obtained this through a Motion Ex-parte.

The motion listed Governor Ademola Adeleke, Attorney General and Commissioner For Justice, Commissioner For Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and Ola-Oluwa Local Government as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respondents. 

Ariyo, who is the the King-elect of Bode-Osi, sought an order of the court to restrain the respondents from tampering with the selection process where the kingmakers of the town elected him as the new Olubode of Bode-osi, succeeding late Oba Nureni Abioye. 

In his ruling, the presiding Judge, Hon. Justice L. O. Arojo, granted the prayers of the applicant and ordered the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respondents not to annul or nullify the election that produced the king-elect. 

Arojo held: “Having gone through the reliefs of this application Exparte, the supporting affidavit, and particularly the attached affidavit of urgency, I see merit in this application and I am inclined to grant the same. 

“I am more persuaded by the Exhibits attached, marked Exhibits A to H, which added to the merit of the application.

“I order the application Exparte as prayed, and I grant each of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd reliefs as claimed by the Applicant against each of the four Defendants/Respondents.”

The Court granted an order restraining the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Defendants jointly either themselves or through their privies not to remove, cancel, or tamper with and/or do anything fraudulently, illegal and/or unlawful as relates to the appointment of the two warrant kingmakers namely (1) Alhaji Akibu Alidu Abiodun (Warrant Kingmaker) (2) Liadi Oluwafemi Samuel (Warrant Kingmaker), the same having been earlier approved by the 2nd and 3rd Defendants by virtue of a letter dated 16th day of February, 2026 based on any fictitious claim of the 3rd defendant and contrary to the provision of the section 4(II) of Osi Chieftaincy, Osun State and Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, pending the final determination of the substantive suit.

The Court also granted an order restraining the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Defendants jointly either themselves or through their privies not to remove, cancel or temper with and/or do anything fraudulently, illegal and/or unlawful as relates to the appointment/selection of the Claimant as the King-elect to occupy the vacant stool of Olubode of Bode-Osi Town based on the minute of the meeting held by the Bode-Osi Kingmakers on the 8th of April, 2026 contrary to the provision of the Section 4(II) of the Chiefs Law, Cap 25 of the Customary Law Regulating the Olubode of Bode-Osi Chieftaincy, Osun State and Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, pending the final determination of the substantive suit.

The Court also granted an order of interim injunction pending the determination of the matter restraining all the defendants whether severally and jointly or by themselves, their agents, privies, and servants from acting in any manner that is contrary to the customs and tradition of Section 4(II) of the Chiefs Law, Cap 25 of the Customary Law Regulating the Olubode of Bode-Osi Chieftaincy, Osun State.

Justice Arojo said the Order to be enrolled and served on each of the Defendants with a substantive motion on notice to be filed and served also on the defendants within seven days from today. 

He adjourned the case to June 15, 2026 for argument of substantive application on notice.