AWUJALE SUCCESSION CRISIS: FUSENGBUWA DRAGS OGUN GOVT, KINGMAKERS TO COURT
Ruling house seeks order compelling completion of selection process, challenges alleged lockdown of Awujale Palace
By Femi Mebude
The protracted succession crisis over the vacant stool of the Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland has entered a new phase, with the Fusengbuwa Ruling House dragging the Ogun State Government and the nine-member Awujale Afobaje Kingmakers Council before the Ogun State High Court.
The ruling house is seeking judicial intervention to compel the completion of the selection process for the successor to the late Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, while challenging what it described as an unlawful halt to the process and the alleged lockdown of the Awujale Palace.
The suit, marked HCJ/149/2026, was filed before the High Court of Justice, Ijebu-Ode Judicial Division, and sworn to on August 21, 2026.
The claimants are Otunba AbdulLateef Adebayo Owoyemi, Oloriebi/Family Chairman; Otunba Adedokun Ajidagba, Family Deputy Chairman; and Prof. Fassy Yusuf, Vice Chairman. They instituted the action for themselves and on behalf of members of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House/Family of Ijebu-Ode.
Named as defendants are the Governor of Ogun State; the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice; the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs; the Ogun State Executive Council; the Chairman and Secretary of Ijebu-Ode Local Government; and the nine Awujale Afobaje Kingmakers, led by the Ogbeni Oja of Ijebuland, Olorogun Sonny Kuku.
A succession process interrupted
The Awujale stool became vacant following the death of the late monarch, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, on July 13, 2025, at the age of 91, after a historic 65-year reign.
According to the claimants, Ijebu-Ode Local Government notified the Fusengbuwa Ruling House on December 2, 2025, that it was its turn to produce a candidate under the rotational arrangement recognised by the Obas and Chiefs' Law of Ogun State 2021.
The ruling house subsequently commenced its internal nomination process.
The claimants stated that the ruling house convened its meeting on January 12, 2026, and completed the nomination exercise within the period prescribed by law.
According to the suit, 95 princes and princesses were nominated, with the resulting list forwarded to the nine-member Awujale Afobaje Kingmakers Council on January 19, 2026, for the next stage.
The legal argument of the claimants is essentially that once the ruling house had completed its statutory responsibility and transmitted the nomination list to the kingmakers, the process had moved into the kingmakers' statutory domain.
Palace lockdown becomes legal flashpoint
However, the claimants allege that less than 24 hours after the nomination list was submitted, police officers entered the Awujale Palace after midnight on January 20, 2026.
They contend that the development prevented the kingmakers from meeting to consider the nominees and select a candidate.
The ruling house maintains that the intervention effectively brought the succession process to a halt.
A subsequent communication from the local government reportedly cited security concerns and allegations of bribery and financial inducement as reasons for the suspension of the process by the state government.
The Fusengbuwa Ruling House disputes the allegations.
It claims that no evidence or formal petition substantiating the allegations was presented and further maintains that investigations by the police and the Department of State Services did not establish wrongdoing.
The allegations, however, remain contested matters and have not been judicially determined.
Who are the kingmakers?
The nine-member Awujale Afobaje Kingmakers Council named in the suit is headed by Olorogun Sonny Kuku, the Ogbeni Oja of Ijebuland.
Other members are Chief Rasheed Adesanya (Olisa); Chief Oluwaranti Lekan Osifeso (Olootu Olowa); Chief Jimi Lawal (Olootu Ifore); Chief Abimbola Okenla (Kakanfo Awujale); Chief Kunle Ogunade (Apebi); Chief Agboola Alausa (Balogun); Chief Adebisi Adaran, also known as Gbenden (Ogbeni Odi); and Chief Ayotunde Ola Odulaja (Lapoekun and Secretary).
The kingmakers occupy a pivotal position in the succession architecture because the Fusengbuwa claimants argue that their receipt of the nomination list triggered the next stage of the statutory process.
The government officials named
Among the defendants are the Executive Chairman of Ijebu-Ode Local Government, Hon. Dare Alebiosu, who the claimants say approved the commencement of the process on January 6, 2026.
Also named is Hon. Ganiyu Hamzat, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
The claimants allege that Hamzat subsequently petitioned the Eleweeran Police Station in Abeokuta on February 2, 2026, requesting that members of the kingmakers and principal officers of the ruling house be invited for questioning over allegations of bribery and financial inducement.
The legal action therefore places not only the traditional institutions but also the statutory role of the state government under judicial scrutiny.
What the Fusengbuwa Ruling House wants the court to decide
The originating summons asks the court to determine several questions arising from the interpretation and application of the Obas and Chiefs' Law of Ogun State 2021.
One of the central questions is whether, having convened its ruling house meeting and completed the nomination of candidates within the prescribed period, the Fusengbuwa Ruling House had fully discharged its statutory responsibility and could consequently be required to reopen, repeat or recommence the nomination process.
The claimants also ask the court to determine whether the kingmakers, having received the Fusengbuwa nomination list on January 19, 2026, became obligated under Section 16(1)(e)-(f) of the law to select a candidate from the submitted list and forward the name to the appropriate state authority.
Another key question concerns Section 22 of the law and whether the Ogun State Executive Council is obligated to act upon the presentation of a candidate selected by the kingmakers.
But perhaps the most politically and constitutionally significant issue concerns the alleged intervention at the Awujale Palace.
The claimants want the court to determine whether the Governor, relevant state officials, local government officials or any other defendant possessed the legal authority to direct or cause the forcible entry into and locking of the palace by officers of the Nigerian Police.
Reliefs sought
Among the principal reliefs sought is a declaration that the Fusengbuwa Ruling House, having convened its meeting and completed its nomination exercise on or about January 12, 2026, had fully discharged its statutory responsibility under Section 16(1)(b) of the law.
The claimants further seek a declaration that the kingmakers, having received the nomination list on January 19, 2026, are obligated under Section 16(1)(e)-(f) to select a candidate from the list and forward the name of the selected candidate to the appropriate authority.
They also want the court to declare the alleged lockdown of the Awujale Palace unlawful, ultra vires the Obas and Chiefs' Law of Ogun State 2021, and contrary to their rights and those of the kingmakers to fair hearing.
More significantly, the ruling house is asking the court to order the kingmakers to reconvene within seven days of judgment and complete the selection process.
It is also seeking an injunction restraining the state government and security agencies from further interfering with the selection process.
Legal arguments
Counsel to the claimants, led by Otunba Olusegun Otayemi, argues that the Ogun State chieftaincy legislation establishes a sequential process involving nomination, selection and government consideration or approval.
The legal team cited judicial authorities, including Menakaya v. Menakaya and Garba v. University of Maiduguri, in support of arguments relating to statutory duties and fair hearing.
The legal battle consequently raises a fundamental question: at what point does government oversight become unlawful interference in a traditional succession process governed by statute?
It also brings into sharper focus the respective responsibilities of the ruling house, the kingmakers, the local government and the state government in determining who ultimately occupies the Awujale stool.
A courtroom test for the succession process
The suit could become a significant test of the legal framework governing the succession to one of Nigeria's most prominent traditional stools.
Beyond the immediate interests of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House, the case potentially places the entire succession mechanism under judicial examination — from the nomination of candidates by the ruling house, through the role of the kingmakers, to the responsibilities of the state government.
For the Fusengbuwa claimants, the central argument is that the statutory process had already commenced, the ruling house had completed its assigned responsibility and the kingmakers had received the list of nominees before the process was allegedly interrupted.
For the defendants, whose responses were not publicly available at the time of this report, the legal question may ultimately turn on whether the circumstances surrounding the suspension justified government intervention under the applicable law.
Those issues are now before the court.
The case is yet to be heard on its substantive merits, and no final judicial determination has been made on the allegations or claims contained in the originating summons.
What began as a traditional succession contest has therefore entered a new arena — the courtroom — where custom, statutory law, kingmakers' authority, government oversight, due process and the future of the Awujale stool may now converge.
