The Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin,
in the central Nigerian state of
Kwara on Tuesday 9 July nullified
the appointment and installation of
Alhaji Mufutau Gbadamosi as Olofa
of Offa, while also restraining him
from parading himself as the
traditional ruler of the community
forthwith.
In the lead judgment delivered by
Justice Hussein Muhktar, the
appellate court held that the
evidence before it clearly showed
that the ascension to the stool of
Olofa of Offa is by rotation
between the Olugbense ruling
house, who are the appellants and
the Anilelerin ruling house, the
respondents.
To the court, rotation principle in
the town was established in 1969
when the late Oba Keji from the
Olugbense ruling house agreed to
step down from throne and
allowed the ascension of Late Oba
Mustapha Olawoore from the
Anilelerin ruling house, to allow
peace to reign in Offa. This, the
court said, was after the
intervention of the state
government.
Setting aside the decision of the
High Court sitting in Offa delivered
on 19 July 2012 by Justice S.M
Akanbi which upheld the
appointment and installation of
Alhaji Mufutau Gbadamosi as the
Olofa of Offa, the appellate court
granted all the reliefs of the
appellants and nullified Oba
Gbadamosi’s appointment and
installation.
The court ordered Gbadamosi to
stop parading himself as the Olofa
of Offa, while also ordering the
state government to immediately
install Prince Abdulrauf
Adegboyega Keji, who is from
Olugbense ruling house as the new
Olofa of Offa.
Counsel to the Olugbense ruling
house, John Baiyeshea, SAN, had
approached the Court of Appeal to
protest the judgment delivered by
the High Court that the ascension
to the stool of the Olofa of Offa is
not rotational but by competition
between the two ruling houses, a
position used by government to
instal Gbadamosi as the Olofa.
Some of the prayers of the
Olugbense ruling house which the
Court of Appeal granted are:
. That the ascension to the stool of
Offa of Olofa between the two
ruling houses is rotational,
.That the Anilelerin ruling house
having produced the immediate
past Olofa of Offa who ruled for
over forty years, must give way to
the Olugbense ruling house in law
and/or equity to produce the next
Olofa of Offa on the basis of
rotation,
.That the recognition of the
incumbent Olofa of Offa by the
state government “is illogical,
wrongful, unlawful, null and void
and of no effect whatsoever”.
The Court therefore upheld the
appeal of the Olugbense ruling
house and granted an order of
perpetual injunction restraining
Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi from
parading himself as the Olofa of
Offa.
Source: PMNews
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