By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Fresh hope has risen
New Nigerian gathered that the Ibadan High Chiefs had in a letter on Monday directed their counsel to withdraw the suit in line with the agreement reached during a meeting between the Ibadan High High Chiefs and Governor Seyi Makinde.
At the resumption of the suit on Tuesday, in his judgement the Chief Judge of Oyo state,Justice Munta Abimbola dismissed the suit following the withdrawal of the case by counsel tal was as a result of the withdrawal of the suit by the High Chiefs through their counsel
Justice Abimbola stated that the withdrawal of the suit by the High Chiefs indicated a termination of all litigations on the case, adding the Olubadan Chieftaincy declaration of 1957 remained valid and any contrary declaration should be disregarded.
New Nigerian recalled that the Otun Olubadan,High Chief Lekan Balogun and some members of the Olubadan-in-Council who were promoted as beaded crown wearing Obas Obas in 2017 by the administration of late Senator Abiola Ajimobi mandated their lawyer, Barrister Kunle Sobaloju, to withdraw their case challenging a consent judgment on their elevation from high chiefs to Obaship status.
In the letter dated January 30 titled, ‘Re: Oba Senator Lekan Balogun & others vs Governor of Oyo State and others’.the High Chiefs instructed their lawyer to “discontinue and withdraw” the case with immediate effect.
“We are your client in the above suit No: 1/22/2020/. After careful and painstaking consideration of the lingering crisis trailing the succession of the throne of our new Olubadan of Ibadan land, we resolved as follows: That the peace of Ibadan land is paramount in our hearts and as such no sacrifice is too much to be made to achieve the same.
*That we as kingmakers and members of Olubadan-in-Council have decided to withdraw our above-mentioned suit in High Court of Justice of Oyo State, Ibadan with immediate effect.
“That future reforms or reviews to the Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration of 1957 should be kept in view, for now, to be addressed during the tenure of our new Olubadan of Ibadan.In view of the above, we as your clients are now instructing you to discontinue the above suit and withdraw same forthwith from the court of law of Oyo State and file a notice of withdrawal in court latest February 1, 2022, without failure.”
It will be recalled that upon the elevation of the High Chiefs as beaded wearing Obas, the Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja, headed for the Court to challenge the promotion
High Chief Rashidi Ladoja won at the state High Court as Justice Olajumoke Aiki set aside the gazette as well as the decisions made based on it while the Oyo state government under Senator appealed the judgement
The Appellate Court, in its decision, set aside Aiki’s decision on technical grounds and directed a retrial of the case.
Amidst the retrial, the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde came into power and solicited for an out-of-court settlement and a return to the status quo with the terms of the settlement entered as consent judgment by the court, putting a closure on the matter.
But High Chief Balogun and others later expressed displeasure and filed a fresh suit against the judgment.
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