Kwara State High Court, sitting in Omu Aran, has commenced proceedings on an order by the Affin-Oro ruling house in the Irepodun local government area of the state seeking to reverse the installation of Oloro of Oro kingdom, Oba Joel Olaniyi Titiloye.
It is recalled that the ruling house, known as Affin Oro, through their counsel, Barrister Akin Akintoye (SAN), had earlier filed a suit challenging the native origin and eligibility of Oba Titiloye, who was installed by the state government on October 27, 2024.
At the resumed hearing on Monday, Barrister Akintoye moved an application that was filed a few months ago, seeking that the court restrain the newly installed king from parading himself as the Oloro of Oro Kingdom till the pending case against him is determined by the court.
The claimant (Ruling House) claimed that Prince (Barrister) Clement Ogundokun Adegbola is the qualified and chosen candidate from the Olufayo family for the revered throne with his royal and historical kingship lineage.
In the writ of summons filed before the court, it was stated that the new king does not have an ancestral link to the throne on the basis that he is allegedly not an indigene, native, and Prince of Affin Oro, the only ruling house in turn to produce a king for the Oro Kingdom.
Akintoye (SAN) also sought before the court a prayer seeking to restrain the 2nd defendant, who is the kingmaker, from recognising the 1st defendant (Oba Titiloye) as an indigene and native of Affin Oro pending the determination of the suit.
Meanwhile, counsels to the defendants, Barrister (Dr.) Abdulrasaq Adelodun Daibu and A. S. Oseni, in their separate submissions, urged the court to discountenance the submission made by the claimant’s counsel.
Oseni, who stood in for the installed king, argued that the application of the learnt silk is incompetent on the basis that the Local Government Council, Ministry of Local Government Chieftaincy Affairs and Community Development, and the state governor, who have the power to restrain, are not joined in the suit.
After corroborating the submission of his colleague, counsel representing the kingmaker, Barrister Abdulrasaq, moved an application to join other kingmakers in the suit as co-defendant, the prayer the court overruled and struck out.
The court, presided over by Justice Moses Adegbite, however, adjourned the matter for February 10, 2025, for the hearing of applications.
Among the claimants are Pa Adeyemi Michael Awotundun, Prince Raphael Adekaye, Prince Wasiu Olaniyi Oloyede, and Prince Emmanuel Omotayo Alabi, among others, against the newly installed King and Chief Samuel Taye Otunola.
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