Four leaders of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House in Ijebu-Ode have instituted a suit against 12 members of the family over a leadership dispute linked to the selection of a successor to the late Awujale of Ijebuland, seeking N1bn in damages.
The claimants are the Chairman of the ruling house, Abdulateef Owoyemi; his deputy, Dokun Ajidagba; Vice Chairman, Prof Fassy Yusuf; and Secretary, Pastor Jeremiah Salami.
In the suit filed before the Ogun State High Court sitting in Ijebu-Ode, the four leaders challenged their purported removal from office and rejected allegations of financial inducement and other irregularities in the process of selecting the next Awujale.
They are also asking the court to restrain the defendants from presenting themselves as leaders or representatives of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House and to declare the alleged removal of the claimants invalid.
The case, marked HCJ/167/2026, was filed through a writ of summons dated September 16, 2026, and made available to journalists on Sunday.
The defendants include Pa Olusegun Olusoga, popularly known as “AK Black”, Ridwan Oduneye, Muyiwa Adeleye, Alhaji Taiwo Ajumo, Sikiru Adegunwa Oluwole, Kehinde Lawal, Lukman Logunleko Oludare, Abdul Onalaja, Ashiru Mufutau, Osiyemi Johnson, Adeleke Adeyemi, also known as “Leke Adeyemi”, and Olukayode Otufale.
The claimants told the court that the three separate units of the ruling house were merged into one following a meeting on November 7, 2025, held after a meeting convened by the Ogun State Government at the Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the previous day.
According to them, the meeting adopted a leadership structure headed by Owoyemi, with Ajidagba and Yusuf as deputy and vice chairman respectively.
They said the leadership had subsequently handled the nomination of candidates for the vacant Awujale stool on behalf of the ruling house and forwarded the list of nominees to the Awujale Kingmakers, led by the Ogbeni Oja of Ijebuland, Chief Dr Sunny Kuku.
However, the claimants alleged that a breakaway faction of the family constituted a fact-finding committee in June 2026 to investigate allegations of financial inducement against the ruling house leadership.
They further alleged that the faction, at a meeting on August 9, 2026, announced the committee’s report and subsequently purported to remove Owoyemi, Ajidagba and Yusuf from their positions.
The claimants said the faction later notified Governor Dapo Abiodun, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ganiyu Hamzat, the Chairman of Ijebu-Ode Local Government, Dare Alebiosu, and the kingmakers of the purported removal.
They also alleged that the faction, in a September 2 letter, announced Otufale as the “Single Unified Olori-Ebi” and directed that future correspondence concerning the ruling house be sent to him.
The claimants, however, argued that no properly constituted general meeting of the ruling house had authorised their removal or the appointment of another person to replace them.
They therefore asked the court to recognise Owoyemi, Ajidagba, Yusuf and Salami as the duly appointed principal officers of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House and to invalidate the purported decisions removing them from office.
They also sought a perpetual injunction preventing the defendants, their agents or anyone acting through them from parading themselves or any other person as the Olori-Ebi, chairman, deputy chairman, vice chairman, secretary or other principal officer of the ruling house.
The claimants further asked the court to award N1bn in general damages over what they described as injury to their reputation, standing and offices.
The suit is the latest legal dispute surrounding the process of selecting a successor to the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, who died in July 2025 at the age of 91 after 65 years on the throne.
Earlier, Owoyemi, Ajidagba and Yusuf had sued Governor Abiodun, the Awujale kingmakers and other parties, seeking orders compelling the completion of the process for selecting the next Awujale.
The suit, marked HCJ/149/2026 and dated August 21, 2026, was recently returned to the administrative judge for reassignment after a vacation judge, Justice A.A. Omoniyi, said he was due to proceed on his annual vacation.
Justice Omoniyi subsequently adjourned the matter until September 23, 2026.
The Ogun State Government had suspended the Awujale selection process in January 2026, citing petitions from security agencies and stakeholders, after an earlier suspension over procedural concerns in December 2025.
A total of 95 aspirants, comprising 94 princes and one princess, emerged from the ruling house nomination exercise held in Ijebu-Ode in December before the process was halted.
