By Professor Gbolagade Ayoola
The royal stool of Olowu of Orile-Owu became vacant following the unfortunate demise of Oba Oladosu Adejobi (Afelele 2), which sad event occurred on 15th March 2011; and after the traditional burial rites the process began to fill the vacant stool. Thus, as a duty and in line with the Chieftaincy Declaration, the Government of Osun State rightly determined the next ruling house to produce the next King, which is the Lagbedu Ruling House; and caused a letter to be written to that effect addressed to the Head of Apena Compound at which the Lagbedu Ruling House is domiciled since creation of the town. The letter specifically requested the Head of Apena Compound to nominate candidate(s) for selection/election by Kingmakers (Afobajes).
A number of candidates emerged from different families of Apena Compound, whose names were submitted to the Kingmakers (Afobajes). Among them, Prince Samson Olubayo Adenrele of the Sakinmade-Adenrele family of Apena Compound was chosen by Kingmakers and his name was forwarded to Osun State Government for approval and installation accordingly.
However, soon afterwards the Akinfala family dissociated itself from the entire Apena Compound and claimed it was that family (Akinfala) only that constitute the membership of Lagbedu Ruling House; and so the letter of Osun State Givernment should have been addressed to the Akinfala family not Apena Compound. Thus, a division ensued that the Kingmakers quickly waded into but could not be resolved, leading to a court action filed by Akinfala family as sole plaintiff against the whole Apena Compound as Respondents.
Other persons and bodies intervened to no avail, including the Owu Development Foundation and the Balogun Owu himself, His Excellency Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Particularly, Chief Obasanjo, set up a committee of high chiefs in Orle Owu for groundtruthing and advice for him to intervene properly.
The report of Chief Obasanjos Committee indicates to him that the Kingmakers had done a good job of the selection or election of an Oba-elect; upon which conviction he (Chief Obasanjo) appealed spiritedly to Akinfala family to take the case out of court, but which appeal also failed to persuade the Akinfala family to do so.
The matter lasted about four years at High Court Osogbo before judgement was delivered on 15th July 2016, which favoured the Akinfala family and orderd that one of its members Prince Dauda Akinfalabi should be enthroned as the next Olowu of Orile-Owu. The Osun State Government under Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as the Governor at that time carried out the order of High Court immediately.
Dissatisfied with this judgement, the Apena family went to Appeal Court Akure to challenge the judgement variously, by instituting two appeal cases; the first case was instituted in 2016 by the Apenas, alongside Osun State Government and the Kingmakers, all as the Respondents at the lower court, and the second case was instituted in 2018 in the name of the Oba-elect himself Prince Samson Olubayo Adenrele as an affected party and sole plaintiff at Appeal Court.
Judgement was delivered in the two appeal cases on January 27th Day of January 2025, which saw the two appellants (i.e. both the Apena Compund as a whole and the Oba-elect Prince Samson Olubayo Adenrele) victorious. In each case, the judgement of Appeal Court Akure states, the appeal succeeded and was allowed, wherein the judgement of the High Court Osogbo was set aside. Going by this judgement, the implication is that Orile-Owu does not have a King in place at the moment, a situation that is highly dangerous owing to the long-standing tension in the town while the matter lasted.
Therefore the good people of the ancient town of Orile Owu fervently awaits the action of Osun State Government, under its fair and just Governor His Excellency Isiaka Adeleke, to comply with the Appeal Court judgment and to do the needful, by quickly dethroning Oba Dauda Akinfalabi thereby paving the way for completion of the original process of approving the appointment and installation of the Oba-elect Prince Samson Olubayo Adenrele as previously selected/elected by by the Kingmakers.
Professor Gbolagade Ayoola is the President of Owu Development Foundation
