Awujale stool: Adele-in-Council sues Abiodun, challenges reconstituted interregnum committee

By James Ogunnaike Abeokuta The Adele Oba Awujale-in-Council has dragged the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, and members of the reconstituted Awujale Interregnum Administrative Council before the state High Court, Ijebu-Ode, challenging what it described as an unlawful attempt to displace the traditional administrative structure of Ijebuland. Other defendants sued alongside Gov Abiodun are the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs as well as members of the recently reconstituted Awujale Interregnum Administrative Council including High Chief Rasheed Adesanya, the Olisa of Ijebu Ode, Chief Chris Okunowo, the Bobasuwa, Prof Jide Ajayi, the Jagun Aso, Chief Stephen Bakare, the Babalaje as well as Chief Alade Shote, the Otun Balogun The suit dated November 5, 2026 and marked HCJ/201/2026 according to a statement from the Media office of the Adele Oba Awujale-in-Council and supporting court documents made available to journalists on Tuesday seeks to establish the authority of the Adele Oba Awujale-in-Council to oversee the traditional and administrative affairs of Ijebu-Ode during the interregnum following the transition of the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona.

The nine members of the Adele Oba Awujale-in-Council led by the Adele and Ogbeni Oja of Ijebuland, Olorogun Dr Sonny Kuku, are asking the court to declare that the Adele system is the only legitimate traditional administrative authority recognised by the native law, customs and ancestral practices of the Ijebu people during the period between the reigns of successive Awujales.

They are also challenging the establishment and subsequent reconstitution of the Awujale Interregnum Administrative Council, describing the arrangement as alien to Ijebu customary law and inconsistent with the Ogun State Chiefs Law. In the substantive suit, the plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that neither the state governor nor the relevant government authorities possess the power to create or reconstitute an administrative council capable of displacing the Adele Oba Awujale-in-Council during an interregnum.

They are further asking the court to set aside the purported reconstitution of the AIAC and the appointments of the fifth to eighth defendants, describing the appointments as irregular, illegal, unconstitutional, null and void. The plaintiffs also want a perpetual injunction restraining the governor, the relevant ministries and other government officials from interfering with or bypassing the customary administrative functions of the Adele Oba Awujale-in-Council.

Similarly, they are seeking an order restraining the reconstituted Awujale Interregnum Administrative Council from holding meetings, parading themselves or exercising traditional, civil or financial administrative authority over Ijebu-Ode under the disputed AIAC arrangement. The statement partly reads the Adele Oba Awujale-in-Council is hereby seeking “A declaration that under the native law, custom, tradition, and ancestral usages of the Ijebu-Ode people, the Adele Oba Awujale-in-Council is the sole, valid, and historically recognized traditional administrative authority entitled to manage the interim traditional and local administrative affairs of Ijebu-Ode during an interregnum following the transition of the Awujale of Ijebuland.

“A declaration that the unilateral creation, establishment, or reconstitution of an administrative body known as the “Awujale Interregnum Administrative Council” (AIAC) by the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Defendants is alien, unknown, and offensive to the native law, customs, traditions, and ancestral usages of the Ijebu-Ode people, and completely inconsistent with the provisions of the Chiefs Law of Ogun State.

“A declaration that neither the Chiefs Law of Ogun State nor any applicable customary law empowers the 1st to 3rd Defendants to arbitrarily invent, sustain, or reconstitute an “Interregnum Administrative Council” to sideline, supplant, or replace the ancestral Adele system and traditional council structures during an interregnum” The plaintiffs are also asking for “an order setting aside the purported reconstitution of the Awujale Interregnum Administrative Council (AIAC) and the handpicked appointments of the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Defendants by the 1st to 3rd Defendants as highly irregular, illegal, unconstitutional, null, void, and of no effect whatsoever.

“An order of permanent injunction restraining the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Defendants, whether by themselves, their agents, officials, ministries, or privies, from interfering with, bypassing, or disrupting the customary administrative functions of the Plaintiffs as the Adele Oba Awujale-in-Council during the period of the interregnum. “An order of permanent injunction restraining the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Defendants from holding meetings, parading themselves, or attempting to exercise any traditional, civil, or financial administration