Despite Pending Litigation, Oba Abioye Emerges 14th Onijabe of Ijabe After Years of Chieftaincy Dispute

His Royal Majesty, Oba Tajudeen Babatunde Omotosho Akanni Abioye Ekanoye Olukoye III, has emerged as the 14th Onijabe of Ijabe Land in Odo Otin Local Government Area of Osun State, following his unanimous selection by kingmakers and approval by the state government, even as a legal challenge over the stool remains before the courts.

The new monarch’s emergence followed the demise of the immediate past Onijabe, Oba Felix Olaniyan Oyeniyi Oyelade II, who joined his ancestors on August 22, 2026.

Oba Abioye, a prominent businessman and philanthropist with investments in real estate, mining, hospitality, oil and gas, agriculture and education, was nominated as the sole candidate by the Abioye-Ekanoye Ruling House, receiving unanimous support from other recognised ruling houses and kingmakers.

The Osun State Executive Council, under Governor Ademola Adeleke, approved his candidature on October 23, 2026, and he was formally installed on October 24, 2026.

Following his installation, the monarch embarked on a traditional procession through major roads in Ijabe, paying homage to ancestral homes of past Onijabes before entering the traditional seven-day Ipebi seclusion for customary rites and consultations with his predecessors. He has now fully assumed the responsibilities of the stool.

The emergence is significant given the longstanding legal disputes surrounding the Onijabe chieftaincy stool.

The 1955 registered Onijabe Chieftaincy Declaration remains the principal legal instrument regulating nomination, selection and appointment to the throne.

Previous litigation involved the five recognised ruling houses—Folashade, Olukoye, Adekanye, Oyelade and Okunoye—against four other families: Olukoyo Dodo, Obadoke, Alaase and Oloyede.

In a judgment delivered on April 25, 2017, Justice A.A. Aderibigbe upheld the position of the five recognised ruling houses under the 1955 Declaration and granted a perpetual injunction against recognising the four disputed families as ruling houses entitled to present candidates for the Onijabe stool.

The controversy resurfaced in 2018 when the then Osun State Government purportedly recognised the four disputed families and introduced an amended chieftaincy declaration.

The ruling houses petitioned Governor Adeleke on August 7, 2024, requesting reversal of what they described as an unlawful alteration.

The state executive council subsequently set aside the 2018 amended declaration, restoring the 1955 instrument, and the ruling houses filed a notice of discontinuance in the pending suit, effectively ending that litigation.

However, the dispute is not fully resolved. Four ruling houses—Olukoyo Dodo, Obadoke, Alaase and Oloyede—have filed a motion on notice dated October 26, 2026, in Suit No. HKK/2/2018 before the Osun State High Court, Okuku Judicial Division, challenging the executive council’s October 23 decision.

They seek an order setting aside the proceedings and decisions relating to the declaration and the approval of any candidate to the stool while the case is pending.

The applicants also seek an order directing all parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum by refraining from approving or recognising any person as the Onijabe until the court determines the matter.

They argued that the 2018 amended declaration remained the applicable legal instrument and that the executive council’s action amounted to usurping judicial authority on a matter that was sub judice . The court is yet to fix a date for hearing of the application.

The Osun State Government, in a statement by Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment Kolapo Alimi, announced the appointment alongside confirmation of other traditional rulers, stating that the council had set aside the 2018 amended declaration and reviewed the selection process before approving Oba Abioye’s appointment with immediate effect.