The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure has put aside the judgment of the Osun State Excessive Court which dismissed a chieftaincy swimsuit difficult the appointment of Oba Kehinde Oladepo because the Salu of Edunabon.
The appellate court docket, in a unanimous choice delivered by Justice Oyebisi Folayemi Omoleye, held that the decrease court docket erred in legislation by dismissing the swimsuit on the preliminary stage with out listening to it on its deserves.
Justice Omoleye said that the trial court docket acted wrongly “in view of the intense allegations of procedural violations and unhealthy religion raised by the Appellant”.
He added that such points required full judicial consideration.
The attraction arose from a dispute over the succession to the stool of the Salu of Edunabon, a recognised chieftaincy regulated by the Salu of Edunabon Chieftaincy Declaration of 1957 and the Chiefs Regulation of Osun State.
The appellant, Chief Oyedokun Olatidoye, the Olosi of Edunabon and head of the Edunabon kingmakers, challenged the nomination, appointment and approval of Oba Oladepo as Salu.
Chief Olatidoye instructed the court docket that he supervised “the lawful nomination and conventional set up of Prince Adebayo Nasiru Bolawole, which complied with customary rites and obtained the consent of the Ooni of Ife, the prescribed authority”.
He alleged that officers of the Ife North West Native Council Improvement Space later carried out a parallel choice course of with out his involvement and secured the approval of the Governor of Osun State in breach of statutory and conventional procedures.
Nevertheless, the Osun State Excessive Court, presided over by Justice A.A. Aderibigbe, upheld a preliminary objection by the Respondents and dismissed the swimsuit on January 20, 2022, ruling that it was statute-barred beneath the Public Officers Safety Regulation.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, the Appellant argued on attraction that the trial court docket failed to think about recognised exceptions to the limitation legislation, notably in circumstances involving allegations of illegality, abuse of workplace and unhealthy religion.
In permitting the attraction, the Court of Appeal held that the Appellant had the locus standi to institute the motion as head of the kingmakers and that the swimsuit didn’t quantity to an abuse of court docket course of.
Justice Omoleye stated allegations of non-compliance with the Chiefs Regulation, bypassing of the Ooni of Ife and failure to look at the obligatory ready interval “raised critical factual points which couldn’t be resolved with out a full trial.”
The appellate court docket consequently put aside the Excessive Court judgment, ordered that the case be heard afresh earlier than one other decide, and awarded ₦500,000 prices towards the first Respondent in favour of the Appellant.
