The Supreme Court has cleared the hurdle before early consideration of an appeal on the dispute over the appointment of Alhaji Moroof Adekunle Magbagbeola as the Olufon of Ifon-Osun in Osun State.
The court, on November 7, granted accelerated hearing in the appeal after noting that the 14 appellants led by Magbagbeola, were reluctant to have the appeal promptly decided. It fixed hearing of the substantive appeal for February 27, next year.
The appeal marked: SC/275/2011 was filed against the March 3, 2011 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Akure division, which upheld the appeal of Alhaji Moroof Oladimeji Akintola.
Akintola challenged the high court’s judgment, which dismissed his suit querying the appointment of Magbagbeola.
The facts of the case revealed that the dispute arose from the government’s handling of Magbagbeola’s appointment after the death, on August 20, 2007, of the immediate past Olufon of Ifon-Osun, Oba Olatoye Ilufoye Omotoyinbo 11.
In line with the community’s tradition, the Olumoyero Ruling House nominated Akintola and Magbagbeola for the kingmakers to perform the customary and traditional rites to determine who between them should be king.
The head of the Olumoyero family, Prince Lasisi Oyedokun, was required by tradition to present them to the kingmakers for the rites.
While they were waiting for the process to start, the Governor and Attorney-General of the state appointed some individuals as warrant kingmakers.
The warrant kingmakers appointed Magbagbeola to the throne and the Governor and Attorney-General endorsed their choice.
Dissatisfied, Akintola went to court, querying the process leading to Magbagbeola’s appointment. He sought, among others, the voiding of Magbagbeola’s appointment and for the court to direct parties to comply with the laid down procedure as captured in the Chiefs Law of the state.
In a March 30, 2009 ruling, the high court upheld the preliminary objection filed by Magbagbeola and others. It dismissed Akintola’s suit on the grounds that it was not properly initiated.
Akintola appealed to the Court of Appeal, Akure, which upheld the appeal and ordered that the case be reassigned to another judge of the high court to be heard afresh.
Dissatisfied, Magbagbeola and others, including the governor and Attorney-General, appealed to the Supreme Court.
Source: The Nation
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