August 22, (THEWILL) – Akungba Akoko will soon experience peace as the kingship tussle, which lingered for many years, has finally been resolved. Prince Isiaka Adu, from Agure/Makun branch of the Ole ruling house in Akungba Akoko, Ondo State was chosen by kingmakers after the death of the traditional ruler, the Alale of Akungba Akoko, Oba Adekanye Omosowon, who passed on in 2003.
Almost two decades after his death, the traditional stool has witnessed many court cases. Adu was opposed by the Ajimoh lineage of the Ole ruling house in the community. Sunday Ajimoh took Adu to a High Court in Ikare -Akoko and challenged his emergence as the Oba elect of the community. According to him, it was not the turn of Adu to be crowned as king. The case lingered in court for ten years until the court upheld the kingmakers’ decision to crown Abu as the new traditional ruler.
Not satisfied with the ruling, Ajimoh appealed the case in court in 2013 to challenge the verdict. After a back and forth in court, the Appeal Court affirmed the ruling of the High Court that Adu should be crowned as the king. Still not satisfied, Ajimoh went to the Supreme Court to seek another verdict that would favour him. While waiting for the Supreme Court judgment, the governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko pronounced Sunday Ajimoh as the Alale of Akungba of Akoko community against the wish of the court and that of the kingmakers in 2017 and a date was fixed for his coronation.
However, another administration came to power in the state and Adu through his counsel, Mallam Gani Ashiru wrote to the state government about the crisis rocking the stool and how the former Governor did not wait for the Supreme Court’s verdict. Governor Akeredolu had to indefinitely suspend the installation ceremony of Ajimoh citing security reasons and the number of petitions he had received about him in 2018.
The Adu family waited for the ruling of the Supreme Court which they prayed would be in their favour. A five-man panel at the Supreme Court, which was presided by Justice Mary Odili before her retirement in May 2022, struck out the appeal of Ajimoh for incompetence and upheld the verdict of the Appeal that Adu should take over the stool of the community.
