By JAMES OGUNNAIKE

The families of Adeberu, Olufadi and Ayora/Tunwase of Fusengbuwa Ruling House, Ile Nla, Agunsebi, Ijebu Ode have dragged the Ogun State Government, former National president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, Abdulateef Owoyemi; founder of Eye Foundation Hospital, Dr. Kunle Hassan, and two others, before an Ogun State High Court, sitting in Ijebu Ode, over the leadership tussle rocking the ruling house.

According to the suit filed on September 17, and made available to journalists yesterday, representatives of the three royal families, Adedokun Ajidagba, Adeleke Adeyemi and Ademola Sonaya, urged the court to stop Owoyemi from parading himself as the head (Olori Ebi) of the Fusengbuwa ruling house.

The Fusengbuwa ruling house is the next to produce the Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebu Land after the demise of 91-year-old Oba Sikiru Adetona on July 13, 2025 after 65 years? reign.

Adedokun, according to the documents filed before the court, asserted that Owoyemi has no ancestral link to the Ile-Nla compound in Agunsebi, the historic family house of Fusengbuwa.

He listed the ruling house?s eight recognised branches as Olufadi, Ayora/Tunwase, Shenowo, Okuyandewo, Oshinuga, Adekenu, Adebiyi, and Adeberu.

Adedokun caimed that Owoyemi hails from Ikoro-Ekiti and not Ijebu-Ode, a position he affirmed was corroborated by the late Awujale of Ijebuland, during a court proceeding at Ijebu-Ode in 2018.

He said his appointment as Olori-Ebi of Fusengbuwa was ratified on November 23, 2023, with official notification sent to the Ogun State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and the late Adetona.

Adedokun declared that he remains the authentic head of the Fusengbuwa ruling house and prayed court to accede to the request of the three royal families and stop Owoyemi from parading himself henceforth as the head of the ruling house.

The court is, however, yet to fix a date for the hearing of the suit

Recall that the former ICAN President had insisted that he remains the legitimate head of the Fusengbuwa ruling house by virtue of the Ibadan Court of Appeal judgement of 2024, which ruled in his favour and confirmed the fact that he has been the ruling house head appointed since 2013 after the death of Prince Fasasi Adeyemi

He stated that in 2011, he was appointed as the Deputy to the then head of the family, Adeyemi and by 2013, he was appointed as the Olori Ebi after the death of Adeyemi.

Owoyemi explained that after his appointment as the Olori Ebi of Fusengbuwa in March 2013, a splinter group had also appointed the late billionaire banker and founder of First City Monument Bank, Otunba Subomi Balogun, as the head of the same family.

He disclosed that he had challenged the anomaly at a High Court sitting at Ijebu Ode and that while giving his judgment in 2018, Justice Asenuga resolved two of the issues brought before the court in his favour but failed to declare him as the Olori Ebi of Fusengbuwa.

?I approached the Court of Appeal sitting at Ibadan and on November 28, 2024, in a judgment delivered by Justice Binta Fatima Zubairu, resolved all seven issues brought before the court in my favour,? Owoyemi stated.

He added that he remains a bonafide son of Ijebu land from Idowa Ijebu and that past attempts to distort history had been quashed by the November 2024 Ibadan Court of Appeal judgment

The Octogenarian urged every member of the ruling house to shun division, strife and avarice but cooperate with the leadership of the family for a rancour-free selection process for the next Awujale.(Vanguard)

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