The Fusengbuwa Ruling House has appealed to Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, to urgently lift the suspension placed on the selection process for the 60th Awujale of Ijebuland, describing the allegations that kingmakers collected bribes as “frivolous and unsubstantiated.”

The Awujale throne became vacant on July 13, 2025, following the death of Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, who passed on at the age of 91 after 65 years on the throne.

The succession process, which placed the Fusengbuwa Ruling House—next in line to produce the monarch—at the centre of proceedings, has faced repeated setbacks. The Ogun State Government suspended the exercise twice, citing procedural irregularities and a flood of petitions alleging misconduct and bribery.

Speaking on Sunday at Jadiara Palace, Idowa-Ijebu, Otunba Lateef Adebayo Owoyemi, Chairman of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House, expressed concern over what he described as an unusual delay in filling the revered stool, urging the government to allow traditional kingmakers to conclude their constitutional role.

Owoyemi, who was joined by key members of the ruling house including Deputy Chairman Prince Adedokun Ajidagba and Vice Chairman Prof. Fassy Yusuf, noted that the late monarch had, before his passing, constituted trusted Afobaje High Chiefs to oversee the selection of his successor in line with tradition.

He described the chiefs as individuals of “impeccable integrity” who had served the throne faithfully for decades.

According to him, the ruling house complied fully with its statutory obligations by submitting a list of 94 princes and one princess to the kingmakers for consideration. However, the process was abruptly halted following government intervention.

He recalled that in January, the state government ordered the closure of the Awujale Palace and directed kingmakers to suspend the selection process over security concerns and allegations of bribery.

Owoyemi, a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), said security agencies, including the police and the Department of State Services (DSS), had investigated the allegations without finding any evidence of wrongdoing.

He described the situation as a “three-month-long injustice,” alleging that unnamed individuals were attempting to derail the traditional process through unverified petitions.

He also criticised what he termed the repeated harassment and interrogation of ruling house members and kingmakers by security operatives.

Owoyemi warned that the prolonged delay was generating anxiety among indigenes of Ijebuland both at home and in the diaspora, who are eager for the emergence of a new Awujale.

He further recounted that shortly after the ruling house submitted its nomination list on January 19, 2026, security operatives allegedly sealed the Awujale Palace overnight on the directive of the state government. The following day, the Ijebu Ode Local Government issued a letter instructing the kingmakers to suspend the process pending further government directives.

“The government’s letter claimed they had based their directives on some “security reports and allegations of bribery and financial inducement” and other matters which our Ruling House had never heard anything about, that they had received, but the said letter did not name any persons that made the accepted allegations, the givers of the alleged bribes, on what date each one was given, or their values, either in the government’s letter to us.

“Also in his follow up letter of petition to the Police by the Ogun State Commissioner of Chieftaincy Affairs ‘ dated February 2nd 2026 to the Eleweeran Police in which the Commissioner, Hon. Ganiyu Hamzat, requested the Ogun State Police Commissioner to invite members of the Awujale Kingmakers Council, and “all other stakeholders” who, the Eleweeran Police interpreted to us to include the Fusengbuwa Ruling House Chairman Otunba Lateef Owoyemi, the Deputy Chairman, Otunba Dokun Ajidagba, and the Vice Chairman, Prof Chief Fassy Yusuf, the specific details of the serious allegations were also not given!

“As of today, May 3rd 2026, the very credible information reaching us, is that none of us Olori Ebis or the Kingmakers, who had been summoned to and reported for questioning at the Eleweeran Abeokuta Police Station on different days and had answered all the questions asked about the allegations made against us in the Ogun State Commissioner of Chieftaincy Affairs’ misconceived and highly biassed petition, has been found culpable on the alleged crimes and that the State Commissioner Hon Ganiyu Hamzart’s petition, lacked any element capable of substantiation through any honest and reliable witness.

“For more than three months now, since 21st of January, 2026 , the Ogun State Governor and his very close officials, have most unfairly and unprecedentedly, halted the entire Awujale selection process, in our honest and well considered opinion over speculative, unproven or unprovable allegations and frivolous petitions from persons who do not wish the Fusengbuwa Ruling House well and would like to sabotage the entire Awujale selection process.

“From the foregoing, it can be seen that the Afobaje Council members, as well as our Family Heads have intermittently, been humiliatingly invited for questioning, and interrogation by both the highly feared and scandal promoting Eleweeran Abeokuta Nigerian Police Station and the Department of State Services (DSS) in the State. At no point, we were glad to learn, was any incriminating evidence found against any of us.

“Rather, the Kingmakers and our Family leaders appear to have become victims of unfair suspicion, witch-hunting, intimidation, character assassination, and a most unfortunate pull down syndrome. We believe very strongly, that the Awujale Kingmakers can not be persuaded to do any thing they believe is wrong or ungodly or will not be accepted and applauded by the people of Ijebu Ode in regard to their selecting an Awujale, by any amount of pressure, money, other gifts or inducements.

“We therefore hereby make a passionate appeal to His Excellency, Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun, MFR and his key officials and advisers, to kindly lift the suspension order placed on this 60th Awujale Selection process since over three months ago, and please direct the Afobaje Kingmakers to immediately resume, meticulously carry out, and successfully conclude their age long and statutory responsibility of wisely and objectively selecting the next Awujale for Ijebu Ode and Ijebuland without any further delay or intervention.” (The Nation)

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