Supreme Court sacks Oyo monarch, Eleruwa of Eruwa, after 21-year reign

Eleruwa of Eruwa

The Supreme Court, on Friday, sacked Oyo monarch, the Eleruwa of Eruwa, Oba Adebayo Adegbola, leaving the stool vacant after 21 years of his reign.

A five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Muhammad Dattijo dismissed the appeal by Oba Adegbola and six others.

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The monarch, who had earlier been dethroned by an Oyo State High Court on January 26, 2011, appealed the decision.

But Justice Ladipo Abimbola of the appellate court, delivering judgement in 2011, affirmed that the processes that brought the monarch to the throne were irregular.

Oba Adegbola subsequently took the case to the apex court which also ruled against him.

In upholding the decisions of the two lower courts, the Supreme Court resolved all the five issues raised in the appeal against the appellants, ruling that the appeal lacked merit and substance.

The Laribikusi Ruling House of Eruwa instituted the suit to challenge Oba Adegbola’s enthronement.

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The courts held that Adegbola was not a member of the ruling house whose turn it was to produce the successor to the previous Eleruwa, Oba Bolanle Olaniyan, who died in 1994.

Oba Adegbola ascended the throne in 1998.