Court grants plaintiff’s application for joinder on Apomu Chief Imam suit

Justice A. D. Abdulkareem of the Osun State High Court, sitting in Ikire, yesterday granted the application for joinder moved by Alhaji Muibi Olawale, the plaintiff in the Apomu Chief Imam case. Olawale had filed a suit challenging the “illegal installation” of Abdulrasaq Akinyele as the Chief Imam of Apomu Town by the king of […]

Justice A. D. Abdulkareem of the Osun State High Court, sitting in Ikire, yesterday granted the application for joinder moved by Alhaji Muibi Olawale, the plaintiff in the Apomu Chief Imam case.

Olawale had filed a suit challenging the “illegal installation” of Abdulrasaq Akinyele as the Chief Imam of Apomu Town by the king of Apomu, Oba Kayode Adelekan-Afolabi.

Justice Abdulkareem granted the application to allow Akinyele to be listed as the ninth defendant in the suit after his name was initially omitted from the initial charge sheet.

The judge adjourned the case till October 7, 2020 for continuation of hearing. The defence counsel, Mr Abdulganiu Animasaun, did not oppose the application for joinder.

Counsel to the plaintiff, Mr Kazeem Odedeji, had told the court there was a need for the joinder because Oba Adelekan-Afolabi had taken series of steps that could undermine the peace and stability of the town “by illegally imposing a Chief Imam, Abdulrasaq Akinyemi, on the Muslim community of Apomu.”

Odedeji added that the king’s action was “an embarrassment to Islam and a violation of the Sharia legal system that spelt out how a Chief Imam can emerge.”

There was a report when the matter first became a subject of litigation in March that some influential people in Apomu had installed one Ismail Eniafe, son of the Chief Imam that recently died., as Chief Imam.

However, the League of Imams in the town challenged the installation, and while the case was pending due to the COVID-19 lockdown, Oba Adeleke-Afolabi allegedly installed another Chief Imam.

In an interview with journalists a fortnight ago, the Oba had maintained that the king had the right to put anyone he liked as the Chief Imam.

The Muslim community of Apomu had vowed not to allow Akinyele lead them in subsequent Jumat prayers.