Family kicks against transfer of case on chieftaincy title

The Odo-Oja ruling house of the Oke-Onigbin community in the Isin local government area of Kwara State has appealed to the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Durosilohun Kawu, to allow Justice A. A. Adebara deliver his decision on the chieftaincy tussle before him.  The family also expressed dissatisfaction on the sudden transfer of the […]

The Odo-Oja ruling house of the Oke-Onigbin community in the Isin local government area of Kwara State has appealed to the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Durosilohun Kawu, to allow Justice A. A. Adebara deliver his decision on the chieftaincy tussle before him.

 The family also expressed dissatisfaction on the sudden transfer of the matter from the presiding judge through a motion on notice filed by its lead counsel, Barrister Tosin Samuel Alawode, copies of which were made available to journalists in Ilorin on Monday challenging the procedure as unwarranted.

 The Odo-Oja ruling house had instituted an action to challenge the appointment of Mr Kamaldeen Salahudeen as the Onigbin of Oke-Onigbin vide a Writ of Summons issued on the July 6, 2017, wherein the case was assigned to Justice A. A. Adebara sitting at Offa.

  As Alawode explained, “They sued the appointed Oba, two of the kingmakers and the Governor of Kwara State as defendants in the matter. The appointed Oba and the two kingmakers filed a notice of preliminary objection challenging the competence of the suit, which was argued on October 23, 2017 and Justice A. A. Adebara reserved his decision to a date to be communicated to the parties.”

 According to the motion on notice dated March 5, 2018, Alawode maintained, “When there was no information from the court on when the decision would be delivered after about four months from the date the parties argued the objection, our team discovered with shock on Friday March 2, 2018, that the matter had been withdrawn from Justice A.A. Adebara since December 2017 and transferred to another judge, Justice Umar, by the order of the Chief Judge of Kwara State.

 “Whilst they were waiting to receive a notice for the delivery of the decision of the court, Chief Samuel Abolarinwa, the head of the Odo-Oja ruling family, stated the position of the family shortly after a meeting held on Monday March 5, 2018. He said that neither them nor their lawyers was given a notice, or informed of any application to transfer the matter from Justice A. A. Adebara to another other judge. The family stated that they have no reason to doubt the competence, integrity and neutrality of Justice A. A. Adebara to do justice in the matter. The reason(s) for the transfer of the matter, if any, cannot be justified, especially when Justice Adebara only heard the matter once and heard arguments for and against the preliminary objection.”

 The ruling house argued that the act of transferring the matter to another judge was “totally uncalled-for and an interference with the judicial proceedings of the matter to prejudice them by using the Chief Judge of Kwara State.”