A High Court sitting at Okitipupa in Ondo State has fixed the hearing of a suit challenging the installation of Oba Oluyi Ajayi as Alapaka of Kiribo in Ese-Odo Local Government Area on March 27.
Ajayi, who is a brother to Deputy Governor Agboola Ajayi, was recently installed the Alapaka of Kiribo by the state government.
Piqued by the action of the government, some aggrieved princes, through their lawyer, filed a suit before Justice P. O. Ikujuni, asking the court to invalidate the staff of office and instrument of appointment presented to the monarch.
The major crux of the dispute is the use of the title “Alapaka,” which the aggrieved parties insisted was alien to the Kiribo stool.
But the Supervisor for Community and Chieftaincy Affairs in the local government, Chief Festus Omolaja, averred that “Alapaka” is the title of the monarch of Kiribo.
According to him, there are two major recognised titles of Kiribo monarch, namely: Niyon and Alapaka.
While the immediate past monarch was from the families using the Niyon title, the incumbent is from the families that uses Alapaka.
Omolaja, who distanced himself from the suit challenging the installation of the monarch, advised the people to allow the tradition and rule of law to prevail.
The claimants, through their lawyer Mr Biodun Fasakin, sought “the interlocutory injunction restraining the first to the fifth defendants or their agents/privies from giving a staff of office to the incumbent monarch”.
Also, the suit, which has the local and state governments as defendants, stressed “that the title of Alapaka was unknown and not a registered title of Kiribo community and should not be claimed by any oba”.
But at the resumed hearing of the suit, the defendants, who were represented by their lawyyers T. T. Adeyeye and O. C. Akintan, were absent in court.
Justice P. O. Ikujuni, adjourned the matter till March 27.