Oshodi royal family accuses Lagos government of backing rival claimant

The Olushi Onigbesa Royal Family has accused the Lagos State Government of trying to install a rival Oba of Oshodi, despite a series of court decisions it says left a tribunal recommendation in its favor intact.

The allegation appears in documents filed at the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja. Prince Yaya Oseni-Agedegudu and Kabiru Eeyantan brought the case on behalf of the royal family through their lawyer, Omoniyi Akinmola. The defendants include the Lagos governor, the attorney general, the commissioner responsible for local government and chieftaincy affairs, Oshodi-Isolo council officials, and members of the Oshodi, Tapa and Arota families.

The claimants are asking the court to declare the Olushi Onigbesa family entitled to produce and continue producing the Oba of Oshodi. They also want an order preventing the state government, its agencies and rival families from recognising or installing another traditional ruler.

The dispute concerns a Standing Tribunal of Inquiry into Chieftaincy Matters, created to consider whether Oshodi’s baaleship should become an obaship. The tribunal, chaired by retired Justice A.O. Silva, began hearings on June 1, 2005, and submitted its findings to the Lagos State Government in 2012. The Olushi Onigbesa family says the tribunal recommended it as the family entitled to produce the Oba.

According to the claimants, challenges by rival families were dismissed at several stages. The High Court dismissed one case in 2014, the Court of Appeal rejected the appeal in 2020, and the Supreme Court dismissed a further appeal in 2021. They also cited other suits that were struck out between 2022 and 2024. The family argues that none of those rulings invalidated the tribunal’s recommendation, while alleging that the government has nevertheless continued to support competing claims.