‘Soun of Ogbomosho to appeal removal’

An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ogbomoso, on Wednesday, nullified the selection of Oba Ghandi Olaoye as the new Soun of Ogbomoso.

It was reported that Ghandi was installed as the new Soun of Ogbomosho on September 8, 2023, months after the throne had become vacant following the death of the late Oba Jimoh Oyewumi on December 12, 2021. Oba Oyewumi, who died aged 95, ruled for 48 years.

It will also be recalled that one of the contestants to the throne, Prince Kabir Olaoye, approached the court challenging Ghandi’s emergence and the process that brought him to the throne.

In the suit marked HOG/27/2022, the plaintiff alleged irregularities in the process that led to Ghandi’s emergence as Soun of Ogbomosho.

Delivering his judgment, however, in a suit filed by Laoye, Justice Kareem Adedokun, ruled that the selection process that led to Ghandi’s emergence was fraught with illegalities.

The judge held that Ghandi was not validly nominated by the Laoye Ruling House and declared that “the nomination; approval by the state government and installation by the kingmakers was null and void.”

The judge, therefore, granted the prayer of the plaintiff that “the nomination be set aside” and ordered “a fresh process.”

Meanwhile, a palace source told The Punch that the judgment would be appealed, urging the people to be calm.

“The case will definitely be appealed and so, people should not fret. In the case instituted by Prince Olaoye, the judge said the process was proper and valid but now the same process is faulted. It is conflicting, the Appeal Court will resolve that. People should be calm,” the palace source said.