The process of appointing a new Aseyin of Iseyin in Oyo State has been advised to be halted. This comes after a motion for injunction regarding the chieftaincy title is pending before an Iseyin High Court. The previous Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Abdulganiy Adekunle passed away in July 2022 and his successor is yet to emerge.
In a letter dated June 20th, 2023, Makinde was notified to call on the descendants of Ogbolu, the founder of Iseyin, to present the next candidates for the throne. The family has produced the first eleven Aseyins of Iseyin and is optimistic that Governor Seyi Makinde will heed to them.
Speaking on behalf of the family, A.G. Adeniran Esq, said, “We also applied for an order of injunction, so they should not appoint another Aseyin now until the court has heard our motion for injunction and the court has decided whether to grant it or to refuse it. Because if they are to go ahead and appoint another Aseyin while our motion is pending, it is like disrespecting the court and the governor is a gentleman, and so he should not be seen as disrespecting the court.”
According to the lawyer, whenever an injunction has been applied for and the same is pending before a court of competent jurisdiction, it is apposite for all concerned not to do anything that will affect the subject matter of the injunction until the motion for injunction has been heard and determined by the court.
The descendants of Ogbolu are claiming that under the Native Law and Customs of Yoruba land, and of Iseyin also, it is the descendants of the founders that are entitled to produce the king of that town. As a result, they are beseeching Governor Seyi Makinde not to appoint anybody as Aseyin pending the time the court will listen to their motion on Notice of Injunction.
I humbly refer your Excellency to the case of GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE V EMEKA ODUMEGU OJUKWU (1986) 1 NWLR (Pt. 18) 621/636H where the Supreme Court stated the law as follows:-
“After a defendant has been notified of the pendency of a suit seeking an injunction against him, even though a temporary injunction be not granted, he acts at his peril and subject to the power of the court to restore the status wholly irrespective of the merits as may be ultimately decided.”
At page 6378 of the same case, the Supreme Court also stated as follows:-
The rule is well settled both by the courts of England and of this country, that where a suit is brought to enjoin certain activities for example, the erection of a building or other structure, of which suit the defendant has notice the hands of the defendant are effectually tied pending a hearing and determination even though no restraining order or preliminary injunction be issued.”
In view of the above state of the law, your Excellency is hereby respectfully enjoined not to do anything to fill the vacancy now existing in the Aseyin of Iseyin chieftaincy until the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction now pending before the Iseyin High Court has been heard and determined by the High Court.
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A copy of the motion on notice which has been served on your Excellency as well as all the other defendants is attached herewith as Annexure A
Your Excellency is the father of all, and we most respectfully urge you to hold the balance evenly between my clients and their opponents in this case by not allowing their opponents to steal a match against my clients by allowing them to fill the vacancy now existing in the Aseyin of Iseyin chieftaincy when my clients’ motion for injunction is still pending before the High Court
Yours faithfully
A. G. Adeniran Esq.
Solicitor
CC:
1. The Registrar of Court High Court of Justice, Iseyin
2. The Attorney-General of Oyo State Ministry of Justice, Secretariat, Ibadan
3. The Secretary to the Oyo State Government
Office of the Secretary to the State Government
Secretariat, Ibadan
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