The Battle Over The Olofa Throne

By Stephen Oni

The last has not been heard about the tussle over the Olofa of Offa stool in Kwara State, in Nigeria’s Middle-Belt. The Olugbense Ruling House has approached the Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, seeking to set aside part of the decision of an Offa High Court delivered on 19 July 2012 by Justice S.M. Akanbi.

In the appeal filed on 20 December 2012 by the appellants’ counsel, John Baiyeshea, a senior advocate, part of the decision of the lower court being complained of was its ruling that ascension to the vacant stool of the Olofa is not by rotation between the two ruling houses of Olugbense and Anilelerin in the town but by competition. Besides, Olugbense ruling house is kicking against the judgment, which upheld the appointment and installation of Alhaji Mufutau Gbadamosi as the new Olofa of Offa despite his being from the same Anilelerin ruling house as the late Olofa of Offa, Oba Mustapha Olawore Olaonipekun, who died in 2010 after over 40 years on the throne.

Baiyeshea is therefore placing before their lordships four issues for determination in the appeal. One, he wants the jurists to determine whether the lower court judge was right or wrong in rejecting the tendered Kwara State Government’s press release issued on 9 July 1969, which spelt out the rotational policy in Offa, through an original copy of a public document, on the grounds that it has to be certified before it can be admitted in evidence. In the same vein, he is praying the appellate court to determine whether the trial judge was right or wrong in rejecting the original copies of the newspapers, which published, the following day, the content of the press release issued by government. The newspapers were Daily Sketch and New Nigeria, said  to have been procured from the archive of the University of Ibadan and National Archives, Kaduna respectively.

To Baiyeshea, the lower court erred in law by refusing to place probative value on the press release, averring that an original copy of a public document, to which category the press release belongs, requires no certification in law. He submitted that there ought to be no controversy whatsoever about its admissibility being an original copy and not a secondary copy of the Kwara State Government’s press release issued in 1969, recognising two ruling houses in Offa and establishing emphatically that the ascension to the vacant stool of Olofa should be by rotation between Olugbense and Anilelerin ruling houses.

According to the counsel, the wrongful rejection of the press release eventually led to committal of further error by the trial judge in expunging the tendered newspapers from the record, thereby committing grave miscarriage of justice to the appellants. Baiyesha argued that, if they were not wrongfully rejected and expunged, the scale of justice would have tilted in favour of the appellants. To him, the newspapers in conjunction with the press release present unambiguous evidence of rotational chieftaincy in Offa. He averred that the newspapers only published on 10 July 1969 the content of the press release, which the Kwara State Government had published the previous day, confirming that indeed the government took that decision. Besides, he submitted, there was no rejoinder or rebuttal to the press release and newspaper reports of the press release by the government since it was published 40 years ago, confirming their authenticity and that the trial judge indeed erred in concluding that the appellants did not present evidence of rotational chieftaincy in this case.

“The learned trial judge, with due respect, proceeded on a wrong footing by shooting down and shutting out evidence favourable to the claimants’ case when he rejected the press release and the newspapers which present very clear, direct evidence of rotational chieftaincy in Offa,” he said.

Issues three and four are seeking the appellate court to determine whether there is evidence on record to prove that the Olofa stool is rotational between the two ruling houses and whether it was the turn of Olugbense ruling house in 2010 to present a candidate to fill the vacancy created by the demise of the immediate past Olofa of Offa from Anilelerin ruling house. The court is also being asked to determine whether the judge “rightly rejected the notion, principle and doctrine of fairness, justice, equity and estoppels” in determining the right of the Olugbense ruling house to present the candidate to fill the vacant stool in 2010.

Aside urging their lordships to rely on his argument, Baiyeshea argued that the oral evidence of the prosecution witnesses lent support to the assertion that rotational policy in Offa started unofficially in 1959 but it got the government’s official recognition and approval in 1969. He buttressed his argument with the submission of Professor R. Dunmoye, a member of the same Anilelerin ruling house, at page 100 of a book written by him to the effect that the state government in 1969 laid down the rotational policy after recognising the existence of two ruling houses in Offa. That, to Baiyeshea, is an admission giving credence to the issue at stake, contrary to the conclusion of the judge that the appellants did not provide credible evidence of rotation.

Moreover, the appellants’ counsel averred, the “issues of equity, fairness, justice and estoppels” are all principles that the appellants have relied on copiously in their pleadings, having given evidence to justify their claim, aside the newspapers, that it was the turn of Olugbense ruling house and not Anilelerin ruling house to produce the candidate of the Olofa of Offa stool.

Praying the appellate court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgment of the lower court, Baiyeshea urged the court to order that Prince Abdulrauf Adegboyega Keji from Olugbense ruling house be installed immediately by the state government as Olofa of Offa. He sought the nullification of the appointment/installation of the incumbent Olofa and the ordering of perpetual injunction restraining him from further parading himself as Oba.

…This article was published in TheNEWS magazine of 14 January edition