Oyo Monarch Petitions Acting Governor Over Alleged Plot To Install Parallel Aresaadu

The Aresaadu of Iresaadu in Surulere Local Government Area of Oyo State, Oba Abraham Adeyeye Oyerinde, has petitioned the Acting Governor of the state, Chief Adebayo Lawal, over an alleged move by the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters to install a parallel monarch on the Aresaadu throne.

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Oba Oyerinde, in a statement personally signed and made available to journalists on Sunday, alleged that the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Ademola Ojo, had directed the Chairman of Surulere Local Government to commence the process of nominating another candidate for the stool despite his continued occupation of the throne.

The monarch alleged that similar directives were issued by the ministry in September 2025 and September 2026, based on what he described as the false claim that a court judgment had nullified his appointment as the substantive Aresaadu.

He therefore appealed to the Acting Governor to immediately stop meetings already being held by the Surulere Local Government and Emiolu Ruling House to nominate another candidate, insisting that the Aresaadu stool had not been declared vacant by any court of competent jurisdiction.

According to Oba Oyerinde, his appointment followed the 2002 Court of Appeal judgment in Appeal No. CA/1/291/2002, which, he said, established that it was the turn of the Osunbiyi Ruling House to produce the candidate for the throne. He said he was subsequently nominated by the Osunbiyi Ruling House, approved by the kingmakers and appointed by the government, receiving his instrument of office in May 2019.

He said a suit filed by the Emiolu Ruling House challenging his appointment was dismissed by the High Court, Orile-Igbon, in March 2023, while the subsequent appeal was withdrawn in May 2024. He further stated that another suit he instituted against the government, seeking recognition as the substantive Aresaadu, resulted in a February 2021 judgment directing the government to recognise him and release his entitlements.

The monarch alleged that despite the judgment and legal advice from the Ministry of Justice urging compliance, the government had failed to recognise him. He added that he subsequently commenced contempt proceedings against officials allegedly involved in the disobedience of the court order, while other cases concerning the chieftaincy dispute remain pending before the courts.

Oba Oyerinde described the fresh nomination process as a “parallel Aresaadu” arrangement and an alleged attempt to fill a “non-existent vacancy,” stressing that the matter remained before the courts.

He urged the Acting Governor to order the immediate withdrawal of the ministry’s letters, halt any further nomination meetings and nullify the process, which he described as illegal and a flagrant disobedience of subsisting court orders.

The monarch also called on the state government to sanction any officials found culpable, while urging the Acting Governor to intervene urgently to prevent what he described as further injustice and escalation of the longstanding dispute over the Aresaadu stool.