The Head of Fusengbuwa ruling house of Ijebu Ode, Abdulateef Owoyemi, on Saturday, said it had had to turn down money offers from no fewer than eight potential candidates as the next Awujale of Ijebu land.
Fusengbuwa, the ruling house, is the next to produce the successor to the late Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebu land, Oba Sikiru Adetona, who died on July 13 after reigning for 65 years.
Owoyemi, while speaking to journalists at his Idowa Ijebu country home on Saturday, however, vowed that the selection of the next Awujale of Ijebu land won’t be compromised by moneybags.
Owoyemi said, “So far, eight potential candidates to the Awujale throne have approached us with money, but we have turned them down. The council of elders told them that they don’t want anything like such.
“All that matters to us is a transparent and fair selection process where only the best from our ruling house are put forward to the kingmakers for the selection as the next Awujale.”
The Chartered Accountant said that the late Awujale, during his lifetime, warned that the choice of his successor should not be allowed to be dictated by people with deep pockets or moneybags, as this will cause a lot of setbacks for Ijebu land.
Owoyemi said, “During the 2019 Ojude Oba festival, when it was being said that some people have budgeted N1bn to spend so that they can become the next Awujale, Oba Adetona warned that his succession must not be allowed to be hijacked by moneybags.
“Oba Adetona said that though he never knew when his time would be up, whenever it happened, his successor must be the right candidate -the person who can further take Ijebu Ode to greater height, not the person who will bring it down and that has been our guiding spirit.
“We won’t yield the ground for whoever thinks he has the money to throw around.”
Owoyemi, while speaking on some cracks within the ruling house, extended an olive branch, urging family members to sheath their swords and join forces with the leadership of the family to produce the best ever Awujale in the history of Ijebu and Yoruba land as a whole.
He stressed, “We have always been talking to everyone to be of one accord. We are even ready to make a concession as long as it is not injurious or unreasonable for the sake of peace, because we are from the same mother. Why should there be strife and unnecessary wranglings?”
The former ICAN President also used the medium to dismiss the claim by Prince Adedokun Ajidagba as the legitimate head of the Fusengbuwa ruling house, saying that the Ibadan Court of Appeal judgement of 2024 ruled in his favour as the Olori Ebi appointed since 201,3 after the death of Prince Fasasi Adeyemi
Owoyemi explained that after his appointment as the Olori Ebi of Fusengbuwa in March 2013, a splinter group had also appointed the late billionaire banker and founder of First City Monument Bank, Otunba Subomi Balogun, as the head of the same family.
He stated that he had challenged this anomaly at a High Court sitting at Ijebu Ode and that, while giving his judgment in 2018, Justice Asenuga resolved two of the issues brought before the court in his favour but failed to declare him as the Olori Ebi of Fusengbuwa.
He explained, “I approached the Court of Appeal sitting at Ibadan and on November 28, 2024, in a judgment delivered by Justice Binta Fatima Zubairu, all seven issues brought before the court were resolved in my favour.”
In a Certified True Copy of the judgment, which was made available to journalists, the three Justices of the Court of Appeal agreed that the defendants failed to prove the allegation of fraud upon which the High Court of Ijebu Ode in 2018 had failed to recognise Owoyemi as the duly appointed head of the ruling family.
Owoyemi added that, according to a letter dated 22nd of November, 2023 and sent to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ogun State, Ajidagba was appointed as the acting head of the ruling house pending the determination of the suit he filed against the 2018 court judgement.
“As the Almighty God will have it, the Appeal Court upheld all my pleas, affirming my leadership of the ruling house since 2013,” Owoyemi said.
Owoyemi also argued that, “having been confronted with this immutable truth as dispensed by the Ibadan Court of Appeal, the other part of the ruling house, being led formerly by the renowned Ophthalmologist and founder of Eye Foundation Hospital, Dr Kunle Hassan, after dialogue submitted to the decision of the court last Sunday affirming his leadership of the ruling house.”
He further claimed that the late Awujale, Oba Adetona, before his demise, called him back to the palace in February 2025 to mend fences, urging him to keep in touch constantly as one of the senior title holders in his government and a trusted ally.
He added that he remains a bona fide son of Ijebu land from Idowa Ijebu and that past attempts to distort history had been quashed by the November 2024 Ibadan Court of Appeal judgement.
The octogenarian urged every member of the ruling house to shun division, strife and avarice but cooperate with the leadership of the family for a rancour-free selection process for the next Awujale.
