The Supreme Court of Nigeria, sitting in Abuja, has been asked to restrain the Oyo State Government from creating, recognising or elevating the chieftaincy stool of Baale Ago-Oja, pending the determination of an appeal before it.
In a motion on notice dated January 30, 2026, and filed in Appeal No. SC/404/2018, the Alaafin of Oyo is seeking orders of interlocutory and mandatory injunctions against the Governor of Oyo State and the Attorney-General of Oyo State.
The motion, brought pursuant to Order 2 Rule 28(1) of the Supreme Court Rules, 2014 (as amended), and the inherent powers of the court under Section 6(6)(b) of the 1999 Constitution, seeks to halt all actions relating to the Baale Ago-Oja chieftaincy pending the final determination of the appeal.
The Alaafin is asking the apex court to restrain the governor and the attorney-general from “creating or re-creating, establishing or re-establishing the chieftaincy stool of Baale Ago-Oja” and from “appointing, approving or recognising” Alhaji Ganiyu Busari as holder of the stool.
He is also seeking an order restraining the state government from “recognising or further recognising, dealing or further dealing with” Busari as Baale Ago-Oja, as well as stopping any elevation of the chieftaincy from Part III (Minor Chief) to Part II (Recognised Chief).
In addition, the applicant is asking the court to restrain the respondents from “installing or crowning the appellant as the Oloja of Ago-Oja on February 13, 2026, at Olivet High School, Oyo, or at any other venue whatsoever.”
The motion further urges the Supreme Court to set aside Oyo State Gazette No. 01, Vol. 50 of January 17, 2025, “in so far as it relates to the elevation of the Baale Ago-Oja chieftaincy.”
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The Alaafin, through his counsel, Adeola Omotunde (SAN), argued that the chieftaincy stool of Baale Ago-Oja was declared non-existent by the Oyo State High Court in a judgment delivered on July 31, 2007, a decision affirmed by the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division, on December 8, 2017, in Appeal No. CA/I/90/2008.
According to the motion, “any attempt to revive, recognise or elevate a chieftaincy stool already declared non-existent by courts of competent jurisdiction amounts to a disregard of subsisting judgments and is capable of prejudicing the appeal now pending before this Honourable Court.”
The applicant, therefore, urged the apex court to “grant the reliefs sought and make such further orders as this Honourable Court may deem fit in the circumstances of this case.”
The appeal and accompanying motion are yet to be fixed for hearing.
Meanwhile, counsel to the Alaafin of Oyo has written to Governor Seyi Makinde, warning that the proposed installation and coronation of Busari as Oloja of Ago-Oja would amount to “an illegality and a contempt of court.”
