An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan has ruled that the Alabi section of the Labosinde family should produce the next Oluwo Afobaje of Ibadanland.
Justice Babatunde Olawoyin of Oyo State High Court 8 delivered the judgment on Wednesday in a suit filed by the Alabi section after it was allegedly denied the opportunity to occupy the traditional position.
The position of Oluwo Afobaje of Ibadanland is traditionally reserved for members of the Labosinde family. The office plays a significant role in the traditional rites performed during the installation of an Olubadan of Ibadanland.
The Alabi section had alleged that it had been excluded from producing the Oluwo Afobaje since 1971, with the position rotating between the two other sections of the family.
The suit, numbered 1/720/2022, was instituted by Alhaji Ramoni Alabi on behalf of the Alabi section against Alhaji Abdul Wahab Idowu Popoola of the Mosadogun section and Alhaji Waheed Babalola of the Babalola Onifade section.
In his judgment, Justice Olawoyin held that the evidence presented by the claimant outweighed that of the defendants.
The judge affirmed that Alabi is one of the bona fide children of Labosinde and therefore entitled to the Oluwo Afobaje position on the same basis as the Mosadogun and Onifade-Babalola sections.
The court consequently ordered that after the exit of the incumbent Oluwo Afobaje, Chief Wahab Popoola of the Mosadogun section, the Alabi section should be allowed to produce his successor.
The ruling effectively places the Alabi section next in line for the traditional position and could bring an end to decades of exclusion from the rotation.
