In a landmark judgment that has brought an end to a 37-year interregnum, the Supreme Court of Nigeria today affirmed the legitimacy of four ruling houses for the Olukakumo chieftaincy stool of Ikakumo-Akoko, Akoko North-East Local Government Area of Ondo State.
Delivering the lead judgment, Hon. Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba, who headed the five-member panel of justices, upheld the decision of the Ondo State High Court sitting in Ikare-Akoko, which had earlier recognized Arẹpin, Ayindu, Ayanwa, and Aparisu as the four ruling houses entitled to fill the vacant Olukakumo stool.
The Supreme Court also set aside the earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had recognized only the Ayindu ruling house as being eligible to produce candidates for the throne.
In a decisive pronouncement, the apex court declared the 1988 Chieftaincy Declaration — which made the Ayindu ruling house the sole claimant to the stool — as null, void, and of no effect. The court maintained that the declaration was inconsistent with traditional practices and historical facts surrounding the chieftaincy institution in Ikakumo-Akoko.
With this judgment, the court confirmed that the Aparisu ruling house is next in line to present a candidate for the vacant stool, effectively paving the way for the long-awaited installation of a new Olukakumo of Ikakumo-Akoko.
This ruling brings a close to decades of legal tussles and traditional disputes, and marks a new chapter in the history of Ikakumo-Akoko, a community that has been without a traditional ruler since 1988.
