Chieftancy tussle : Court asks Shabi to remain as Baale of Kirikiri Town.

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Oba Toaqeek Adegboyega, the Alahun of Imore and Apapa and Chief Babalola Shabi, during Chief Shabi's acceptances of the certificate of Baaleship of Kirikiri Town and A papa.

Justice A.O. Opesanwo, of the Lagos High Court, situated at the Tafawa Balewa Square,TBS, Lagos State, has delivered an interlocutory injunction in favor of Chief Babalola Shabi, affirming his appointment as the substantive Baale of Kirikiri Town and Apapa.

Chief Shabi, who was appointed the Baale of Kirikiri Town and Apapa in July 2020, after the demise of the first Baale of the Town, Chief Wahid Sumonu, by Elders of the Kirikiri Community and representatives of the Community Development Association, CDA, was eventually installed by the Paramount Ruler and Overlord of Imore and Apapa, Oba Alahun, Taofeeq Adegboyega.

Oba Toaqeek Adegboyega, the Alahun of Imore and Apapa and Chief Babalola Shabi, during Chief Shabi’s acceptances of the certificate of Baaleship of Kirikiri Town and A papa.

Approached the Lagos High Court, seeking redress in Suit No.LD/4769GCM/2021, after members of the Igununko Society in the community challenged his appointment and installation as the Baale of the Community since he was not a member of the Igununko Society.

In a petition to the Lagos State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftancy Affairs, the society alleged that the Igununko Society constitutes the temporary leadership of the Kirikiri Community, which includes the stool of the Baaleship, and they have two ruling houses to that effect known as the Agunbiade and the Folami Ruling Houses. They added that the first  Baale was from the Agunbiade ruling house, and his successor ought to be appointed from the Folami ruling house.

The Ministry was said to have swiftly set up a panel of inquiry, where all interested parties were in attendance, and Oba Adegboyega, the overlord of Imore, Kirikiri Town, Awodi Ora, and Apapa, explained that Kirikiri Town is part of the Imore and Apapa kingdoms,  and as the overlord of the kingdom, the powers to install Baale within his domain remain in his control, adding that there are no two ruling houses in Kirikirikiri Town, except the Alauhu-Osumba Ruling Houses.

But the panel, in turn, issued a controversial resolution that was unacceptable to residents of the Kirikiri Community, and Chief Shabi was forced to approach the court for redress.

Justice Opesanwo stated in her ruling that the evidence before her has shown that Chief Shabi was appointed and installed as Baale of Kirikiri Town, the same way the first Baale of the community was installed in 1992.
She said, “The situation herein eminently qualifies for the exercise of the court’s discretion to grant an interlocutory injunction. Accordingly, the application herein succeeds as an order of an interlocutory injunction is hereby entered until the action is finally determined”.

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