The Supreme Court has ordered that the legal battle over the Obaro of Kabba-Owe Stool and paramount rulership of Kabba-Owe land in Kogi State be heard afresh and speedily on its merit by the Kogi State High Court. The apex court also directed that the case be remitted to the Chief Judge of the Kogi State High Court to be assigned to another judge of the court for a fresh hearing.

Justice Stephen Jonah Adah gave the order while delivering judgment in an interlocutory appeal brought before the court by the Obaro of Kabba, Oba Solomon Dele Owoniyi (Otitoleke Oweyomade I). Judgment in the appeal by Obaro Owoniyi, marked SC/CV/796/2021, was prepared by Justice Heleen Morenikeji Ogunwumiju but read by Justice Adah.

In the judgment, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal delivered on March 31, 2021, which set aside the judgment of the Kogi State High Court of October 10, 2019, that declined jurisdiction in the case on the grounds that the plaintiffs’ case had become statute-barred. The apex court affirmed that the plaintiffs, who are from the Ilajo family, have locus standi (legal right) because of their claim to be the sole family entitled to produce the Obaro of Kabba.

Specifically, the High Court in Lokoja held that the Ilajo Royal Family had “slept for too long over their right,” having failed to challenge the 1995 Edict that recommended rotation between it and the Akunmejila Royal Family. The Ilajo Royal Family appealed the case, and the Court of Appeal ruled in its favor, prompting Obaro Owoniyi and the kingmakers to take the case to the Supreme Court.However, both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court have directed that a fresh hearing be conducted speedily into the propriety or otherwise of the appointment, rather than terminating the case through the preliminary objections raised by Obaro Owoniyi.

The unanimous decision of the Supreme Court justices has thus set the stage for a fresh determination of the legality or otherwise of the Kogi State Government’s actions in appointing Obaro Owoniyi.