Justice O. A. Oresanya of Lagos State High Court in Ikeja has adjourned till January 19, 2026, the hearing of a suit filed by members of the Onikoyi Royal Family challenging the appointment and installation of Prince Kunle Fafunwa as the Oba Onikoyi of Ikoyi and Moba Land.
The judge adjourned the matter for further hearing and consideration of pending applications.
The claimants in the suit: Otunba Abdul Ganiyi Kolawole Onikoyi, Prince Akinola Oyeniyi Fafunwa, Prince Abdul Waliu Omogbolahan Sulaimon, Chief Hassan Kehinde Elegushi, Alhaji Musiliu Abidemi Onikoyi, Alhaja Wosilat Quadri, Mrs Adeola Davies, Prince Babatunde Onikoyi, Prince Babatunde Shadeko, and Alhaji Ashraf Akinyemi Esinlokun, filed the action for themselves and on behalf of the Onikoyi Royal Family (Onikoyi Chieftaincy Family).
The claimants were represented by P. O. Lasisi (SAN), and former Lagos State Attorney-General, Adeniji Kazeem (SAN), while Wale Adesokan (SAN) appeared for the Fourth defendant.
Many members of the family and supporters from the Ikoyi and Moba communities flooded the court premises to express solidarity with the claimants.
The defendants in the suit are the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State, the Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Rural Development, the Eti-Osa Local Government, and Prince Kunle Fafunwa, the fourth defendant.
In the suit filed by their counsel, Mr Ademola Ekundayo, the claimants are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, asking the court to nullify the selection, approval, and installation of Prince Fafunwa as Oba Onikoyi of Ikoyi and Moba Land.
They argued that the process leading to his appointment contravened the Onikoyi Chieftaincy Declaration of 2006 and the Obas and Chiefs Law of Lagos State, which governed succession to the Onikoyi stool.
The claimants are asking the court to restrain Fafunwa from parading himself as Oba and to direct the Lagos State Government to recognise and install Prince Abdul Waliu Omogbolahan Sulaimon, the 3rd claimant, as the legitimate Oba Onikoyi of Ikoyi and Moba Land.
“It is the turn of the Ojubiari branch,” the claimants insisted.
According to their statement of claim, the Onikoyi Royal Family comprises a single ruling house, the Muti Ruling House, which is divided into ten branches: Fafunwa, Ojubiari, Kubayije, Ilumo, Idewu, Kugbamola, Aluko Ajose, Dosunmu Ajiwe, Adelo, and Dosunmu.
The family maintained that under the 2006 Chieftaincy Declaration, succession to the throne rotates among these branches, making it the turn of the Ojubiari branch following the death of Oba Patrick Ibikunle Fafunwa, who hailed from the Fafunwa branch.
The claimants are contending that the purported appointment of Fafunwa, the late Oba’s son, violates the rotation principle and breaches the family’s custom and tradition.
They also alleged that the family neither nominated nor consented to his selection and that no valid family meeting or public notice was issued before his purported installation.
After several unanswered petitions to the Lagos State Government and the Eti-Osa Local Government, the family said they resorted to legal action to prevent what they described as an “illegal imposition.”
They had earlier filed an ex parte application for judicial review in Suit No. LD/9134GCM/2025, seeking an order of mandamus compelling the government to recognise and install Prince Sulaimon as the rightful Oba Onikoyi.
During Thursday’s proceedings, counsel to the Fourth defendant, Wale Adesokan (SAN), informed the court of a pending Motion on Notice seeking to set aside service of the Writ of Summons on the ground that Fafunwa was not personally served.
Justice Oresanya thereafter adjourned the matter to January 19, 2026, for further mention.
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