One of the ruling houses of the Ooni stool, the Osinkola Ruling House has described the announcement of Prince Adeyeye Ogunwusi as the new Ooni-elect as “violation of rule of law”.

 The Osinkola Ruling House in Ile-Ife had earlier warned the Osun State Government against announcing the new Ooni because of the suit instituted by the family against the 1980 Ife Chieftaincy Declaration.

The Counsel for the Osinkola family, Mr Ranti Ajeleti, said this in a telephone interview with CEOAfrica correspondent in Osogbo on Monday. He said the case against the declaration by the Akui branch of the Osinkola Ruling House was still in court, he described the governor’s announcement of the new monarch as violation of the principle of rule of law.

He said: “Our case is still in court. What the governor did is what the Supreme Court called ‘executive lawlessness.’ It is a cardinal principle of rule of law that when a case is in court, people should not do anything against it. It is now left for the court to protect its authority.

“It is subject to the decision of my client. We can move for committal proceeding against the governor,” he said.

Ajeleti said although the court dismissed the case filed by the Lafogido Ruling House, the case filed by Akui was still pending before the court.

The Chairman, Publicity Committee of Osinkola Ruling House, Olakunle Aderemi, while speaking with CEOAfrica had earlier said that the family would continue with its case, if the governor insist to announce the new monarch without waiting for the court decision.

“They should not act against the law because we will continue with our case in court. That is what is happening in Osogbo. The people of Osogbo are still in court over the Ataoja stool. The people of Ofa are also in court. So, we will continue. No matter how long,”  Aderemi said.

 “We have told the state government this but it seems they are adamant. We also will not stop fighting for our right.”