The Ogun State Government has stepped into the process of selecting a new Awujale of Ijebuland following the emergence of no fewer than 60 aspirants for the revered traditional stool.
Findings by The PUNCH revealed that the much-anticipated nomination meeting earlier scheduled by the Fusengbuwa Ruling House was postponed to allow for government intervention aimed at preventing procedural lapses that could trigger legal disputes.
The Fusengbuwa Ruling House, next in line to produce the Awujale after the death of Oba Sikiru Adetona in July 2025 at the age of 91, had initially fixed Monday for the nomination exercise. The announcement was conveyed in a letter dated December 11, 2025, and signed by the family’s spokesman, Abiodun Ogidan.
The meeting was to hold at Bisrod Hall, GRA, Ijebu-Ode, under strict guidelines. Only accredited family members were to be admitted, while each aspirant was to be nominated and seconded by two designated family representatives. The aspirants themselves were barred from attending, in line with the house’s rules, and all participants were urged to conduct themselves peacefully and with decorum.
However, in a statement released on Friday, the ruling house announced a postponement of the exercise, citing circumstances beyond its control. A new date, it said, would be communicated later.
Explaining the development, the Chairman of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House and former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Otunba Abdulateef Owoyemi, disclosed that the decision followed an invitation from the state government to review the process.
According to him, the intervention was meant to ensure full compliance with existing laws and to avoid any action that might expose the process to litigation.
“The postponement has absolutely nothing to do with any individual,” Owoyemi said. “We were summoned by the state government for a meeting to ensure that everything is done properly. It is about getting the process right and preventing unnecessary legal controversy.”
He also dismissed speculations linking the delay to reports about Fuji musician Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde, popularly known as KWAM1, stressing that the ruling house had already stated that the musician was not a member of the Fusengbuwa lineage and therefore not eligible.
Also speaking, the Vice Chairman of the ruling house, Prof. Fassy Yusuf, confirmed that both the ruling house and the kingmakers had been invited to the government meeting, alongside the Awujale Interregnum Committee.
The University of Lagos Professor of Mass Communication revealed that at least 60 princes had so far indicated interest in succeeding the late monarch.
“There are some steps yet to be concluded, which is why the government called the meeting,” Yusuf explained. “The outcome will determine when the nomination meeting will eventually hold. Any claim that the postponement is linked to a particular person is false.”
The process to select a successor to Oba Adetona, who reigned for an unprecedented 65 years, intensified after the local government directed the ruling house to submit nominees within 14 days.
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