Adeleke Moves To Stabilise Traditional Institutions With New Oba Appointments

The Osun state government has approved a fresh round of traditional leadership appointments in what appears to be a calculated move to restore stability and reinforce institutional order across key communities.

At a state executive council meeting held in Osogbo, presided over by Governor Ademola Adeleke, the government ratified the appointment of Prince Tajudeen Olanrewaju as the new Akire of Ikire, alongside other royal selections across Atakumosa East local government area.

The decision, according to the government, followed “deliberations on the detailed memo submitted by the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs” and aligns with “extant laws and terms of settlement agreed to by the five ruling houses.”

Olanrewaju’s emergence comes in the wake of the death of Oba Olatunde Falabi, Lambeloye III, who passed on February 27, 2026.

His appointment also closes a turbulent chapter in Ikire, where the Akire stool had been a subject of prolonged legal and communal disputes.

“It is pertinent to mention that the stool of Akire of Ikire generated crisis in the year 2021 over the Supreme Court judgment of 2014,” the government said, noting that the ruling had affirmed that the Lambeloye ruling house “had no legal right to occupy the stool… as at the time it did when a vacancy occurred in 1987.”

The lingering fallout from that judgment prompted a rare consensus among Ikire’s traditional stakeholders.

According to the statement, “the aftermath of the crisis made the Osun State Government in collaboration with all the five ruling houses of Ikire to resolve and jointly agree on the amendment of the 1958 Akire Chieftaincy Declaration.”

That amendment, the government added, “paved way for Aketula ruling house to be the next ruling house whenever a vacancy occurred,” effectively laying the groundwork for the latest appointment.

Beyond Ikire, the council also approved the appointment of Prince Tijani Feyi Ademola as the Aladodo of Adodo, and Prince (Dr) Jacob Adetayo Haastrup as the Olumobi of Imobi, both in Atakumosa East local government area.

In a broader move seen as part of efforts to recalibrate the traditional hierarchy, the government also sanctioned “the elevation of new Obas from Ile-Ife, Osogbo and Ijesha traditional councils.”

Officials say the coordinated appointments and elevations reflect a deliberate policy to strengthen traditional governance structures while preventing the recurrence of disputes that have historically trailed succession processes.

The statement, signed by Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, commissioner for information and public enlightenment, underscores the administration’s reliance on legal frameworks and negotiated settlements to manage sensitive chieftaincy matters.

By anchoring the new appointments on prior agreements among ruling houses and judicial pronouncements, the Adeleke administration appears keen on projecting continuity, legality, and consensus as the pillars of its intervention in traditional institutions.