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By Purity Francis
The family of the late Chief Samuel Adetunji Adewuyi has dragged the Ife Traditional Council before the Osun State High Court in a protracted dispute concerning the ownership of Agbonbiti Village in Ile-Ife.
In suit number HFT/5/2024, the claimants are seeking a declaration that Agbonbiti Village, located in Ife South Local Government Area of Osun State, belongs exclusively to their family.
The claimants — Princes Adegbenga Adewuyi, Adediji Adewuyi, Adefemi Adewuyi, Adeposi Adewuyi and Adegboye Adewuyi — instituted the suit for themselves and on behalf of the late Prince Samuel Adetunji Adewuyi family.
They are asking the court to declare that the land, covered by a survey map dated April 15, 1966, and a composite survey plan dated February 29, 2024, is their family’s exclusive property.
Joined as defendants in the suit are the Ooni of Ife, Oba Babatunde Enitan Ogunwusi; the Ologudu of Ogudu, Ife, Oba Jimoh Ajayi; Barrister Funminiyi Adeyemi Adetise; and Prince Siji Adefarakan.
In their statement of claim, the family argued that the land became their exclusive property through a grant by the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi, who was the younger brother of the late Chief Samuel Adetunji Adewuyi.
They maintained that following the grant, Agbonbiti ceased to be part of the communal land of Ile-Ife.
According to the claimants, when Oba Aderemi ascended the throne around 1930, he proclaimed that Ife indigenes interested in farming could acquire farmland from the available virgin forest.
The family stated: “Their father, late Chief Samuel Adetunji Adewuyi, also known as Baba Isale, took possession of the virgin forest that forms Agbonbiti as the first settler, granted portions to tenants who paid rents to him in his lifetime and to his children after his demise.”
The claimants argued that once land was granted for hunting or cultivation under Yoruba customary practice, the Ooni and the Ife Traditional Council ceased to exercise control over it, insisting that such a grant conferred absolute ownership.
They further told the court that Oba Aderemi formally confirmed the grant through a Certificate of Grant dated June 23, 1977, which referenced the survey plan prepared by J.O. Gilbert on April 15, 1966. The document, they said, bore the seal and signature of the late monarch.
The family maintained that the transaction was not a private arrangement between two brothers but an official grant made by Oba Aderemi in his capacity as the Ooni of Ife on behalf of the Ife people.
They added that the late monarch granted land to several individuals and families, including members of the royal family and ordinary citizens, as well as Modakeke people.
The claimants also argued that the Ife Traditional Council was aware of the 1977 title document but did not challenge their family’s ownership for decades.
According to them, there had been no challenge to their family’s claim for almost a century, including during the over 35-year reign of the late Ooni, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, and throughout the 49 years since the Certificate of Grant was executed.
The family further alleged that the defendants had stationed suspected thugs and cultists armed with weapons on the disputed land to harass their tenants and forcibly dispossess residents of their valuables.
However, the defendants, in their statement of defence, rejected the claim of exclusive ownership, arguing that communal land in Ile-Ife was not vested absolutely in the Ooni’s stool but held in trust for the entire Ife community.
They contended that, under customary practice, all grants and allocations of communal land must be made in conjunction with the Ife Traditional Council.
According to the defendants, “all grants or allocations must be done in conjunction with the Ife Traditional Council, otherwise the grant is not binding on the corporation sole of the stool.”
The council maintained that although it allocates parcels of land to families for farming, ownership remains vested in the Ife community, with the council administering the land in trust for the people.
It described the purported grant of Agbonbiti Village by Oba Aderemi to his brother, Sooko Samuel Adetunji, as a personal transaction arising from their cordial relationship.
The defendants argued that the alleged grant had nothing to do with the corporation sole of the Ooni’s stool or the Ife Traditional Council and was, therefore, not binding on them.
In their counterclaim, the defendants are seeking a declaration that Agbonbiti Village, covered by the same survey plans, is communal land belonging to Ile-Ife.
They also want the court to declare that the land is vested in the Ooni and the Ife Traditional Council only in their capacity as trustees, responsible for its management and administration with the consent of the Ife people, represented by the council.
The suit has been adjourned to October 28 and November 25 for continuation of hearing before the Osun State High Court, Ilesa Judicial Division.
