Three ruling houses in Iwo dragged the Oluwo of Iwo before an Osun State High Court. The families accused Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi of exhuming the remains of past kings from the palace premises. They filed the suit to seek his removal from the throne.
The claimants acted on behalf of the Ogunmakinde Ande, Adegunodo and Alausa ruling houses. Princes Olalekan Lamuye, Adedoja Osunwo, Alade Ismaila, Ganiyu Saheed, Kosiru Kolawole and Wasiu Abolusodun instituted the case. They filed suit number HoS/56/2026 at the court in Osogbo.
The ruling houses listed several defendants in the suit. These included Osun State Governor, the Secretary of Iwo Local Government, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the Attorney General, the Inspector-General of Police and the Director of the National Cyber Crime Centre.
Lawyer Soji Oyetayo filed the deposition on May 21 2026. The claimants sought 13 reliefs. They asked the court to declare Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi unqualified for the position. They also demanded a mandatory order compelling him to vacate the throne.
They described the exhumation as irregular and unlawful. “A declaration that the unilateral decision of the 1st Defendant to exhume and the exhumation of the remains of the corpses of the past Oluwo of Iwo from the traditional place of ‘Ileta’ where they were buried within the palace is irregular, unlawful, without moral justification and same is against the custom and tradition of Iwo land,” the deposition stated.
The families further requested an order declaring the Oluwo stool vacant. They urged the court to compel relevant authorities to begin a fresh selection process according to the 1988 Chieftaincy Declaration.
Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi responded through his media aide Alli Ibraheem. He dismissed the claimants as noisemakers. “They are obviously dazed about the progress Iwo is recording under the reign of Oba Akanbi. He is representing God, no one can remove him. They can approach the court. They are noise makers,” Alli Ibraheem said.
Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi became the 16th Oluwo from the Gbaase Ruling House in 2016. He succeeded Oba Ashiru Tadese. The monarch has faced previous disputes with princes from other ruling houses over chieftaincy matters. The court case continues as Iwo awaits the judicial outcome.
