…Waiting game
By Bose Adelaja
CITIZENS COMPASS— As contestants for the vacant stool of Awujale in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, are put in suspense, a one-page document has revealed the actual lineages and direct children of one of the ruling houses, Fusengbuwa.
According to the document, the founder of this ruling house, Oba Adejoko Fusengbuwa lived between 1790-1819 and his story had been kept in the archives since 1944.
Recall that the most recent Awujale, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, joined his ancestors on July 13, 2025, leaving the Awujale stool to be vacant.
With the vacancy, the Fusengbuwa Ruling House automatically became the next House to produce the next Awujale of Ijebuland.
Meanwhile, some high and mighty ones have been scheming to become the next Awujale although the process has been suspended owing to some reasons.
At the commencement of the process, various press statements were issued which captured 95 names and 27 invented lineages unknown to many that the one-page document detailing the actual lineages and direct children of Oba Adejoko Fusengbuwa (1790-1819), would be out.
Citizens Compass reported that the ruling house had previously submitted a nomination list containing numerous aspirants, but the state government suspended the process citing alleged procedural irregularities and security concerns.
In August 2026, the Fusengbuwa Ruling House dragged the state government and kingmakers to court over the continued suspension of the selection process.
According to the Lawsuit marked HCJ/149/2026, the ruling house sued Governor Dapo Abiodun, state officials, and the kingmakers.
The Fusengbuwas want the court to declare that their nomination of 95 aspirants (94 princes and one princess) completed in January 2026 is valid, to lift the government embargo, and to order kingmakers to finish the selection process.
Meanwhile, a vacation judge of the Ogun State High Court, Justice A. A. Omoniyi, sitting in Court 3, Ijebu-Ode, recently ordered that the suit be returned to the administrative judge for reassignment.
A Defence filed yesterday, September 17, 2026 by Chief A. G. Giwa-Amu Chambers (File C17/5/2) argued that:
Jadiara is the Father while Fusengbuwa is the son and 68 out of the 95 candidates are not princes
The defence was filed at the High Court of Ogun State, Ijebu-Ode Division, in Suit No HCJ/149/2026 where Otunba Abdullateef Adebayo Owoyemi and Anor vs Ogun State Government and Ors — by Chief A. G. Giwa-Amu, Esq., M. J. Uleyo, Esq., M.K.O. Onamade, Esq., J. J. Amodu, Esq., Abdulwahab Bakare, Esq., of A. G. GIWA-AMU and CO, 45A Wale Taiwo Close, Ogba, Lagos, for the Claimants and Co-Defendants: Prince Adeleke Adeyemi-Olufadi and five others, for themselves and the 12 lawful branches of Fusengbuwa Ruling House, Agunsenbi Quarters, Ijebu Ode.
Investigations revealed that the File No. IjeProf C17/5/2. Dated 16th March 1944. Certified True Copy 23rd June 2026 at the National Archives, Ibadan.
On its last page is an attached genealogical table submitted on March 15, 1944, by the sons and daughters of Omoba Aderibigbe, then Olori-Ebi of Tunwashe Ruling House of Agunsenbi, great-grandson of Awujale Jadiara, showing Jadiara as father, Fusengbuwa as son, and the 12 children of Fusengbuwa, with Aderibigbe as the grandson of Osinuga, son of Fusengbuwa.
Jadiara Fusengbuwa
1.Osinuga
2. Aderudu
3. Osinupebi
4. Adekerun
5. Ogunade
6. Isenfadeke
7. Osifusan
8. Adesimbo
9. Okuyadewo
10. Adebowale
11. Olufadi
12. Osiyemi
That table is now Exhibit A filed yesterday which put a stop to an 11-year-old fabrication in the land.
History speaks volume
Every student of Ijebu history knows the architecture of the stool: Four Ruling Houses rotate under the 1959 Registered Declaration made under Section 4(2) Chiefs Law 1957, preserved under Section 14 Obas and Chiefs Law 2021: Anikinaiya, Fusengbuwa, Fidipote and Gbelegbuwa, in that order.
It revealed that Fusengbuwa has 12 children, not eight groups or 27 lineages
The second archive proves the same from within: File C17/7 through the Petition of Prince Oduwole Olufadi popularly known as Oba-Nile-Ifa, October 22, 1934:
It stated that the Prince descended from the House of late Awujale Fusengbuwa.
It also stated that he was the eldest son of the family originally known as EBI FUSENGBUWA and from which Tunwase Descendants must have sprung up.
Olufadi was the First Abidagba and Tunwase was the second and last Abidagba (Both sons of Fusengbuwa with the ancestral hailing from Ile Nla Agunsenbi Quarters, not No. 82A Olode Street. The tradition that prevents infiltration of foreign elements as the 1st to 3rd Defendants from incursion and corruption of the Awujale institution is that the four Ruling Houses…
…To be continued
