BY REBECCA AJANI
THREE children of the late Alaye-Aba of Aba, Aiyepe, Ogun State, Oba Rauf Adebayo Raji-Suleimon, have dragged the Osugbo Society of Ijebuland (known as Ogboni) before the Federal High Court, sitting in Abeokuta, over the alleged hijack of the corpse of the late monarch on January 24, 2021.
The three daughters – Mrs Aderonke Egunjimi, Mrs Tiwalade Abass and Mrs Adeyemi Joseph – instituted a N50bn suit through their lawyer, Bolaji Ayorinde, SAN.
They are also seeking an order of mandatory injunction compelling the society to return the monarch’s corpse forthwith to their custody at the applicants’ Family House, at No 1, Alaye Aba Street, Aba Quarters, Aiyepe, Ogun State.
In the Fundamental Human Rights application, the claimants accused members of the Osugbo society of infringing their rights to privacy and family life by allegedly hijacking the body of their late father and depriving him of a befitting burial.
According to them, the late monarch was a devoted and practising Muslim in his lifetime, who had gone on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina and had, as a result of his contributions to Islam, bagged several awards and recognitions by Islamic societies.
They alleged that on January 24, 2021, after the family had dug a grave, set up canopies for visitors and concluded arrangements to bury their father according to Islamic rites, members of the Osugbo society came and forcibly took their father’s corpse away.
The claimants argued that they were stripped of their dignity, rights to privacy and family life, rights to freedom of conscience thought and religion, which led to untold hardships and trauma when the body of their late father was hijacked by the first to 15th respondents.
The applicants therefore asked the court for an order restraining the Ijebu Traditional Council from giving any directions or orders to the first to 15th respondents contrary to the reliefs sought.
The defendants in the suit are: Chief Adeleke Adetola Dako, Chief Mojid Ogunmefun, Lekan Adekoko, Chief Ebenezar Ogunlala, Chief Fagbola, Adeniyi, Kazeem Adeleke, Taorid Jimoh, Abiodun Adeleke, Monsuru Eleku, Chief Safiriyu Adeleye, Jamiu Salawu, Chief Sodiq Osiyemi, Chief Eji Ademeji, Chief Adebisi Opanuga and Chief Ayo Olubukola.
They were sued jointly and severally as members and representatives of the unincorporated Osugbo Society of Ijebuland in Odogbolu Local Government.
Joined as defendants are the Ijebu Ode Local Government, Ijebu East Local Government, Ijebu North Local Government, Ijebu North East Local Government, Ogun Waterside Local Government and Ijebu Traditional Council.
