Defence filed on 17th September 2026 by Chief A. G. Giwa-Amu Chambers attaches File C17/5/2 — Jadiara is father, Fusengbuwa is son, 68 purported candidates are not princes
IJEBU-ODE — History in Ijebu does not hurry. It waits. It waits until men, in the vanity of their season, believe they can rewrite what their fathers did not write.
While the mighty and powerful were scheming since the demise of the late Awujale on 13th July 2025, many foreign elements leveraged on the connection and influence they enjoyed in the late Awujale's court to extend same to acquire membership and leadership of Fusengbuwa Ruling House, the House to produce the next Awujale of Ijebuland. They came with press releases. They came with titles. They came with 95 names and 27 invented lineages.
Unknown to them is that a one-page document detailing the actual lineages and direct children of Oba Adejoko Fusengbuwa (1790-1819), founder of Fusengbuwa Ruling House, had been sitting in a file at the archives since 1944.
That file has now spoken.
The defence was filed on 17th September 2026 at the High Court of Ogun State, Ijebu-Ode Division, in Suit No HCJ/149/2026 — Otunba Abdullateef Adebayo Owoyemi and Anor v 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.
And it did not arrive with noise. It arrived with a file number.
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 15th March 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 himself shown as 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 17/09/2026. And with that table, an 11-year fabrication collapses.
I. THE HOUSE THAT HAS ONLY 12 CHILDREN
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.
Fusengbuwa, Giwa-Amu Chambers pleads, has only 12 children. Not eight groups. Not 27 lineages. Twelve.
The second archive proves the same from within: File C17/7 — Petition of Prince Oduwole Olufadi alias Oba-Nile-Ifa, 22nd October 1934: I am Prince that descended from House of late Awujale Fusengbuwa... I am eldest soul of family originally known as EBI FUSENGBUWA and from which Tunwase Descendants must have taken a Branch.
Olufadi — first Abidagba. Tunwase — second and last Abidagba. Both sons of Fusengbuwa. Family name is EBI FUSENGBUWA. Ancestral hall is 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 know themselves.
II. THE EIGHT GROUPS INVENTED IN 2013 AND THE MEMBERSHIP CARD THAT STARTED IT
The defence traces how the contrary story entered the record.
In 2013, Owoyemi and Ajidagba told the then General Secretary, Prince Adeleke Adeyemi-Olufadi now Olori-Ebi, that Fusengbuwa comprises eight groups: Usenbanke/Odoejogun, Olufadi, Adeberu, Osinuga, Tunwase/Ayora, Adekenu, Okuyandero and Sewonwo or Senowo.
On that basis, Suit HCJ/18/2014 was filed — five claimants including Owoyemi as 1st Claimant and Adeyemi-Olufadi as 5th.
And this is what HCJ/18/2014 now reveals:
Owoyemi tendered a membership card with the name NOMUADE JADIARA. He claimed that as his unit. There is no Nomuade Jadiara in File C17/5/2. There is no Nomuade at all in Ijebu genealogy. Jadiara is father of Fusengbuwa, not son. A father cannot be a unit inside his son's house.
Judgment 8th March 2018, Justice A.O. Asenuga, page 31: Apart from the 1st Claimant whose paternal grandfather was said to have migrated to Ijebu-Ode from Ikoro Ekiti and partly from Odi line which he did not deny...
That 1st Claimant is Owoyemi. He did not deny Ikoro Ekiti and Odi — Royal Attendants — line.
When Nomuade Jadiara collapsed, the name changed. In Exhibit F6 filed 17th September 2026, he now claims his connection is the true Usenbanke/Odoejogun.
Check File C17/5/2: Is there any child called Usenbanke among the 12? No.
And Odo Ejogun? Odo Ejogun is not a person. Odo Ejogun is a village of Idowa. Land cannot be a prince. A village cannot become a Ruling House unit.
Yisau Oladokun Ajidagba, 2nd Claimant in HCJ/18/2014, in a bid to invent royal background in HCJ/149/2026 changed his name to Adedokun, but admitted in the previous suit that he did not descend from Fusengbuwa at all. He claimed he descended from Adeberu, a supposed sibling of Fusengbuwa. A sister cannot become a brother in a house founded by her brother.
Appeal CA/IB/334/2018 did not cure genealogy. It allowed appeal only for fair hearing.
III. THE 95-MAN LIST — 27 UNITS THAT ARE NOT IN ANY DECLARATION AND THE SEVEN PRINCES ERASED
On 13th July 2025, Oba Sikiru Adetona joined ancestors. The turn devolved to Fusengbuwa.
What followed: Local Government wrote 2nd Dec 2025, 4th Dec 2025, 6th Jan 2026. Defendants purported to convene, completed nomination 12th Jan 2026, and forwarded lists on 19th Jan and 15th June 2026.
That list is their own 5-page document: FUSENGBUWA RULING HOUSE IJEBU-ODE - 60TH OBA AWUJALE NOMINATED CANDIDATES AND THEIR CONTACT DETAILS 2026 — 95 NOMINATED, LESS 9 DUPLICATED, FINAL TOTAL 86 — Exhibit F6.
Giwa-Amu Chambers sets out what they typed:
27 fictitious lineages: Obatunwase (M), Usenbanke Fusengbuwa (F), Fusengbuwa as lineage within itself, Tunwase (F), Osinuga Fusengbuwa (M), Obatunwase, Jadiara Tairu Anibabanle S/N15 assigned to Otunba Adekunle Hassan Obaruwa Ba'mole, Bamigbaiye, Oba Olukoku, Tunwase Obinrin, Tunwase (M), Bamgbaiye Jadiara, Odunsi Jadiara, Bubiade, Bubiade Jadiara, Olukoku Tunwase (M), Bubiade Jadiara (F), Usenyoruwa Usebanke (F), Adeodu, Usenowo Fusengbuwa, Fetuga Jadiara S/N58, Shote Jadiara S/N63, Olukoku Jadiara, Oba Folagbade Tunwase (M), Usenyoruwa Adebiyi, Osinuga Fusengbuwa and Jadiara.
The arithmetic before the Court: 95 minus 9 equals 86.
22 under Jadiara: S/N 1,2,8,10,11,13,17,19,20,21,23,54,57,59,61,68,70,71,72,76,80,94
44 under the other 26 fictitious: S/N 3,4,5,6,7,12,15,16,22,24,26,27,30,32,35,36,37,38,40,41,42,47,48,51,52,55,58,60,63,66,73,75,79,81,82,85,89,90,91,92,93,95
Total 66 assigned to 27 units unknown to the 1944 archive and the 1959 Declaration.
Plus S/N 29 and S/N 50 — both assigned to Olufadi. Odueke is son of Okuyadewo Unit 9.
66 plus 2 equals 68 of 86 equals 79.07 percent fraud. Only 18 equals 20.93 percent remain.
This is how three non-Fusengbuwa descendants leveraged on some Fusengbuwa sons and daughters' ignorance of chieftaincy laws to create 27 units of purported father, siblings, grandfather and fraudulent aegis as units within Fusengbuwa, and went ahead to assign them to overambitious elements ready to buy their way into those fictional units.
While doing so, seven lawful units — Aderudu, Osinupebi, Osiyemi, Isenfadeke, Osifusan, Adebowale, Ogunade — were given ZERO candidates. Seven princes denied their right to produce the Awujale.
Even those 18 contain elevation fraud: Olukoku and Adenuga Folagbade are sons of Adesimbo Tunwase Unit 8 — how can a son be co-equal with his father? Same for Adeodu and Odueke, sons of Okuyadewo Unit 9.
IV. THE LAW THAT THE FORGERY FORGOT
The defence does not argue in vacuum. It invokes what the Supreme Court has already settled, and what every Divisional Council knew when it registered the Declaration in 1959.
First, OJOKOLOBO v ALAMU (1987) 3 NWLR (Pt.61) 377 SC. The locus classicus. A Ruling House consists only of children and direct descendants of the founder Oba in whose name the House is registered. Only children can constitute units. A sister, a brother, a father, a grandfather cannot become a unit within a House founded by his son or brother. Therefore Adeberu, a sister of Fusengbuwa, cannot be a unit inside Fusengbuwa. Jadiara, father of Fusengbuwa, cannot be a unit inside his son's House. A father cannot be child to his own child.
Second, ADEFULU v OYESILE (1989) 5 NWLR (Pt.122) 155 SC. Membership is by direct biological descent from the founder Oba, not by title, not by residence, not by membership card, not by long association. Owoyemi tendered a card in HCJ/18/2014. The Supreme Court says card does not make prince. Blood makes prince. And in that same 2014 record he did not deny Ikoro Ekiti and Odi line — Royal Attendants. Under Yoruba custom, an Odi is not a member of a Ruling House and can never qualify, as pleaded in Odunsi v Mayungbe.
Third, ELEGBEDE v ABIOYE (1995) 2 NWLR (Pt.379) 370 SC and the ADESANOYE v ADEWOLE principle. A Registered Chieftaincy Declaration is the custom itself. Where the Declaration made under Section 4(2) Chiefs Law 1957 says there are four Ruling Houses — Anikinaiya, Fusengbuwa, Fidipote, Gbelegbuwa — you cannot invent eight groups in 2013 or 27 lineages in 2026. Any substitution with strangers is null and void ab initio. Fraud vitiates all.
Fourth, the Podo and Puji and mutual exclusion tradition. Before Gbelegbuwa I 1760-1790, Ijebu operated Podo and Puji — to settle — whereby children not eligible were settled outside as Olojas and Obas exercising Ipawo, hence Odo towns. Traditionally, descendants of previous Awujale before founders of four Houses settled outside under Podo and Puji are excluded from central stool but constitute dynastic lines eligible for Otunba and Odo kingship, while descendants of four Houses founders are also excluded from Odo stools. It is that mutual exclusion that prevents infiltration. That tradition is not repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience, nor incompatible with any law, but preserves order, certainty and bloodline integrity. This is pleaded with Duarte Pacheco Pereira 1505-1508, Captain Bedingfeld 1862, Payne, Bowell-Jones C55/1 7th May 1943, and 1959 Declaration — 600 years no Odo usurped.
Fifth, the Oyemakinde rule adopted by courts: Wale Oyemakinde, Journal of Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol.9 No.1 1977 p.73 — other members of royal family belonging to ancient dynasty belong to defunct ruling houses. Jadiara belongs to that defunct dynasty before 1821. He produced Fusengbuwa, but he cannot re-enter through his son's House.
Sixth, ONABANJO v EWETUGA (1993) 4 NWLR (Pt.288) 445. Non-member has no locus standi. Non-member cannot convene Ruling House meeting. Non-member cannot be Olori-Ebi. Non-member cannot nominate. All acts done on 12th January, 19th January and 15th June 2026 by persons outside the 12 children are void.
V. A HOUSE THAT FORGOT ITSELF — AND NOW REMEMBERS
It is shocking as to why and how it took the Fusengbuwa Ruling House over a year to know that assertionists and anyone whose descent is traced to Jadiara, Bubiade, Adeberu and any other group outside the 12 lawful children of Fusengbuwa are not members and have no business sitting with them, much more aspiring for Olori-Ebi or candidates therefrom.
It is appalling that Fusengbuwa is just discovering itself in 2026 when its contemporaries — Gbelegbuwa, Anikinaiya and Fidipote — have discovered themselves since 1760, 1821 and 1854 respectively. For 266 years Gbelegbuwa has known its boundaries. For 205 years Anikinaiya has known its own. For 172 years Fidipote has known its own. Only Fusengbuwa allowed its gate to remain open until strangers built houses inside its compound and began to call themselves landlords.
But that delay does not defeat truth. It magnifies courage.
Giwa-Amu and the current leadership of Fusengbuwa deserve accolades for this bold decision. It is better late than never that a house says, we have found our register. We have found our twelve. And we shall no longer share our stool with those whose grandfathers did not know our founder.
VI. A YAHOO-YAHOO SCHEME DISGUISED AS NOMINATION
What the Prince Adeleke Adeyemi-Olufadi led 12 units legitimate Fusengbuwa Ruling House case as filed by Chief A. G. Giwa-Amu establishes is that the entire process embarked upon to fill the vacant Awujale stool is a nullity, a comedy-like charade. It would have been the greatest heist ever pulled in traditional matters in the history of Ijebuland.
What a shameful feat it would have been if such sails through over a highly informed people of great accomplishments in education, commerce, medicine and every facet of human endeavour. It is a yahoo-yahoo scheme disguised as chieftaincy nomination process, championed by foreigners who pretended to belong to a house their ancestors do not know.
Foreigners who knew how to buy membership card in 2013, now want to buy a throne in 2026 with 68 names procured from 27 fictitious units. But history brought receipt. File C17/5/2 is the receipt.
VII. THE PRAYERS
Declaration that only the 12 units are lawful; that the 27 invented aliens are not; that the 2014 reconstitution and title conversion is fabrication null and void; order setting aside nominations of 12 January, 19 January and 15 June 2026; declaration that Owoyemi is not qualified as Olori-Ebi; perpetual injunction restraining them from parading as Fusengbuwa; order directing reconstitution and fresh nomination strictly through the 12 units with Prince Adeleke Adeyemi-Olufadi as legitimate Olori-Ebi and full participation of the seven excluded units — Aderudu, Osinupebi, Osiyemi, Isenfadeke, Osifusan, Adebowale, Ogunade — and N500 million aggravated damages for the desecration.
For 82 years File C17/5/2 has been in Ibadan. It says Jadiara is father. Fusengbuwa is son. Twelve children below the son. Not eight groups. Not 27 lineages. Not 86 princes. Not Nomuade Jadiara. Not Usenbanke. Not Odo Ejogun village. Not Adeberu the sister.
A document that has slept for 82 years does not lie. Men who schemed for 11 years cannot wake it and call it a dream.
