The Lagos High Court upheld Lamina’s recognised status as Baale and rejected the Onikoro’s claim to paramount rulership over all Agboyi.
The Lagos State High Court has set aside Chief Taiwo Adesegun Lamina’s appointment as Oba of Oruba Agboyi II, ruling that Lagos State failed to consult the State Council of Chiefs and publish a notice that would have given residents 30 days to comment on the proposed title.
Justice Y. R. Pinheiro delivered the judgment on 20 October 2026 at the Ikeja Judicial Division. The court expressly preserved Lamina’s recognised position as Baale of Oruba Agboyi II, in Agboyi-Ketu, Kosofe.
The case was brought in November 2022 by High Chief Micheal Adesegun Bakare, the Onikoro of Oruba Agboyi II. Kosofe Inside Out reviewed the 31-page certified true copy of the judgment in suit ID/9361GCMW/2022.
The public notice residents should have received
According to evidence given by a state government witness, the Oruba Agboyi II community requested the elevation of its Baale in 2012. A tribunal recommended the upgrade in 2018, and the state proceeded with the appointment in 2022.
The court held that elevating the Baale amounted to creating a new recognised chieftaincy title. Under Sections 25 and 26 of the Lagos State Obas and Chiefs Law, the proposal had to go to the State Council of Chiefs for comment. The governor also had to publish a notice of intention, giving the public 30 days to make representations before a decision.
The state witness acknowledged that the proposal had never gone to the council. In July 2021, the Attorney-General had directed that the proposal and Bakare’s complaint be referred to the council and that processing pause pending its comments. The government defendants argued that the letter was advisory. The judge held that the duty to consult came from the law itself.
The court found that the April 2023 Gazette announced an appointment the state had already approved. By that point, residents had missed the opportunity the law gave them to respond before the decision.
The judge set aside the appointment instrument, the approval and appointment letters, and the part of the April 2023 Gazette relating to Lamina’s appointment. The court also restrained state and council officials from recognising him as Oba on the basis of the steps it had set aside.
The Onikoro’s wider claim
Bakare had asked the court to declare the Onikoro stool the paramount authority over Agboyi I, Oruba Agboyi II and Agboyi III, and to order his installation as a first-class Oba.
The judge accepted that historical records showed successive Onikoros exercising customary authority in particular localities. But the earlier land judgments concerned specific parcels and did not establish the wider authority Bakare claimed. The court refused his claim to paramount rulership and his request for installation, holding that creating and grading recognised chieftaincy titles were functions the law assigned to the state government.
The judgment leaves the governor free to consider the proposed Oba title afresh. If Lagos State proceeds, it must seek the council’s comments and publish a notice giving residents 30 days to make representations. KIO has yet to verify whether an appeal has been filed, whether a stay has been granted or whether the state has begun a fresh process.