Some may say, let the sleeping dog lie or sleep; in other words, that there will be no need to disturb an existing order even if arrived at by default or mistake. Again, history has not permitted it to be so. The world was suddenly awakened by the disturbances in the old Yugoslavia that split into Bosnia and Serbia, East Timor from Indonesia and Modakeke and Ife matters. No wrongful sleeping or lying dog will have peace no matter how long such dog has laid or slept.
The Ejigbos may have tolerated this anomaly for a while, since 1998 when the Oba Ojon of Ijon was installed the Oba Ojon of Ejigbo based on wrong understanding of the Supreme Court Judgment whereby, Ojon of Ijon whose sphere of influence or authority is limited to Ijon was extended to Ejigbo, a distinct town and community with no ancestral affinities with the Ijons. Ijon community of the Ojon was rather discovered from the Supreme Court Judgment recognized the suverainty of the Ejigbos over the Ijons by its pronouncements that it is the Ejigbo that will cap the Ojon for the Ijon. A total reversed scenario was created by the Lagos State Government White Paper on the Ejigbo Chieftaincy matter in 1998 whereby it turned around to subject the Ejigbos, the landlords of the Ijons and their king, to the Ojon to be the overlord of the Ejigbos, and the Ojon that they capped to be their Oba: quite contrary to the native law and custom of Ejigbo and the Supreme Court Judgment that upheld the Ejigbos as the landlords of Ejigbo and the Ijons and their king, Ojon, as trespassers.
The question of whether Lagos State Government can choose to obey the Supreme Court decision or not, section 287 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as Amended provides inter alia:
" THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT SHALL BE ENFORCED IN ANY PART OF THE FEDERATION BY ALL AUTHORITIES AND PERSONS, AND BY COURTS WITH SUBORDINATE JURISDICTION TO THAT OF THE SUPREME COURT"
It is submitted that this Constitutional provision does not give any discretion to Lagos State Government as an authority nor its subordinate agent, the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs or anybody for that matter any discretion to choose what to apply on a matter that the Supreme Court has decided. TheSupreme Court in its judgment upheld the distinction between Ejigbo and Ijon, the rulership of Ijon people in the name of the Ojon, while the Ejigbos claimed and still insists that their king is the Oba Elejigbo of Ejigbo and thirdly and most instructive is that the Ijons and their Ojon are trespassers in Ejigbo, while the Ejigbos are the landlord. It is therefore inconceivable to fathom or understand the reasons behind the total reversal of the judgment of the Supreme Court under reference by recognizing, approving and gazetting the stool of the trespassers as the authentic crown of the Ejigbos and not the Ijons which the Supreme Court recognized that pertains only to the Ijons and not Ejigbo and Ejigbos.
Consequently, the wrongful application of the Supreme Court judgment in recognition of the stool, crown of Oba Ojon of Ijon as Oba Ojon of Ejigbo is misconceived and erroneous understanding and application of the law which the Supreme Court Judgment interpreted. The clear direction of the line of thought of the Supreme Court was the Ikeja Magistrate Court ruling in the application for injunction against the Ojon in 1957 in Suit No. ik/1664/57 at the instance of the Olori Ebi of Fadu Onimewon, the applicant, who was praying the Court to restrain the Ojon from parading himself as what he was not in Ejigbo, the Honourable Court upheld his prayer and restrained the Ojon.
Notwithstanding the above, the wordings of the judgment of the Supreme Court is in English and unambiguous, and a government agency, the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs can always refer the judgments presented by the Ejigbo's representative in their application to correct the anomalous recognition, gazetting of the crowning and installation of Oba Ojon of Ijon as Oba of Ejigbo by referring the judgment to the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General of Lagos State instead of seeking the Supreme Court to interpret its judgment before it can act on the petition of the Ejigbos on this anomaly.
It is submitted that as long as the anomalous state of affairs persists, Lagos State Government is in breach of section 287(1) of the 1999 Constitution by not enforcing the judgment of the Supreme Court.
The Ejigbo princes will be acting within the law if they approach His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Lagos State and the House of Assembly in order to correct this anomaly.
Long live His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Gov Akinwunmi Ambode.
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