NNAEMEKA-AGU, JSC (DELIVERING THE LEADING JUDGMENT): The main issue in this interlocutory appeal is whether the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division, was right in the way and manner it exercised its discretion in granting an order of interlocutory injunction pending appeal in favour of the plaintiffs on the facts and in the circumstances of this case.
In the substantive suit, the parties put forward their diverse claims and counter claims relating to the Chieftaincy stool of the Akire of Ikire. The main issues in contention in the suit related to:-
(i) Whether the Chieftaincy Declaration of 1958 was valid, particularly whether it included Aketula Family of Ikire as a separate and distinct ruling house;
(ii) The number and identity of the Ruling Houses;
(iii) The order of rotation;
(iv) The number and identity of the Kingmakers;
(v) Whether Ladekan Ruling House was the next entitled and eligible to produce a suitable candidate for the vacant stool of Akire of Ikire;
(vi) Whether the defendants sh…