According to Punch, Justice Phillips Akinside of the Ogun State High Court has firmly stated that traditional rulers must accept the burial rites and customs of the institutions they voluntarily joined, arguing that once a person becomes an Oba through cultural processes, they relinquish the right to reject those traditions — even after death.
He said; “The Obas have no right or legal right to change the tradition they have voluntarily come into.”
The judge made this assertion on Wednesday while delivering the keynote address at the fifth Chief Kehinde Sofola Memorial Bar Lecture, organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Sagamu branch. He explained that the same customs which guide the selection, nomination, and installation of an Oba should equally apply to their burial.According to him, “One cannot become a traditional ruler in accordance with the customs of the land and later reject those same customs. Religious freedom exists under the 1999 Constitution, but once an individual chooses to enter a traditional institution, they cannot claim an infringement of that freedom when the rites of that institution apply.”
Justice Akinside argued that accepting the role of an Oba is a voluntary act, and by doing so, the individual implicitly agrees to uphold and be governed by the associated traditions, including burial rituals. He likened rejecting those customs later to attempting to “change the goalpost in the middle of the match.”
He also addressed the growing controversy surrounding coronet obas, noting that while the executive council may upgrade Bales or appoint chiefs as coronet obas, these minor chiefs lack prescribed authority and therefore do not possess the power to install other chiefs within their domains.
Meanwhile, the Chief Judge of Ogun State, Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu, represented by Justice Adetokunbo Jibodu, used the occasion to urge legal practitioners to always uphold the rule of law and prioritise fundamental human rights over rigid traditional practices.
She praised the lecture’s theme—“Obas and Chiefs Law of Ogun State: Chieftaincy Disputes, Their Effects on the Community and Legal Protection of Religious Freedom”—as timely and essential, given the delicate balance between preserving cultural identity and safeguarding individual liberty.
From Opera News
June 27, 2025.
June 27, 2025.
