Iwo Imam loses legal tussle, to pay N500,000 fine

An Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo has ordered Muhammad Thanni Abdulmumini, Imam of Iwoland, to pay a fine of N500,000 to Khalifah Ashiru Adio and Chief Abiola Ogundokun.

According to a Certified True Copy of the court judgement made available to DAILY POST on Wednesday, Abdulmumini was ordered to pay the fine by Justice A. O. Oyebiyi.

the legal dispute began on March 3, 2022, after Abdulmumini and two others filed a writ of summons and statement of claim against Abiola Ogundokun and Khalifa Ashiru Adio.

the plaintiffs had sought several declarations and injunctions against the defendants, challenging their powers to suspend or act against them in respect of their chieftaincy titles held in Iwo Central Mosque.

After a prolonged legal battle, the matter came up for pretrial conference on May 22, 2024, in the absence of the plaintiffs and their counsel.

The court, presided over by Justice A.O. Oyebiyi, struck out the case with a fine of N500,000 awarded against the plaintiffs.

The defendants had earlier made an application for dismissal of the matter, which the court granted due to the plaintiffs’ failure to prosecute the case diligently.

The cost awarded against the plaintiffs on November 14, 2022, had not been paid up until now, leading to the defendants’ request for the case to be struck out.

In the same vein, Justice Nathaniel Ayo Emmanuel of the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, on May 7, 2024, dismissed a case instituted against the Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdulrosheed Adewale Akanbi, over the replacement of Board of Trustees members for the Iwo Central Mosque, who had died.

The plaintiffs were questioning the sovereignty of Oba Akanbi replacing deceased members of the Mosque Trustees.

A writ of summons was issued on November 11, 2022 and filed November 14, 2022.

Justice Ayo Emmanuel had dismissed the case on lack of merit.