(Lagos High Court. Photo by Punch News)
A Lagos High Court judge has pushed back a hearing to July 7, 2026, in a dispute over the estate of the late Chief Stephen Obaloluwa Oyetade, who held the title of Ashipa of Ife.
The widow and three of the deceased’s children are challenging the court’s authority to hear a lawsuit brought by two other family members Obayemi Oyetade and Mrs. Grace Yemisi Oyetade who want to cancel the administrative authority granted to the Osun State government’s Administrator-General over the estate.
The defending family members, through their lawyer, argue the case is legally flawed, filed out of time, and an abuse of process.
They also claim the claimants never properly served court documents on any of the seven defendants after filing the suit in April 2025, and that required pre-filing steps were skipped.
The dispute has a longer history. Chief Oyetade died without a will in August 2015, and Osun State was granted authority to administer his estate in 2019 later extended to Lagos properties in 2022.
A previous challenge to that authority was dismissed by an Osun State court in June 2023, which upheld the administrator-general’s powers.
Following that ruling, estate assets were distributed and ownership deeds issued to beneficiaries in January 2025.
The defendants allege that the claimants have been occupying and profiting from several estate properties in Lagos since 2017 without permission including running a hotel called Sarah Sam Hotel in Ogudu and have resisted efforts to recover those properties.
They also raised more serious allegations, including an alleged assault on estate officials in December 2023 (said to have led to criminal proceedings) and an arrest of the claimants by the NDLEA in July 2025 over alleged drug activity at the hotel. No conviction has been established, and these allegations remain unproven.
The defendants contend the current lawsuit is simply an attempt to block the lawful distribution of the estate and extend the claimants’ occupation of the properties.
The judge adjourned the matter to give the claimants time to file a formal response to the jurisdictional challenge.
