The search for the next Awujale began with 95 names. After duplicates were removed, 86 remained. But many of those names arrived attached to family groups that never belonged to the ruling house.
Some pointed back to the founder's own father. Some pointed to his sisters. One was not a person at all, but a village. A name by itself cannot make someone's family when the bloodline was never there.
Fortunately, there is a reliable way to separate true heirs from false claims. A record has rested in the National Archives in Ibadan since 1944, and it names the real family. It shows that Oba Adejoko Fusengbuwa, who ruled from 1790 to 1819, had twelve children.
The rules registered in 1959, still in force today, confirm the same fact. In Ijebu custom, each of those twelve lines is called a Idi Igi, a branch that grows straight from the trunk of the founder. Membership in a ruling house passes only through those branches, the founder's children and their direct descendants.
Titles carry no weight. Membership cards carry no weight. Long friendships carry no weight. Only bloodline does.
When all 86 names are measured against that record, only 18 survive. They belong to just three of the twelve Idi Igi. These 18 are not competing claims set against one another. They are the names no faction can honestly dispute, because the historical record already stands behind each one.
* Olufadi (the first son born while the founder was king)
Adeleye Seun Onanuga
Adeyemi Akeem Adeleke
Adeyemi Olawale Oriola
Adeleye Ademuyiwa Abdulateef
Adeyemi Abdul Adekunle
Adebiyi Ibrahim Adeleye
Muyideen Adeleye Adio
* Adesimbo Tunwase (the second son born while the founder was king)
Abayomi Adebisi Kadri
Olugbenga Abimbola Ayo-Yusuf
Nurudeen Adesupo Akeju
Mustapha Adeyemi Mojeed
Ilumoka Qudus Omolaja
Oduwole Tajudeen Olasupo
Osinuga (the senior child of the founder)
Aderibigbe Moronfolu Aderomola
Aderibigbe Azeez Ademola
Abimbola Oluwafemi Ibrahim
Muizdeen Adewale Abimbola
Adefuwape Adegboyega Abimbola
The opportunity in front of the house
This dispute has dragged on for more than a year, and the throne has stood empty since July 2025. It does not have to remain empty, and the conflict does not have to deepen.
Each of these 18 candidates shares something that cannot be bought or invented: a place on a true Idi Igi that the record already proves. That shared foundation is exactly what a divided house needs.
The path forward is straightforward. The kingmakers, the ruling house, the families, and the government can accept these 18 as the legitimate pool. They can meet, weigh the candidates, and agree on one.
The wisest choice is a person of proven character, real ability, and respected standing, someone whose claim to the throne no one will later challenge in court.
Ijebuland has waited long enough for its next king. The wait can end here, not through another lawsuit, but through a single, united decision. Any of these 18 can wear the crown with honor, because the record itself vouches for them. That is the opportunity in front of the house. It only needs to seize it.
- Adegboyega Makanjuola writes from the UK and is an indigene of Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State Nigeria.
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