The Edo State House of Assembly has confirmed Prof. Roland Otaru as a Commissioner despite a petition against his nomination by the traditional ruler of Ikpeshi/Egbigere clan, HRH Luckman Momodu Odamah III.
The Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, on August 8, 2025, approved the nomination of Prof. Roland Otaru, Barrister Nosa Adams, Yakubu Oshiorenua Musa, Felix Akhabue, and Prof. Omorodion Ignatius Ikponmwosa as commissioners-designate.
While the other nominees were screened and confirmed on August 20, 2025, Otaru was not confirmed as he did not appear before the screening committee. The House, however, did not announce a rescheduling of his screening.
Following his nomination, the traditional ruler of Ikpeshi/Egbigere, HRH Luckman Momodu Odamah III, petitioned the state government to stop the House of Assembly from confirming him.
In the petition addressed to the Governor on August 29, 2025, the monarch argued that confirming Otaru would effectively make him a judge in his own case.
He alleged that Otaru had opposed his ascension to the throne following the death of his father on September 11, 2011.
According to him, “Prof. R.I. Otaru has, since the death of my father, HRH Momodu Odamah II, been working tirelessly against my nomination, traditional installation, and eventual appointment by the state government as a successor to my father.
“From 2012 till date, Prof. Otaru has been acting and continues to act as counsel to the Akoko-Edo traditional council that unsuccessfully [challenged] my appointment.
“To this end, he unsuccessfully opposed the suit I filed before the High Court, Igarra, out of which he now has a pending appeal at the Supreme Court.
“In addition, in December 2020, Prof. Otaru, who is from the Emegbe family of Igun kindred, raised one Chief Joseph Shuru Uduagbamen from his kindred and sought to impose him as the Zaiki of the Ikpeshi/Egbigere clan. To carry out this plot, they filed a case before the Igarra High Court to set aside the gazette/declaration that regulates the appointment of the traditional ruler of the clan.
“The suit was dismissed on March 16, 2022, and the Emegbe family proceeded to the Court of Appeal, Benin.
“From 2012 till date, the position of Prof. Otaru had always been in opposition to that of the Edo State Government, the Attorney-General of Edo State, and the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in all the court cases with respect to my ascension to the throne, from the High Court, Court of Appeal and now at the Supreme Court.
“Thus, his membership of the State Executive Council will ultimately put him in a position that makes him a judge in his own case, that is, to supplant the lawful position of the Edo State Government that has never filed or accepted any contrary position to that contained in the chieftaincy declaration gazette,” he said.
The traditional ruler stressed that his petition was necessary to lay the facts bare before Otaru assumed office as a commissioner.
He added that the petition was also aimed at ensuring that appointments of traditional rulers in the state fully comply with the gazette or declaration as passed into law by the government.
