A deposed traditional ruler in Etan  in Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, Joshua Aina, has been committed to three months imprisonment for parading himself as the traditional ruler of the town after his alleged deposition.

The Court of Appeal in Ilorin, while ruling on an appeal filed by one of the princes of the town and a contestant to the stool of the traditional ruler of the community, Ezekiel Ogunleye, in June 2010, had declared the stool vacant and ordered Aina to stop parading himself as the Eletan of Etan.

Due to the court judgment, Ogunleye was appointed the Eletan but was unable to have the staff and other paraphernalia of office as Aina reportedly intended to appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

As Aina persisted in parading himself as the Eletan, Ogunleye, through his lawyers, instituted a committal proceeding in the High Court in September, 2010.

However, the court refused to commit Aina to prison making Ogunleye to head for the Appeal Court which set aside the ruling of the trial court and committed the respondent to prison, having held that he was guilty of contempt of court.

Delivering the lead judgment of the court, Justice George Mbata, condemned the unrepentant posture of the respondent in disobeying the order of the court.

He said that the respondent ought to have "lied low and soberly pursued his appeal, praying for the decision to be overturned before he bounces back".

The judge, who noted that the respondent had not filed a valid appeal, said that the lower court ought to have enforced the judgment of the Court of Appeal by committing him to prison rather than "tear the judgment into pieces".

An enrolment order issued by the court and signed by the Presiding Justice of the Court, T. Abdulhai and Deputy Chief Registrar, Ilyasu Wali, reads in part: "That the respondent, Prince Johua O. Aina is hereby held for flagrant disobedience of the subsisting order of this court in Exhibit EA01 and EA04"

"That Joshua O. Aina is accordingly, committed for contempt and hereby sent to prison, where he shall remain for a period of three (3) months, or until he purges himself of the contempt.

"That the Inspector-General of Police is hereby directed to give effect to this order. Each party to bear his costs."