The Olubadan-in-Council has announced the nomination of Otun Olubadan, a former Senator, a former university teacher and an ex-Presidential aspirant, Dr Lekan Balogun, as the Olubadan of Ibadan-elect.
His nomination was endorsed by ten of the 11 members of the Council, which also denied that a legal tussle could scupper the succession to the Olubadan throne. The 11th member, the third in rank to the departed Oba Saliu Adetunji, and former Oyo State Governor, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, stayed away from the meeting.
Ladoja and the departed Oba Adetunji had dragged the immediate past governor of the state, Abiola Ajimobi to court for crowning Lekan Balogun and others kings against tradition, and won.
It made the announcement at a press briefing by the kingmakers on Wednesday in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, through Osi Balogun of Ibadanland, High Chief Tajudeen Ajibola, who said that the kingmakers resolved that Dr Balogun is next in line to ascend the throne of Olubadan according to tradition.
Besides, he debunks insinuations relating to the health and wellness of the new Olubadan-elect, assuring that all the negative media reports were nothing to worry about.
Apart from Ajibola, other High Chiefs in attendance are Balogun Olubadan, Owolabi Olakulehin; Otun Balogun, Olufemi Olaifa; Ashipa Olubadan, Eddy Oyewole; Ekaarun Olubadan, Amidu Ajibade; Ashila Balogun Olubadan, Lateef Gbadamosi; Ekaarun Balogun, Kola Adegbola; and Ekerin Olubadan Abiodun Kola-Daisi.
The new Olubadan-elect is expected to address the press at the meeting.
Olubadan-elect, Lekan Balogun’s Biography
The Otun Olubadan of Ibadan Land, sits on the Board of several companies with interests in Oil and Gas, Distributive Trade, Management Consulting, Mechanized Farming and Export of non-oil items as well as Travels and Tourism.
Erstwhile Administrator/Head, Industrial Relations, Recruitment and Scholarships, Planning and Development at Shell Petroleum Development Company, Balogun was also a Research Fellow with the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; a Director with Triumph Newspaper, Kano; Editor of the Monthly Magazine-“The Nigerian Pathfinder” as well as Management Consultant for Multinational Organizations such as Leyland, Exiat Battery and Nigerian Breweries. He’s a renowned technocrat, author and philanthropist.
He holds a Doctorate, Master’s and Bachelor’s Degrees in Public Administration; Public and Social Administration and Economics from Columbus International University, Brunel University and Manchester University all in the United Kingdom.
A former Presidential Aspirant on the platform of SDP, Senator Balogun was also a Gubernatorial Candidate for the PDP in Oyo State in the present political dispensation and a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the Fourth Republic. He was chairman Senate Committee on National Planning and was a member to many Senate Committees such as Appropriations, Security and Intelligence, Police Affairs and Defence (Army). Oba (Senator) Balogun has written and published widely. Many of his publications include but not limited to; A Review of Nigeria’s 4 years’ Development Plan, 1970-1974; Nigeria: Social Justice or Doom; Power for Sale: published in Punch Newspaper; Arrogance of Power; Nigeria: The people must decide, among other publications.
Balogun, who represented the state at the red chamber, senate, and celebrated his 79th birthday last October, is statutorily the next person to occupy the Olubadan stool.
He reconciled with the late Oba Adetunji, less than three years ago following his installation by former Oyo State governor, late Abiola Ajimobi, as a king.
Balogun, a renowned technocrat, politician, and author started his primary education at CAC Modern School, Anlugbua, and lived with one of his brothers, late Hamzat Balogun, who was a civil servant but was studying privately for the General Certificate of Education, Ordinary Level ( GCE O’L).
While he was also subscribing to Rapid Result College in the UK to enhance his performance in the examination, Lekan was secretly reading his brother’s correspondence tutorials which became very helpful to him when he wrote his qualifying tests which was like ‘G4’ at the time.
While in the second year of the three-year modern school programme, Lekan sat for the qualifying examination and passed. Therefore, he left school without completing the programme.
Armed with this certificate, he travelled to the United Kingdom where he studied for his O and A levels certificates while doing a part-time job to sustain himself- all under 18 years of age.
He left the university in 1973 with a Masters degree in Administration and Economics and had a brief stint with the Lamberth Local Government Social Services Department where he worked for one and a half years after which his academic inclination took the better of him and he enrolled for his PhD.
In 1973, he assumed duties as a research fellow at ABU Centre for Social and Economic Research and also had the option of working as a lecturer at the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University but he chose ABU instead because of the desire to relate with other people away from his birthplace and to know their cultures and traditions.
It was during his sojourn in the UK that he developed the white-black consciousness which crystallised into activism and the struggle for human rights. To give vent to his passion, he joined the leftist Marxist movement.
He plunged into the murky waters of politics in 1978 when he joined the Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, of Late Aminu Kano. His charisma, honesty and gallantry soon saw him climbing the political ladder with ease and grace that eventually accorded him the respect and recognition of the political overlords of Oyo State.
Within a short period of time, he had made his mark as an astute politician, activist and champion of downtrodden masses. He later became the gubernatorial candidate of one of the major political parties in the country, the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe.
The military coup of December 1983 kept him and other political giants in the cooler for 16 years. He later re-emerged on the political scene with his election as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1999.
