42nd Olubadan, Lekan Balogun joins ancestors

OYO State governor, Seyi Makinde, on Thursday, announced the passage to higher service of the 42nd Olubadan of Ibadanland, His Imperial Majesty, Oba (Dr.) Moshood Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II.

A statement by Makinde released on Thursday night by his Special Adviser (Media), Sulaimon Olanrewaju, to announce the death, stated that the late Olubadan joined his ancestors late Thursday evening at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

The Olubadan, who died barely 72 hours after completing two years on the throne as the 42nd Olubadan of Ibadanland,  will be buried today Friday evening at his Aliiwo ancestral home n Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State. by 4 p.m. according to Islamic rites.

Expressing his condolences to the immediate family, the state, the Olubadan-in-Council, the Oyo State Traditional Council, and the people of Ibadanland, Governor Makinde described Olubadan Balogun as an epitome of royal excellence and a great achiever, who made great marks on Ibadanland in just a little over two years of his reign. He prayed to God to grant repose to the soul of the deceased monarch.

The statement read: “With total submission to the will of God, I announce the passing unto glory of our father, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Dr. Mohood Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II, the 42nd Olubadan of Ibadanland.

“A mighty Iroko has fallen; Oba Dr. Balogun has joined the ancestors. In Kabiyesi, Ibadanland had a cosmopolitan and well-experienced Olubadan, who made indelible marks on the sands of history and achieved greatly within a short while.

 “On behalf of the Government and good People of Oyo State, I condole with the immediate family of the Oba Dr. Balogun, the Olubadan-in-Council, the Oyo State Traditional Council and the people of Ibadanland. It is my prayer that God grants repose to the soul of our late monarch.”

Born October 18, 1942, in Ali-Iwo compound, present day Ibadan North East Local Government Area of Oyo State, Oba Balogun had his higher education in the United Kingdom, where he studied for his O and A levels certificates while doing a part-time job to sustain himself.

Upon completion of his O and A levels program, he proceeded to the Brunel University, where he bagged a master’s degree in Administration and Economics in 1973. He then had a brief stint with the Lambeth 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 Nigeria, he worked as a lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State; an editor of the monthly magazine The Nigerian Pathfinder, and as a director with Triumph Newspaper, Kano, as well as a management consultant for multinational organisations such as Leyland, Exiat Battery, and Nigerian Breweries.

The late Olubadan also worked with Shell British Petroleum Company where he rose to the position of the Administrator/Head, Industrial Relations, Recruitment and Scholarships, Planning and Development units respectively.

As a politician, he was a presidential aspirant on the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP); he was also a gubernatorial candidate for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State in the present political dispensation.

In addition to this, he was a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the Fourth Republic, represented Oyo Central senatorial district between 1999 and 2003. He was chairman of the Senate Committee on National Planning and was a member of many Senate Committees such as Appropriations, Security and Intelligence, Police Affairs and Defence (Army).

As an author, the late monarch wrote and published widely. Among his many of his publications are: A Review of Nigeria’s 4 years’ Development Plan, 1970–1974; Social Justice or Doom; Power for Sale;