The news of the demise of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II, is one that has jolted many Nigerians.
Oba Balogun, aged 81, who ascended the throne of his forefathers on March 11, 2022, died on Thursday evening at the University College Hospital, Ibadan as confirmed in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary , Sulaimon Olanrewaju.
Here are 10 quick facts to know about the late monarch.
1.Oba Balogun was born on 18 October 1942 in Ali-Iwo compound, in the present-day Ibadan North East Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria.
2. He studied for his O- and A-level certificates in the United Kingdom while doing a part-time job to sustain himself.
3. He attended the Brunel University. He left the university in 1973 with a master’s degree in Administration and Economics.
4. He later enrolled for his PhD after working with the Lambeth Local Government Social Services Department, where he worked for one-and-a-half years.
5. Balogun had worked as a lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State. He was once an editor of the monthly magazine, The Nigerian Pathfinder. He was also a director with Triumph Newspaper, Kano. He served as management consultant to several multinational organisations. He worked with Shell Petroleum Development as well.
6. The late monarch was a presidential aspirant on the platform of Social Democratic Party during the botched Third Republic. He was also once a governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in Oyo State in the present political dispensation.
7. He was senator representing the Oyo Central senatorial district between 1999 and 2003. He was Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Planning. He was also a member of Senate Committees like as Appropriations, Security and Intelligence, Police Affairs and Defence.
8 . He was the Otun Olubadan of Ibadanland before being crowned the Olubadan of Ibadan and given the staff of office by the Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on 11 March, 2022.
9. Oba Balogun, an accomplished author was a Muslim.
10. He died on March 14, 2024
