As the royal accountant goes home

Sir: Another great King in Yorubaland has gone to join his ancestors, Oba Samuel Adegboyega Osunbade, Adeyelu II, JP, FCIS, FCA, the Olugbon of Orile-Igbon. A well-educated monarch, he changed the face of Orile-Igbon, Surulere Local Government of Oyo State with his expertise and zeal to uplift the exalted throne and the land of his fathers. We mourn!

Historically, the stool of the Olugbon was among the top provincial rulers of the Oyo kingdom. However, Igbon was one of early casualties of the destructive forces unleashed on the kingdom from the beginning of the nineteenth century by Afonja. By 1830, the Igbon community had scattered, and a section of its people, with the Olugbon, had found refuge in Ogbomoso. A predecessor, Oba Akanni started the resettlement efforts at Orile-Igbon and after the instalment of Oba Osunbade on the 24th of July 1992, he continued the resettlement efforts with notable strides.

The strides of the 21st Olugbon, Oba Osunbade to Orile Igbon included the removal of the consent of the Soun when subsequent Olugbons will be installed as recommended by the Oloko Commission of Inquiry. It emphasised that the Olugbon ranked second to the Alafin in the state in terms of traditional hierarchy. The king also embarked on a quest to have Orile-Igbon as headquarters of a newly established local government in 1996 which was a great feat for his people and subsequently, he became the Vice Chairman of the Oyo State Council of Obas.

The monarch with a flourishing accounting practice in the metropolitan city of Lagos was prepared for all the struggles for the development of Orile-Igbon. As a student in England, he was the general secretary of All African Students Union and also the president of the Nigerian Union of Students in England and Ireland, which afforded him the opportunity to visit a lot of African countries. In 1967, he led a delegation of Nigerian students from England to pay a visit to the General Yakubu Gowon–led Federal Military Government to intervene in the national crisis at the out­break of the civil war.

As described by Revd Okesiji, Oba Osunbade truly cared about the work of God and his leadership charisma was evident in his wisdom regularly doled to other traditional rulers around him. Unfortunately, the great story of this noble king and activist got a huge blow when he was bereaved in 2012 when his son, Prince Aderoju Osunbade, died in an air crash. This deeply affected monarch till he eventually gave up the ghost on the 14th October 2016.

A traditional ruler of repute and a devoted Baptist has passed on at 82. We mourn!

• Olutayo Irantiola wrote from Lagos.