The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Mahood Olalekan Balogun turned 80 years old recently. In this interview with BAYO AGBOOLA to mark his birthday, the royal father says that he owed everything about his life and royalty to God.
Kabiyesi, how do you feel attaining the age of 80?
I feel good and thankful to God that it is so. I feel on top of the world.
What would you say is the magic wand to be alive till this day?
I have been very close to the elderly even when I was not one of them. I ran against Chief Bola Ige in 1983 for the old Oyo State governorship poll. We became respecters of each other. I fell in love with him. We were supposed to be opponents, but got on very well though much older than me. By 1986, I became Mogaji of Ali-Iwo. So, it has been continuous but gradual process until I became Olubadan in March this year. But in the Olubadan Chieftaincy System, you don’t know when it will be your time to become Olubadan. Certainly, God has to be on your side. So, I have every reason to be grateful to God. I am also thankful to the media people. We have remained very close since 1983. You know that before someone becomes an Olubadan, such should be 90 years, or close to it. So, there is no magic except the grace of God.
During your coronation in March, it was said that you would be the first monarch to use the Central Palace. The project stated many years ago, but what is delaying its completion?
I am so happy and excited at the Olubadan palace efforts. The people that started it did not think about me, but God is wonderful. He chooses what He does to all of us as human beings. So, I didn’t think about Olubadan palace. I didn’t think I would be Olubadan. I didn’t think I would be Mogaji Ali-Iwo. I was a young man who was all over the place. When they said I should become the Mogaji of Ali-Iwo, I refused. I didn’t want it.
Why?
A man who had children older than me was the first son of my father. It was he who was supposed to be the Mogaji. He said he didn’t want it and that it was my turn, but I insisted that I didn’t want it. I was like a son to him. I loved him very intensively and I know he loved me very intensively too.
Kabiyesi, what about the completion of new palace?
On the completion of the Olubadan new palace, that is a question you should be asking the President-General of Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) and people like that in public life. Recently, I went there to just look at the place and was amazed with what I saw. It is as good as completed. I was not excited. I was just surprised that such thing has been happening before our very nose. I know nothing about it and I would like to be the first occupant.
Do you have a near death experience and how did you overcome it?
If not for God, the devil did not mean well for me. In 1986, I drove a Peugeot 505 Evolution car towards Challenge in Ibadan. I was at a filling station and suddenly there was an armed robbery attack. The robbers shot at me directly. I felt that how would these robbers attempt my life like that. I tried to attack back. In the process, the guys ran away. As they were running, one of their guns dropped. I picked the gun to hit at them, but the gun did not respond. Something had happened to it when it fell down. Then, blood started gushing out. So, it was from that place that I was rushed to a particular hospital in Oke-Ado. Then, the doctors in the hospital phoned University College Hospital (UCH) that they had a very important personality that needed an emergency attention. I was taken to UCH, where I was admitted and the bullets were extracted. I was treated and was on admission for two weeks or thereabouts. But for God, the story would have been different.
Majority of the 2023 governorship candidates in Oyo state are from Ibadan and they are your subjects. How have you been playing your fatherly role among them?
I was close to these people you mentioned. I know all of them and I have always known all of them. It didn’t matter what party you belong to, the town or city you hail from, not even if you are non-Ibadan. I was very close to Chief Bola Ige. He was an Ijesha man. I was also close to his deputy, S M Afolabi. We were opponents, though not in the same party. At the appropriate time, the candidates will come together via a forum and I will tell them that the peace of Ibadanland and Oyo state is paramount in my mind. On no account should be any form of altercation among them.
What legacy will you like to leave behind as Olubadan?
Unity, peace and progress for Ibadan town and it’s environment. The process began immediately I came to the throne. One of the major problems that we have around this place is the issue of land grabbing. I put up a committee comprising Mogajis and some influential people in the town that meet regularly to ensure that issues of land grabbing and all these things are settled traditionally to avoid the usual crisis being occasioned by land grabbing. So, I want to ensure the legacy of peace in Ibadan during my time and beyond.
What is the relationship between you, the governor and the palace?
The governor was my candidate when he was running for governorship. He was almost always in my house. I advised people in politics to work with him. So, I got on very well with him. He is like a son to me. I discovered that Femi, my first son, was his senior in school. He used to come here to play when they were in school. Femi reminded me of all those things and he also didn’t hide it. So, he is my adopted son. I love him and I am sure he loves me for the part that I have played in his life. I have no reason not to love him. We don’t see often anymore. So, my definition of politics has to do with ideas, not enemity. I get on well with the government. I don’t violate the laws of the land. I respect the laws of the land, no matter who makes the law and who enforces it. I am a respecter of the laws of the land.
Is there a strained relationship between you and Governor Makinde because the roads that lead to your palace were left unattended to and the fact that your younger brother, Senator Kola Balogun, was not able to secure a second-term ticket for Oyo South senatorial district.
It is not true. I am very close to my brother. I brought him up and I brought them very close together, but I would not get involved in their quarrels. They may no longer be that close politically, but they are both my children. I have different children in different parties. What does it matter? If there is a chance of them coming together, I would initiate and encourage it. On the issue of roads to my palace, already, the work has started. The only difference now is that the rehabilitation did not start as people would have thought.
