Call it a triple celebration and you certainly won’t be wrong. The Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebu land, Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Kayode Adetona, Ogbagba II, on May, 10, 2024, gathered some of the most powerful personalities in the land to celebrate three significant milestones with him.
First, the highly revered monarch was celebrating his 90th birthday. Second, he was also celebrating his 64 years on the throne, making him the longest reigning monarch in the country and possibly one of the longest reigning kings in the world. Finally, he was also commissioning the Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Adetona School of Governance Studies complex, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) Ago-Iwoye. All of these were part of the week long activities lined up to celebrate the 90th birthday of one of Yoruba land’s most admired and respected monarchs.
The event hall named Ogbagba hall, after the monarch, was filled to overflowing. Everyone that mattered in Ogun State was present at the event. From the various royal fathers spread across some of the biggest towns in Ijebu land to captains of industry and politicians of repute.
For many, the high point of the occasion would be the bringing together of four Ogun governors, three of them former governors and one serving governor. It is an open secret that that there is an unending hostility between former governors of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Ibikunle Amosun and Governor Dapo Abiodun. It is so very rare to find all these four governors sitting together under one roof.
At Awujale’s event, they just did not sit under one roof, they sat close to each other and shared banters together. Even after the event was officially over, the four of them could still be seen stepping out of the hall together and laughing and enjoying each other’s company.
