By Fatima Saka
Senator Sharafadeen Alli has described the late Oluibadan as a model of traditional and social structure, saying that he is defender of people’s interest.
The Senator representing Oyo South Senatorial District, added Oba Balogun while he was in the Senate in 1999 used to protect the interest of Nigeria’s.
Meanwhile, the Senate on Wednesday, resolved to name one of its Committees’ Rooms after the late Oluibadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun.
Oba Balogun died on Thursday, March 14, 2024, at the University College Hospital Ibadan at age 81 after a brief illness, two years after ascending the throne on March 11, 2022.
Prior to becoming the Olubadan, Balogun was a senator, representing Oyo Central senatorial District between 1999 and 2003.
As a senator, 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).
The Senate’s resolution to immortalize him sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Sharafadeen Alli (APC Oyo South).
Alli, in his motion, informed the Senate that the late Olubadan was a leader par excellence, a community developer and a service-driven politician.
The attributes, he said, culminated into Balogun’s election as a senator between 1999 and 2003.
The late Olubadan was a man of peace and custodian of the culture and values of the Yoruba people,” Alli added.
The two other senators from Oyo State, Yinus Akintunde (Oyo Central) and Addulfai Buhari (Oyo North), also contributed to the debate on the motion by informing the Senate about how the late monarch impacted positively the lives of those who came across him while alive.
Buhari said the book written by the late monarch, “Arrogance of Power,” given to him in 2003 when he won election into the House of Representatives had helped him a lot not to get disconnected from people who elected him into the National Assembly over the years.
