Broadcasters
In my adult life, never had I seen an Olubadan as animated, alert and lively at his coronation and presentation of staff and instruments of office at the historic Mapo Hall Arcade.
Between Friday and yesterday, his day of thanksgiving and reception at the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan, Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja has given me a couple of reasons to raise my expectations.
I’m, on the strength of this, waiting for a unique and possibly a non-confirmist reign that would see an 81-year-old monarch personally leading his town to all fronts, including the Presidential Villa, Abuja and even the White House in Washington D.C to make a case for his subjects.
He’s young at heart. So he appears to me. And most importantly, he’s blessed with enough resources to maintain his health and remain vibrant on the stool round the clock. He’s undoubtedly loved too almost by all Ibadan indigenes here and in the diaspora.
His simplicity in outlook and mind, is going to work for him and-at the same time-set him against fellow traditional rulers who chose to be loud and unnecessarily attention-seeking. He’s going to be a no-nonsense, down-to-heart king and the real pride of the Ibadans.
He should, however, be more mindful that the palace, his new home, is different from his Bodija residence. A palace-by my little understanding in the course of my reportorial hustle-is a complex environment, more complicated than what passers-by and guests think they know of the structure.
Presence of a band of drummers who often act as spies that keep Kabiyesi updated of movements and events around him, for example, is a pointer to my view here. Kabiyesi!
