Onpetu of Ijeruland Oba Sunday Oladapo Oyediran Lagbami Osekun III JP clocks 60 years old today, January 1, 2021.
Oba Oyediran will commemorate the occasion tomorrow, January 2, with a birthday shindig at Oja’ba Baptist Church Ogbomoso before hosting guests at the church compound and at his palace.
The church service that will kickoff by 12pm is expected to be attended by the Alaafin of Oyo Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III among other dignitaries.
The events according to the monarch would be held in strict compliance with the covid-19 protocols, hence the decentralization of entertainment of guests just as admission into the palace is expected to be controlled.
The birthday monarch has lived an eventful life; he started life in the village before coming to Ijeru. He went ahead to work in First Bank of Nigeria Plc where he was an ardent unionist. He enjoyed his years in the banking hall and was at a branch in Kaduna when his family beckoned on him to assume the prestigious throne of Onperu of Ijeru.
After initial resistance, he threw his hat in the ring for the contest as there were other contestants who coveted the position, but he was the preferred candidate and so his nomination was approved by the kingmakers.
He was installed on June 1 1999 while his coronation ceremony came up on December 18 of the same year during a well attended programme at Methodist Primary School, Arowomole.
Oba Oyediran, always a man of action set out to make impact with all his subjects queuing behind him in the task to upgrade his domain.
21 years after, he has improved the fortune of Oje people. He has recorded many achievements despite daunting odds. Among others he restored the glory of Ijeru, created a unique identity for Ijeru people, improved the aesthetics of the palace building, authored the history of Ijeru titled ‘Tokuloje,’ and facilitated infrastructural developments such as blocks of buildings at Oyo state Hospital (General Hospital) at Sunsun built by Dr Samson Adegoke Maigida and others.
The pastor king has built legacies that will make his great progenitor, Olurefe turn with pride in his grave, and he is certainly poised to make.more. He is never hampered by his exalted position to seek after eminent personalities that can make things happen in his domain; as far as the development of his domain is concerned, he becomes humble in the face of whoever is in position to influence it. Such is his passion for his town and larger Ogbomoso!
Oba Oyediran has been at the mercy of the sharp vicissitudes of life too but he never was bowed, he continues to ford the rivers of life not minding the swarming sharks. May he live long to accomplish more goals for his beloved Ijeru. Happy birthday to a quintessential monar
