Dignitaries including former Oyo State governor, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, younger brother to the late Olubadan, Kola Balogun, Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Daud Akinola, and the commissioner for local government and Chieftaincy Matters, Hon Segun Olaiwola yesterday eulogised the late Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Mahood Olalekan Balogun at the eight days Fidau prayer.
The event, held at Mapo Hall also had in attendance the president-general, Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Barr Chief Niyi Ajewole, Iyaloja-general of Oyo State, Alhaja Saratu Konibaje, Babasale Musulumi of Ibadanland, Alhaji Nureni Akanbi, Iyaloja of Ibadanland, Alhaja Iswat Ameringun, and local government chairmen in Ibadan, among others.
It would be recalled that the late monarch, who reigned for two years, passed away at the age of 81 on Thursday night at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, after a brief illness.
Chairman of the Association of Local Government Chairmen in Nigeria (ALGON) in the state, Hon Sikiru Sanda said the monarch died when he was needed most, saying Ibadan people would miss him so much.
He described his death as a great loss to the nation, adding that his contributions towards the progress of Ibadanland and the state were commendable.
One of the Ibadan mogajis, who is also the coordinator of the Ibadan Compound Peace Initiative, Nurudeen Akinade said the late monarch was a grassroots mobiliser.
He noted that the late monarch was a great man because his two-year reign was full of progress and development.
In his sermon, a former lecturer at the Department of Islamic and Arabic Studies, University of Ibadan (UI), Prof Kamil Oloso said attending a burial ceremony would teach people that everybody will die one day irrespective of their status.
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