ASIWAJU TINUBU…MY ONLY REASON FOR BEING IN POLITICS – ONIKATE OF IKATE, OBA LATEEF ADAMS
By Oki Samson, Trek Africa Newspaper
L-R: Onikate of Ikate, Surulere, Oba Lateef Atanda Abiodun Adams and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
The role of the traditional institution in the socioeconomic and political development of Africa from pre-colonial times to date is one that cannot be discounted. The royal fathers and traditional chiefs make invaluable and incontestable input to the success of the individuals and communities under their jurisdiction. Now, that democracy is the process of getting leaders in modern-day Africa, they still do not fold their arms so that the fabric of society will not be eroded.
This role was rehashed by Lagos’s first class monarch, the Onikate of Ikate, Surulere, Oba Lateef Atanda Abiodun Adams who has traced the genesis of his involvement in politics to the dexterity of the national leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This fact, the royal established, at the educational support program marking the birthday celebration of Hon. Hakeem Adisa Babalola Bamgbola last Thursday.
The king shared: ‘I thank God that He blessed me with wealth and people even before I became king so I don’t pander. I say it as it is and everyone in my community knows. Whoever doesn’t love people, I will not love him too. Since I became the king of Ikate, we have noticed great improvement. I was not a politician before becoming king. But I joined politics only because of Asiwaju when Surulere was just one local government area. I was one of those who coordinated the 2003 elections.’
L-R: Chief D. O. Adenekan; Onikate of Ikate, Oba Lateef Atanda Abiodun Adams; Commissioner, Local Government Service Commission, Hon. Hakeem Adisa Bamgbola; his Wife, Alhaja Morenike Apeke Bamgbola during Hon. Bamgbola’s HAB Foundation Empowerment Program.
The king noted with glee that his participation at the 2003 elections was a key factor in the emergence of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila as member representing Surulere constituency. The Honorable Member, now popularly called ‘the Speaking Speaker’, is the current Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives in Abuja FCT.
‘Hon. Gbajabiamila himself can testify to it in his emergence at the elections then. That is why I personally took it up to tell him that he cannot just focus on Surulere Constituency I which is his base but has to do something for us in Constituency II also. This is because it is a PDP member that is there and he has not done anything for us’, he emphasized.
It should be noted that Hakeem Bamgbola, Commissioner for Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) in whose birthday celebration the royal father made the assertion is one of the leading politicians under the royal jurisdiction of the king. His birthday falls on Saturday 6th of March.
