No rift between Obasanjo and I — Olowu

The Olowu of Owu kingdom in Abeokuta, Ogun state, Oba Saka Matemilola, on Friday said there is no rift between him and former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo, the Balogun (Chief Warrior) of Owu kingdom has been absent from events organised by the kingdom, fueling rumour that the ex-president may not be happy with the emergence […]

The Olowu of Owu kingdom in Abeokuta, Ogun state, Oba Saka Matemilola, on Friday said there is no rift between him and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Obasanjo, the Balogun (Chief Warrior) of Owu kingdom has been absent from events organised by the kingdom, fueling rumour that the ex-president may not be happy with the emergence of Oba Matemilola as the 14th Olowu.

Obasanjo was part of the kingmakers that selected Oba Matemilola, but he was absent from the coronation ceremony of the monarch in 2022.

The former President was said to have travelled out of the country during Matemilola’s coronation. However, there were speculations that Obasanjo backed another contestant to the stool and it was not Matemilola who emerged as the monarch a year ago.

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Due to the speculations making the rounds, Oba Matemilola has denied any rift between him and the former President, saying ‘all is well between them’.

He added that Obasanjo was highly instrumental to his success on the throne in the last one year.

The monarch made this statement on Thursday at a press conference to herald activities marking his first coronation anniversary in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.

Giving reasons for Obasanjo’s absence from his coronation, Oba Matemilola, a Professor of Applied Mathematics explained that, the former President was out of the country on a peaceful mission by the African Union (AU).

“Balogun’s (Obasanjo) absence in some of our events, I’m sure this has not gone unnoticed. But let me tell you one thing, Balogun has been very instrumental to everything I have been doing.

“For those who may have been monitoring his (Obasanjo) activities, you will realize that he is always on very important international missions. During my coronation last year, he actually championed the whole of the planning and the delivery of that event, but he had to be somewhere in the Horn of Africa during that period to help address a major crisis that was going on at the time.

“He (Obasanjo) came to me and told me he won’t be available for the coronation and I said, ‘Balogun if your mission to Addis Ababa will save one life, it would have been well worth the efforts and the whole of the coronation events’ because he is there to save lives.

“Similarly, on this occasion, he is somewhere in the Caribbean working for Africa, he was here in the palace with me two days ago as part of the planning of this and he should be here probably by Saturday.

The monarch continued, “He (Obasanjo) also has some other missions in the Europe and US, but he has said yes, he will try and break that trip and be here for the day.

“All the time he (Obasanjo) is somewhere on a mission out there representing us in Nigeria, representing Africa to save lives, to help in our economic development and all whatnot, so to that extent, I think we should feel proud that we have somebody like that who is doing so well to represent us in Nigeria,” he said.