28th May, 2010
The newly installed Oba of Egbin, His Royal Majesty, Oba Alayeluwa Adeoriyomi Oluwasesan Hakeem Oyebo, spoke with LUCKY LAWAL on the need for monarchs to be given roles in grassroots governance and sundry issues
Q: Congratulations on your coronation. How do you feel as the new king of Egbinland?
A: I feel excited. I am happy and very grateful to God Almighty for making me one of His representatives on earth.
Q: What were your challenges before your choice as a king?
A: I faced serious challenges here and there. I had problems with my business during which I also lost my parents and things were tough.
Q: What do you think caused the problems?
A: I wouldn’t know, but I think it had to do with the calling. You know, the calling to become a leader to serve God, and your people is the same thing as the calling to serve God properly in the His ministry. In the church of God or whatever religious belief you have, once you refuse to answer the call, one may end up going through such problems, that is what I believe.
Q: Was it that you refused to answer the call at first and later changed your mind?
A: Yes and no. In the first instance, before the calling, I got a message that it would come at some time in my life time, but I was not expecting it so early because I heard of it first in 1995, but later, one of my spiritual fathers told me in 1997 that some time in my life, I will become a king and in 1999, it became a reality. Then, I accepted it with levity but later on, my family members told me that the calling was something I had to accept and which I did, but I abandoned it because of some delay over what I was looking forward to. That was between 2000 and 2001 and I faced my business squarely and on the long run, I think around 2006 or so, I came back to accept it and was finalised in 2007 and insha Allah today, it has become a reality.
Q: What were you doing before you became king?
A: I am an HND holder. I studied Graphics at the Yaba College of Technology and was in private practice till I joined my brother, Alhaji Tunde Oshinowo, to start TULSA Press in 2000. I am the founding General Manager of the printing press. I practised printing and as a graphic artist, I had the opportunity of going into other businesses. Today, I am a member of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria. I practices advertising which has been part of my educational background because as a graphic artist, one is expected to work in an advertising agency or printing firm. I married everything together and thank God, I made a success in it.
Q: What plans do you have for the development of Egbin Kingdom?
A: Egbin has developed economically because we have so many industries around here. I mean big industries like Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) that generates over 65 per cent of electricity in this country. We have Nigeria Gas Station and recently, we Chevron Power Project sited at Agura and Egbinland. In terms of other development, we need schools, health centre and police station to protect the people and companies around and a fire service station because of most of the companies here.
Q: What can you poses a challenge to you now?
A: First of all, education is paramount in my programme as the new oba because our people here are not all that educated. I want to try as much as possible to make sure that I encourage those who have left primary school to find a way of furthering their studies. We will ask government to establish more schools here because education is very important to me. Secondly, I will work on the environment to make it cleaner and at the same time, encourage my people to pay their tax regularly to the state government.
Q: Are you a polygamist?
A: I am not. I am married to my wife, the one and only Olori Tolulope Titilayo Oyebo. Polygamy is not in my family as my father married one wife and I am praying to God to make me stay with my one and only wife. Too many wives means too many problems.