The Oba-elect of Ikeja, Lagos State, Prince
Samsondeen Adeleye, is dead.
The 65-year-old monarch-in-waiting, who had been
clamouring to be installed for close to
six years, reportedly died last Monday after a brief illness, and had been
buried according to Muslim rites.
A leading member of the Gbobaniyi Royal
Association, a frontline body in the community, confirmed the passage of
Adeleye to journalists on Thursday.
The association’s official, who craved anonymity owing
to the sensitivity of the issue, said members of the group were currently
meeting with a view to communicating the death of Adeleye to the Lagos State
Government officially.
In the same vein, a prominent member of the Council
of Kingmakers in Ikeja, also confirmed the death, lamenting that despite
repeated calls on the Lagos State Government to install Adeleye for the past
six years, nothing was done on the matter.
Adeleye was nominated Oba-elect of Ikeja in
December 2014, following the death of the then monarch, Oba Maruf Amore.
His selection was conducted by a five-man body of
kingmakers headed by a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, late Chief Rafiu
Jafojo.
Only recently, the late Adeleye had spoken to
journalists during which he appealed to the state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to
coronate him, after having to wait for close to six years.
He also regretted that he had spent a fortune in
the hope that he would be installed, and that all his expenses and a huge loan
he took from a close friend, which he had been unable to refund, had wrecked
him financially.
Also, a kingmaker yesterday said the Ikeja
community was still mourning the passage of the Oba-elect, and that some
traditional rites were still being carried out.
The kingmaker, who did not want to be named,
described the late Adeleye as “a father to all, who was loved by both young and
old.”
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