Oba Saka Matemilola, the Olowu of Owu kingdom in Abeokuta, Ogun state, on Thursday said there is no rift between him and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Obasanjo is Balogun (Foremost Warrior) of Owu kingdom. He has suspiciously been absent from events organised by the kingdom thereby fueling rumour that the ex-president may not be happy with the emergence of Oba Matemilola as the 14th Olowu of Owu Abeokuta.
Balogun Obasanjo, leading son of Owu Kingdom, was part of the kingmakers that selected Oba Matemilola, but surprisingly was absent during the coronation ceremony of the monarch in 2022.
The untenable reason for the former President’s absence at such auspicious Owu occasion was attributed to his having travelled out of the country during Kabiyesi Matemilola’s coronation.
This fueled speculations that Obasanjo backed another contestant for the stool before Matemilola eventually emerged as the monarch a year ago.
These speculations have called compelled Kabiyesi Matemilola to publicly come out to deny that there’s any rift between him and the former President, saying ‘all is well between them’.
Kabiyesi Matemilola further added that Obasanjo was highly instrumental to his success on the throne in the last one year. He made the statement on Thursday at a press conference to herald activities marking his first coronation anniversary in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.
While espousing reasons for Obasanjo’s absence from his coronation, Kabiyesi Matemilola, a Professor of Applied Mathematics, explained that the former President was out of the country on a peaceful mission for the African Union (AU).
According to him: “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.
