By Kehinde Olaosebikan
ALASE! BABATUNDE ODUYOYE AT 60
Alase, the name we popularly call my friend and brother, Hon. Chief Babatunde Michael Enitan Oduyoye that turns 60 today means the owner or controller. The name was given to him many years ago by our mutual friend King Wasiu Ayinde, K1 the Ultimate the global music Icon just installed or is it crowned as the Olori Omo Oba Akile of Ijebu land, in one of his LPs where he praised Babs as the Alase Majerita ni Ibadan. However, since then, the name has grown beyond referring to Babs as the Owner of Majerita. With his impeccable character, good natures, hard-work, uncommon wisdom, humility, loyalty in friendship and relationships, confidence and self-assurance, Babs has become a true Alase in the social, economic and political spheres of Oyo State.
Pioneering social hub in Oyo State with his Majerita Hotels, Babs remains one of the outstanding socialites in the state. He is unarguably The Rallying Point; Assuming the leadership of the students government of the premier university in Nigeria, University of Ibadan at a tender age of 21 and still relating convivially with students’ unions at 60, Babatunde is the quintessential activist of all seasons; and politically having represented the biggest federal constituency in the South West of Nigeria, Ibadan North West/ Ibadan South West Federal Constituency twice and still highly relevant in the politics of Oyo State and Nigeria, Honorable Oduyoye is a political force to reckon with.
Many people are still at a loss, confounded in figuring out why our party, my party, APC lost woefully in the last gubernatorial election contested by our common friend, Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin. For free, I want to reveal at this auspicious occasion of Oduyoye’s 60th birthday that we lost as a result of a precise and strong force put together by three eminent citizens of the state: Chief Dotun Sansi, the billionaire owner of Ilaji Farms and Resorts, Akanran; Honourable Babatunde Oduyoye, the then Special Adviser on Politics to the Governor of Oyo State; and the Oyo State Governor himself, Engineer Oluwaseyi Makinde. And the main Catalyst of that force was the Osi Baameto of Ibadan land, Chief Babatunde Oduyoye.
As a party, APC, campaign organization and in my personal capacity as an ever loyal, committed and dedicated person, we did all we could to neutralize the force but it was too phenomenal for us to effect. Affirmatively, the Alase sobriquet given to Babatunde Michael Enitan Oduyoye by K1 the Olori Omo Oba Akile of Ijebu has grown to become, with the greatest veneration to the Almighty God, real Alase of Social, economic and political spheres in Oyo State.
Please, join me as I toast to Hon. Chief Babatunde Michael Enitan Oduyoye on his 60th birthday. May the Almighty continue to uphold Babs, the ALASE in Oyo State. Congratulations!
