THE MAKING OF BABA OBA OF IDIMU KINGDOM

Story by Toyo C. Ngem; culled from January 6 (Agbaje's) edition of Civics Weekly magazine

AFTER a long waiting by the people of Idimu Kingdom, a sleepy town in the Alimosho Federal Constituency of Lagos State, the new King was eventually installed with formal crowning of HRM, Oba Noah Olayiwola Surakat Adefimihan (Madarikan II) Abinupagun. The event to follow this was the installation of the former Executive Chairman of Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area and Civics Council Chairman of the Year 2024, Hon Kunle Sanyaolu Olowoopejo (KSO) as the new Baba Oba of Idimu Kingdom.

To those who know the history, it is all about the making of a memorabilia of the new Chief from his legacies of performance feats while in office. This is what this passage aims to put in perspective record about The Man KSO yet in discourse.

A part of legacy identity of man is the making of a memorabilia of his time in heroic episode. In a time he was asked to tell his best legacy left behind in his time as Governor of Lagos State, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu mentioned his immediate successor, Babatunde Raji Fashola to be the one – meaning the success of his succession planning was the best legacy he left behind. Quite interestingly, all the acts of his legacy – Governor Fashola – was to become Tinubu's tangible and intangible, moveable and immoveable, memorabilia assets the people would be enthralling with.

The immediate first of that was the Fashola's move to name a newly commissioned access Road to MKO Garden after Tinubu. The latter would rather oblige the former to accord him the honor of renaming the street after someone else of interest. It thus signified it as though immoveable but transferable memorabilia asset about the person of Tinubu's epic of the governance in Lagos State.

When the immediate past Executive Chairman of Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Hon (Chief) Kunle Sanyaolu Olowoopejo (KSO) emerged as the Civics Weekly Council Chairman of the year 2024, his legacy material to apply for the qualification and eventual clinching of the laurel was the political controversy of national magnitude that led to the transformation of a long standing benighted Pipeline Road in the Idimu Division of the LCDA by his administration. The significance of this legacy project could as well be discerned through the resolve of the locals – the Chiefs-in-Council and Baales -- to name the Road after him for his memorabilia. But the best of that was to come later in the last quarter of year 2025 when he was coroneted with the chieftaincy title of Baba Oba of Idimu Kingdom. While being an organic customary chieftaincy to his entitlement as a native of Idimu Land, the basis of the conferment could as well go beyond that. It could be seen as something of a reward coming out of another legacy of his governance era of the Local Council for 8years.

It begins that ‘Hon KSO’, as fondly called by admirals and in political parlance, ran an epic administration that had the rare privilege to witness the passing away of two First Class monarchs in the LCDA. This refers to the demise of the Onidimu of Idimu Kingdom, Oba Azeez Dada Aluko Olugoke in May 2023. To follow soon after was the death of Onisheri of Isheri Kingdom, Oba Wahab Ayinde Balogun.

Accordingly, it became the direct responsibility of the sitting Executive Chairman of the Local Council – Hon Olowoopejo – to supervise the passage rites of the two deceased. But that was not to be the daunting task he would have to face about the royalhood responsibility policy of his office in this regard. As the convention, the big task was how he would manage the succession process to the two vacant stools without ensuing crisis to engulf the two communities. Of course, not any of the two processes was devoid of the speculated crisis. This was especially the case of Idimu where some contenders to the throne in opposition to eventual Victor queried the wisdom of the Council Chairman to go the democratic way with the selection, using his office as the venue for obvious security reason.

To the knowledge of this writer as scooped from official quarters at the time, this would have to be when intelligent report revealed that “the last known Palace” – not being an ancient site – would not be a secured place for the balloting process by the committee of king makers. His idea turned out to be the magic of his success at completing the process for the legacy of coronation of a new king for the kingdom of Idimu. The new King, Oba Noah Adefimihan was officially installed in August 2025 – a task that would have to be handled by KSO's successor after it had crossed the Rubicon before kSO left office.

Soon after and in like manner, his blessings with King Solomon's wisdom also offered the way out for the installation of a new Onisheri of Isheri Kingdom – but also against the explicit interest of a 'wealthy' Prince whose depth of valuable reasoning is that 'money answereth all calls'. Dissatisfied with the Olowoopejo's success, the Prince hired a SAN to prosecute his case of disaffection. But he would later voluntarily withdraw from court afterwards.

Today, it has become a legacy of Hon Olowoopejo that the peace not only reigned in time of his process at giving a new king to Idimu and Isheri Olofin Kingdom apiece, it endures after his terms of office expired. Perhaps this made the cause for the new Onidimu of idimu to consult with his members of Oba-in-Council to make a regal memorabilia of KSO's legacies in these Royalhood affairs of Egbe-Idimu LCDA. In Yoruba culture, Baba Oba of a Kingdom is a customary chieftaincy title reserved for an elite native of the Kingdom. Thus this offer to Hon Kunle Sanyaolu Olowoopejo, becoming the Baba Oba of Idimu Kingdom through the ceremony held on November 11, 2025.