History was made in Ibadan on March 4, 2016, as the 41st Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, was installed in a coronation ceremony that has been termed as the most glamorous ever.
So glamorous was enthronement that it had prominent Nigerians like Sultan Of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar, Ooni of Ile-Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamide Adeyemi, APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Oba Saheed Elegushi, Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha among others in attendance.
Apart from the dignitaries in attendance, a large number of top Nigerian entertainers graced the colourful event. The event was so big that the Ibadan indigenes present confessed that no Olubadan has been this honoured.
The outcome of the event is as a result of who Oba Adetunji was before he ascended the throne of his fore fathers.
Oba Saliu was a successful businessman, entertainment impresario and well-connected socialite, who has contributed in no small measure towards the growth of Nigeria’s entertainment industry. He owns one of Nigeria’s biggest record label- Omo Aje Records, through which he discovered and promoted many Nigerian music stars including King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal.
Olubadan is described as ‘Life Patron Nigerian Entertainment Industry’ by Juju music legend, Ebenezer Obey. ‘What Baba Saliu Adetunji does not know in the Nigerian music industry is not worth knowning,’ Obey said of him.
In celebration of the monarch, we bring you some facts about him you must know…
1. He was born on August 26, 1928 at the compound of Popoyemoja, Ibadan, Oyo State, to the family of Olayiwola and Alhaja Suwebat Adetunji.
2. His father was a tailor.
3. He’s the first born of his parents’ 17 children.
4. His father had five wives with his(Olubadan) mother as his first wife.
5. The story of his parents was an interesting one. Four years separated their ages and they died within four years. His father died in 1989, while his mum died in 1993.
6. Oba Saliu Adetunji is a man of modest education. But he speaks, reads and writes English.
7. He began his career as a tailor when his uncle took him to Lagos in 1949.
8. The young Saliu Adetunji wasted no time in enrolling as an apprentice under the tutelage of Disu Alade Igbalojobi, then on No. 33, Ereko Lane, Idumota, near Kosoko, on Lagos Island.
9. He set up his tailoring workshop a couple of years later. As his business boomed, Adetunji bought four sewing machines, which was no mean feat in those days.
10. The first Nigerian to have a record label, the late Badejo Okusanya, owner of Badejo Sound Studios, baptized him into the world of music business in 1957.
11. He started his record label, Omo Aje Records in 1957 at number 2, Oke Popo, by Oya Compound in Lagos.
12. Saliu Adetunji played a pivotal role in the career of music stars, such as Lefty Salami Balogun, Amuda Agboluaje, Tatalo Alamu, Raimi Atolagbe, Dauda Epo Akara, Sule Epo, Iyanda Sawaba, Asanat Omo Aje among others.
13. He is credited with the rise of King Wasiu Ayinde and Sule Alao Malaika.
14. He began his long journey to the Olubadan throne in 1976 when he was chosen as the leader of the large, all-inclusive Adetunji family of Alusekere Compound, Popoyemoja, Ibadan, on the advice of late High Chief Sulaimon Omiyale.
15. After becoming the Mogaji of his family house during the reign of Olubadan Gbadamosi Adebimpe, he started the journey to join the Ibadan traditional Chiefs by getting enlisted in the Balogun line in 1978.
16. In the last forty years, he was promoted from one step to another till date when the exalted throne of the Olubadan became vacant following the passage of Oba Samuel Odulana Odugade 1 on January 19, 2016.
