I Wept like a Baby Day I Departed Abuja to be King, Oba Abolarin Recounts as He Bags Honorary Doctorate from Achievers University

By Shola Oshunkeye

Normally, the day should have been one of the happiest days in his life. Ironically, it turned out to be his saddest. That was the day in 2006 when he left Abuja for Oke-Ila Orangun, his native land in Osun State, to begin the traditional rites leading to his coronation as the town’s new monarch, the Òràngún of Òkè-Ìlá.

Prior to that, then Prince Adedokun Abolarin, whose friends fondly called Doxy, had been lecturer at the defunct Oyo State College of Arts and Science (OSCAS), Ile-Ife, where he taught Government; principal partner at Dokun Abolarin & Co., his firm of Solicitors and Legal Consultants, which had served as Company Secretary to various corporations like: Prince Adedeji Adeleke’s Pacific Holdings, Tell Publications (Publishers of Tell Magazine), Peachtree Communications Limited, Sportsmark International, Springtime Development Foundation, and, lastly, as Legal Adviser to then Senate President, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim.

But as he recalled during the convocation ceremony of Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State, where he bagged a honorary Doctorate, Saturday, the soon-to-be-installed King was overwhelmed with strong emotions-the uncertainty of leaving his comfort zone in Abuja for a homestead where he never spent seven days at a go; uncertainty about what the future beholds; and most importantly, the real reason why God wanted him to be King at the time.

“It was like I was moving from grace to grass,” Oba Dr. Adedokun Omoniyi Abolarin, Aroyinkeye I, recounted as he addressed the distinguished audience at the graduation ceremony. The thought of him, being one of the first set of elites produced by Oke-Ila, now being “uprooted to go back” to the purely agrarian community was too much to bear. And he wept like a child as he took a long, last look at the capital city he was leaving behind.

But you may have another thing coming if, for a second, you imagine that would be the last time Oba Abolarin would betray such strong emotions. As he recalled also on Saturday, Friday, December 8, 2006, the day of his coronation as King, was the saddest in his entire life.

“My life’s story on the throne is a chequered one,” he told the audience. “When I left Abuja, in 2006, and I got to the city gate, I looked back, and I cried. It was like I was moving from grace to grass. I didn’t go to school to be a King. I wanted to be one of the major players like the Yakubu Dogaras of this world. I wanted to be a major player in the affairs of men in Nigeria.

“So, I went to school. And to the glory of God, I was well educated. In my time, and now, I went to, if not the best university, one of the very best universities, if not the best university in Nigeria, in Africa that we are all very proud of-the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University.

“The crown getting on my head on December 8, 2006, exactly 18 years ago, that was the saddest day in my life. But I didn’t know that God has a purpose for me: that ‘go back to your root’, a root that I didn’t have the grace of staying there seven days at a go until I became the King. The thought of one of the first set of elites in that community and now being uprooted to go back there! I thank the Lord Almighty for the grace. It is now that I know. (Then, facing the fresh graduates, he said…) my children, never run away from service.”

It is 18 solid years since Oba Abolarin left Abuja to become King. And the purpose of God has long been made manifest in his life through the Oba Abolarin College, a tuition-free secondary school that he established for brilliant but indigent street kids, who would never have had access to quality education.

Through the school, Oba Abolarin has not only effectively fought poverty among his people in Oke-Ila and across towns in Osun State, but also across the 36 states of the Federation, and Abuja, where his students come from. Today, the college has produced university graduates who are shinning like diamonds in their diverse disciplines.

It is for this great service to humanity that the Achievers University honoured Oba Abolarin with a honoris causa Doctorate on Saturday. He was decorated by an appreciative Pro-Chancellor of the University, the Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives.

An elated Oba Abolarin thanked the university’s management, and Council and the Pro-Chancellor profusely for the great honour bestowed on him.

He also threw a challenge at the freshly-minted graduates, declaring: “…The future belongs to you,” especially, having passed through the crucible of preparation by the Achievers University for the glorious moments they savoured on their graduation. He told the new graduates never to run away from service because the task of rebuilding Nigeria is titanic, and requires all hands, especially the tough and well-trained muscles of the youth, on the deck.

“I said it yesterday-we are here to build,” said the swashbuckling change agent. “Nigeria is in a process of reconstruction. Nobody will develop Nigeria for us. Nobody! Anywhere in the world, people will continue saying: multinationals are leaving. Multinationals are leaving. Let them leave! Let them give us opportunity.

“It’s a pointer to all of you, my children, that stay here in Nigeria and develop Nigeria. I know the challenges are many. But the challenges that you are going to face are not greater than the challenges that I faced when I became the King.”

Then, the Òràngún of Òkè-Ìlá waxed philosophical.

“I have a prophecy for the future of this country,” he continued. “And the prophecy cannot manifest itself because those of us here (at the podium) we already going. The prophecy will be fulfilled through you (pointing at the new graduates). Nigeria of your time, I said it yesterday, will be the undisputed number 1 country in Africa. And one of the very best in the world. Please, be resolute that it’s going to be the best.

“As the biblical passage that I use all the time, the book of Isaiah 58: 12, says, your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. And I ‘m saying that: Thou shall build the foundations of many generations; and thou shall be called the repairer of the breach, and the restorer of the path to dwell in. That is going to be your lot. And the Lord God Almighty will use you mightily. And when this prophetic manifestation shall come up, those of us that will be resting in our graves, will always give thanks to God in our graves that yes, Nigeria is indeed a beacon for all Blacks all over the world. So, shall it be.”

And the capacity audience at the Abubakar Adamu Rasheed Auditorium roared: “Amen!”