CHIEF HENRY BABATUNDE FADAYOMI, the newly crowned BOBAKEYE OF OJOTA KINGDOM lives in Brazil for over 15 years. His humility touched with sincere hardworking would have attracted a Brazilian woman who after married him followed him to Nigeria to be crowned along with him as YEYE BOBAKEYE OF OJOTA KINGDOM. Fadayomi, whose late father was named after popular Fadayomi Street in Ojota speaks with SECURITY MONITOR Shola Akinyele recently in Lagos and applauds OBA OLAWALE COLE for his developmental agenda aims at taking Ojota to higher level

IT IS VERY REAR SEEING PEOPLE OF YOUR CALIBER WHO HAVE TRAVELLED AROUND THE WORLD TO COME HOME FOR A TRADITIONAL CHIEFTAINCY TITLE. HOW DO YOU FELL BEING INSTALLED AS THE BOBAKEYE OF OJOTA KINGDOM?

I feel great being recognized by my people and I don’t think travelling around the globe has any effect on my ability to relate with my people in Nigeria. I am a proud Nigerian and whatever it takes to help the growth of my immediate society is worth sacrificing for. Before someone could be invited for a chieftaincy coronation, it means you are known very well and not only being known but also implies that such a person can contribute meaningfully to the growth of his community. In my own case it may be an appreciation of what my father has done to the community, then by given me the title as BO’BAKEYE of OJOTA kingdom also telling me that I should continue the good gesture of my late father and it signifies that the youth that are allowed to contribute to the growth of their community. Everybody, anybody can participate in the promotion of Nigeria’s culture and tradition. We all have a role to play in this regard. By bringing youths on board into traditional leadership means that the tradition will never go into extinct. It is my pledge to also help the community to grow and look at the new things which can be done for the betterment of our people.

DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING IN MIND TO CONTRIBUTE FOR THE GROWTH OF OJOTA COMMUNITY?

I have a lot of thing in mind to contribute to the community. Before I was given the chieftaincy title I have been doing so many things in the community, which I also intend to do more, because my father has laid a good foundation in the community. For example; if something strange or illegal happen now in the community people will call me and since I have decided to serve them as a leader, I will quickly attend to them to address the issue or to inform the government security agency so as to settle it for them. In order to avoid problem in the community, which also give me the opportunity to know what is going on in the community even if am not around they will call me and I know people I can call to settle it for them. Moreover since the coronation of our king, Oba Olawale Cole the king has been looking towards how to bring peace to the entire community. We have seen our king’s effort and everybody have seen that Ojota Kingdom is wearing a new face with OBA OLAWALE COLE on throne.

YOUR FATHER IS A NOBLE PERSON IN OJOTA AND YOU TOO ALWAYS REFER TO HIM, WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT HIM AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO OJOTA KINGDOM?

Chief Abiola Fadayomi is my father; he was a good leader in the community when he was alive. He really contributed to the growth of the community. My father was instrumental to the construction of Ojota Police station, he was the one who make sure that the police station was built in Ojota for the safety of our people. He’s also one of the respected chiefs in the community. He was a passionate lover of development and always encourages us to have humanitarian minds towards the uplifting of our community.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS NEEDED RIGHT NOW IN OJOTA?

We need many things in Ojota, but right now we want government to try and encourage location of factory in the community, because the place we are talking about is one of the beauties of Lagos state. Building factories in Ojota will eradicate youth involvement in robbery and violence. We don’t want Ojota to be known for bad things again. In addition our royal majesty Oba Olawale Cole has promised that he will try his best to promote the youth and make sure that they engage in one thing or the other, so that they can be useful to the community and themselves. We don’t like situation where our youth will relocate because they need jobs. We want them to remain in Ojota and contribute their quota to development of our community.

WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO THE YOUTH?

They should be more hardworking, for cussed and participate in development of the community. I also want to urge the youths to give a maximum support to the royal majesty OBA OLAWALE COLE so that togetherness we can make Ojota the best community in Lagos.

WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO THE LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT?

First and foremost, I want to thank the performing governor, Akinwumi Ambode who has been doing a lot in the state. I want tom appeal to him to please come to our aid in Ojota on the area of insecurity and youth unemployment.