Two professors, four others jostle for Akarigbo’s vacant stool
Two university professors from Torungbuwa ruling house are among the six candidates interested in occupying the Akarigboof Remo stool which became vacant eight months ago after the demise of Oba Michael Sonariwo who was the paramount ruler of Remo District of Ogun State.
According to the state government gazette on traditional declaration, the Torungbuwa ruling house is the next to produce the new monarch and the process of selecting the new king has started according to the Acting Akarigbo-in-council and the head of kingmakers, Lisa Akarigbo Remo, Chief Abdulrasak Salami.
Already, six princes, two of them university dons have been cleared by the two family lineages from the ruling house, the Famolu and the Oluyomade to contest for the vacant stool.
Professor Adewale Solarin hails from Famolu lineage. He is a professor of mathematics and a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and former Director-General of National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Abuja.
Solarin was elected as the President of African Mathematical Union (AMU) and is presently serving as a member of the Scientific Board of UNESCO’s International Basic Science Programme, Paris, France and in 2015 he was appointed as the UNESCO-NMC Chair of Mathematics.
He bagged his first Ph. D. (Mathematics) at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and was one of the prime movers of the inauguration of the Quality Control Society of Nigeria (QCSON) and consequently became the foundation National President of the Society.
Since his entrants into the race, Prof Solarin has released what he called his vision for the 21st century Remo Kingdom, saying his “vision is to create a world-class city and region that is internationally recognized as a pacesetters in all its activities”.
Another professor in the race who is also from Famolu family line is Gabriel Ogunmola. He is a professor of Chemistry and was Chancellor, Lead University, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Others princes in the race and who are from Oluyomade ancestry according to the family’s Secretary, Alhaji Nurudeen Kazeem are Tunde Ajayi, Mutiu Adebayo and Akeebu Kazeem.
Speaking to journalists on Monday on how the new Akarigbo would emerge, Chief Salami explained that the kingmakers are going to be meticulous in the selection process, saying laid down traditional procedures would be followed by the seven kingmakers including consultation of Ifa Oracle.
He stated that no age limit was specified by the state government gazette on traditional declaration but residents according to him would also play a major role in the selection procedures as characters of each candidate would be subjected to test.
Chief Salami disclosed that the process which was earlier announced two weeks ago by the Sagamu Local Government authority has been suspended, “but I can assure you that the procedures will restart any time from now and the new Akarigbo is going to emerge very soon”.