Meet The Monarch: HRM OBA ADEDOTUN AREMU
CLICK HERE FOR HIS ZOOM MEETING CALENDAR.

Royal Title : GBADEBO III 
Given Name : ALAKE OF EGBALAND
Kingdom: EGBA KINGDOM
Kingdom coordinates: 7°9′39″N 3°20′54″E

Background: Oba Gbadebo was born on 14 September 1943, into the Laarun Ruling House. He is a grandson of the sixth Alake of Egbaland, Oba Gbadebo, who ruled from 1898 to 1920, and is a nephew of Oba Gbadebo II. Oba Gbadebo attended the Baptist Boys’ High School in Abeokuta and Ibadan Grammar School, then went on to University of Ibadan in 1965, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1969. He joined the army in 1969, and attended the Command and Staff College, Jaji from September 1978 to August 1979. He eventually became a Principal Staff Officer to Major-General Tunde Idiagbon, the Chief of Staff at the Supreme Headquarters, Dodan Barracks, from January 1984 to September 1985. He retired from the army as a Colonel

OBA’s BASIC INFORMATION

Birthday: 1943-09-14

Kingdom Coordinates: 7°9′39″N 3°20′54″E

Lineage of the Oba: Laarun Ruling House

Kingdom Population: 593,100

Member of USA R.O.Y.A.L Since: 2019-01-28

Year of Ascension to Kingship: 2005-08-02

Class of Oba: First Class

Relationship to Oduwawa: Direct Descendant

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Baptist Boys’ High School in Abeokuta and Ibadan Grammar School

PERSONAL AND KINGDOM INFORMATION

Personal Achievements:

  • Paying more attention to all manners of all customs and traditions, focusing on real issues of security of his communities and welfare of his people
  • He is compassionate and philanthropist, using what God has endowed him with to touch the live of the people.

Interesting facts about his ruler:

  • Golf

Accomplishments for his subject and kingdom:

  • Fine tunnning the kingdom culture and enhance it to the highest level
  • He is concerned about the sanctity of his position whatever happens and the welfare of his people
  • Using cultural diplomacy as a veritable tool for the promotion of harmonious relationship with his empire neighbours far and near.

Kingdom Vision:

  • Provision of employment opportunities.
  • To fine tune some of our culture.
  • Provision of adequate security for his entire kingdom See wise investment of funds to create employment.

Kingdom History:

Chief Sodeke first settled Abeokuta (meaning literally “the underneath of the rock” or indirectly “refuge among rocks”) in 1830 as a place of refuge from slave hunters from Dahomey and Ibadan. The village populations scattered over the open country to take refuge among the rocks surrounding the city. Here they formed a free confederacy of many distinct groups, each preserving the traditional customs, religious rites and the names of their original villages. The original settlers of Abeokuta were of the Egba nation, fleeing from the Oyo Empire, which was collapsing. Later, some members of other Yoruba clans came to the settlement. Baptist and Anglican missionaries from Great Britain began to serve the area in the 1840s, in addition to Sierra Leone Creoles. Because Abeokuta was in a key location for the palm oil trade and because it was the so-called capital of the Egbas, Dahomey soon became hostile. In the 1851 Battle of Abeokuta, the Egba, with assistance from missionaries and armed by the British, defeated King Gezo and the Dahomey incursion. They again beat back the Dahomey military in 1864. The 1860s also saw problems arise with the Europeans, namely the British in Lagos, which led to the Egba first closing trade routes, followed by the expulsion of missionaries and traders in 1867. Between 1877 and 1893 the Yoruba Civil Wars occurred, and Abeokuta opposed Ibadan, which led the king or Alake of the Egba to sign an alliance with the British governor, Sir Gilbert Carter. This occurred in 1893, which formalized the Egba United Government based in Abeokuta which became recognized by the United Kingdom. In 1914, the city was made part of the colony of Nigeria by the British. In 1918, the Abeokuta Riots took place which was related to the levying of taxes and the policy of indirect rule by Sir Frederick Lugard, the British Governor-General. The Abeokuta Women’s Revolt, led by the Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU), took place in the 1940s. It was a resistance movement against the imposition of unfair taxation by the Nigerian colonial government. In 1976, Abeokuta became the capital of the newly created Ogun State.

Source of Information: Wikipedia, The Sun – 16th September 2017