Ibadan Chiefs Urge S/West Govs To Save Odu’a Investment From Imminent Collapse

The family heads in Ibadanland, popularly known as Mogaji, have asked governors of of states in the Southwest and prominent Yoruba leaders not to allow the Odu’s Investment Company to collapse.

The chiefs tasked the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and other monarchs in Yorubaland to rescue the company from imminent collapse.

The mogajis said in a statement on Saturday that the monarchs, South-West governors and other leaders in the region must strive to rescue the conglomerate from collapse.

The mogaji in a statement signed by the spokesperson, Wale Oladoja, alleged that poor management of Odu’a Investment by the governors in the Southwest was killing it.

They said it is disheartening that Yoruba people are watching the legacies bequeathed to them die without intervention from the stakeholders.

The body had in the last few weeks called on the governors to rescue Odu’a Investment from imminent collapse, saying it was capable of employing youths in Yoruba land if properly managed.

The Mogaji urged the governors to forget their political affiliations and allow successful businessmen among them like Seyi Makinde and Dapo Abiodun to transform the Odu’a Investment into an enviable commercial entity.

The statement read, “The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the late Chief Ladoke Akintola had given us our future, which are companies under Odu’a Investment, but we mismanaged them. We therefore call on our revered traditional rulers to intervene before it is too late.

“Our concern over the state of Odu’a Investment has nothing to do with personal interest, but the future of our children. Leave the Federal Government to decide its fate, and develop Odu’a Investment. Even with the little we met on ground, many of our children are still finding it difficult to get jobs, let alone when these companies are no more.”