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Oniru Palace burgled as new Oba, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, is elected
BY NICHOLAS ABE
Unknown persons were said to have burgled the Palace of Oniru, Iruland on Thursday, just as decision on the new Oba-elect, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, was being ratified by the Lagos State Government.
The Lagos State Executive Council Friday approved the selection of Prince Lawal as the new Oniru-Elect of Iruland. The new Oba-elect until his election was the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture and one of the longest serving members of the state cabinet.
“As the new Oniru of Iruland, he will take over the illustrious throne and build on the worthy legacy of his forebears. On behalf of the government and people of Lagos, I wish the new Oniru a successful reign that will usher in progress and development of Iruland and our state,” Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, declared as he broke the news to Lagosians on Friday, via his Twitter handle.
A source close to the palace who spoke with RELIABLESOURCENG.COM disclosed that some unidentified persons broke into the palace, regularly manned by a team of security men at the gate, including the police, but it was not clear what was taken away from the palace.
Effort to confirm the incident from the Lagos State Police spokesman, DSP Bala Elkanah, did not yield any result as he neither answered his phone nor replied to a chat sent to him on Saturday, June 6.
Our source revealed that the atmosphere within the Oniru area has been calm since the announcement of the new Oba-elect, although there has also been an unusually significant presence of the police within the Oniru Royal Family Estate.
A visit to the palace by RELIABLESOURCENG.COM on Friday and Saturday showed a large presence of police personnel and patrol vehicles within and around the Palace Road inside the Oniru Estate.
Our source said there had not been any cause for trepidation as the atmosphere within the Oniru Estate remained calm.
The family of the immediate past Oba, HRM Oba Idowu Abiodun Oniru, who passed on September 23, 2019 at the age of 82, are said to have taken the appointment of Prince Lawal who hails from a different lineage in good faith, notwithstanding early apprehension that greeted the succession of the late Oba.
“They are calm. They are taking it well. I believe they are taking the news of the new Oba-elect in good faith,” said our source.
READ: Osinbajo pays tribute to late Oniru, says he was visionary
Born on July 24, 1970, to the late Chief T. A. Lawal- Akapo, the Ojora of Lagos (1977-1993) and Olori M. A. Lawal-Akapo, Lawal is a Lagos prince from the Ojora, Aromire, Shokun and Abisogun branch of Oniru Royal families of Lagos State.
He holds an Executive MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also obtained an MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London in 2008; a BSc in Botany from the University of Port-Harcourt in 1992 and a product of the St. Gregory’s College, Lagos.
In addition, he completed several courses and programmes among which are the International Housing Finance Programme (IHFP) in 2018 and Advanced Management Programme (AMP) from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA, in 2015. He is also a product of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the World Bank Institute, Washington D.C. In the last eight years, he has been on the board of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund.
Prince Lawal started his career as a Scientific Officer with the Raw Materials Research and Development Council at the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology in 1994. He later joined The Nigerian Police Force and was commissioned as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent. While in the force, he held several duty posts among which was serving as an Aide-de-camp (ADC) to the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He retired voluntarily from the Nigerian Police in 2008 as a Superintendent of Police.
Lawal was a Senior Special Assistant on Special Projects to a former Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola. In this capacity, he coordinated the Agriculture-Based Youth Empowerment Scheme (AgricYES). The success of the innovative AgricYes paved way for his appointment as Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives in Lagos State in 2011.
He served as Commissioner for Housing under former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and was re-appointed as Commissioner for Agriculture by Sanwo-Olu. He has over 25 years postgraduate experience with an in-depth knowledge of the workings of the public sector.