President Bola Tinubu, former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, represented by wife, Bola, the Ogun and Lagos State governors , Prince Dapo Abiodun and Babajide Sanwoolu, were among eminent Nigerians that bid the founder of the First City Monument Bank, Otunba Olasunbomi Balogun farewell, as he was interred on Saturday, in Ijebu-Ode.
Others were former governors of Ogun State, Senators Gbenga Daniel and Ibikunle Amosun; Alhaji Aliko Dangote;Mr. Femi Otedola, among others were at the burial service held at the Cathedral of Our Saviour Itaolowajoda, Ijasi, Ijebu-Ode.
Tinubu,who was represented by his Vice, Senator Kashim Shetima, described the late Olori Omooba of Ijebuland, as a model banker who etched his name in gold in the nation’s banking sector.
He noted tbe immeasurable contributions of Balogun to the economic growth of the country.
” You, our dear people of Ijebuland, we must be grateful for the personality you have raised for the nation and the world,” he said.
In his remarks, Abiodun, described the late Asiwaju Onigbagbo of Ijebuland as an intellectual ans quintessential human being.
He equally submitted that late FCMB founder was a role model who had impacted so many lives.
In his homily at the service which lasted for four hours, the Archbishop of Ecclessiatical Province of Lagos and the Bishop of Remo Diocese, The Most Reverend Dr Olusina Fape, reminded the gathering of the need to serve God and humanity, and that death is a debt that all mankind would pay for.
Fape in the message titled “The Righteous will be separated from the wicked on the judgement day”, noted that wealth was not an hindrance to making heaven, urging wealthy personalities to learn to serve God and reminding them that their lives did not belong to them, but to God Almighty.
The Diocesan Bishop explained that the deceased was highly placed, humble, a friend of the church, and a committed Christian who impacted his generation positively.
He added, “One thing that marked him out specially was his sense of gratitude to God. He was a committed Christian who, was appreciative of the grace of God in his life. For him all of his achievements in life were credited to the benevolence of God and His grace. He had touched lives; he had impacted his generation positively and his foot-prints are on the sand of time for whoever cares to notice them.
“The over 206 Branches of the FCMB Bank and over 12,000 work force are eloquent testimonials of his impactful life. As a philanthropist of no mean stature, through his foundation, Otunba Tunwase Foundation, the legacies of Otunba Subomi Balogun are all over this country in the health and educational sectors: with special reference to Iye Subomi Child Care Centre, a fully-equipped air-conditioned 40-bed Children’s Centre at Ijebu-Ode General Hospital, and the Otunba Tunwase National Paediatric Centre donated to the University of Ibadan.”
