An Exclusive Interview with a Mariner Prince Kolade Afeez Siyanbola Oladigbolu. In this interview with publisher of Nationnewslead, Comrade Awoyemi Olayinka, the oyo crown prince and one of the contenders to the stool of alaafin orated about royalty, maritime experience, real estate development and how life has been triangular eventful
Excerpts
Q; Kindly introduce yourself to us in an abridge profiling
R; Good day, My name is Prince Kolade Afeez Siyanbola Oladigbolu, I was born to the family of late Alaafin abubakar akanbi adedokun siyanbola onikepe oladigbolu.
My biological father’s name is Prince Azeez Kolade Akano Siyanbola Oladigbolu. He is a son of Alaafin Abubakar Siyanbola Oladigbolu while i am a biological groundson.
As a young prince, i went to St Mary RCM primary school asogo oyo before proceeding to Anglican Methodist secondary school Ajagba oyo but later transferred to Islamic comprehensive high school olope, ibadan where i finally rounded up my secondary level. I was admitted to federal college of fisheries and Marine technology, Victoria Island, lagos state where i studied Nautical science. (ship piloting) later to Regional Maritime University Accra, Ghana.
Q; As a Mariner can you tell us about your work?
R; Maritime industry is one of the most respected industry across the world. Any serious government of a nation with Atlantic Ocean and rivers could explore as they wish. Only the revenue of Maritime sector is enough for any serious government to provide a standard living for her citizens. There are several area of operations. We have sea going vessels for different operations. Roll on and roll off vessels (roro) tanker vessel like very large crude carrier (VLCC) and ultra large crude carrier (ULCC) main for both refined and unrefined oil gas product.
We also have vessels, for Dredging, Tug boat and fishing (trawler) and chemicals. all this i mentioned are the surviving techniques of where ever Atlantic Ocean passes. Its really an interesting industry.
Imagine staying at sea for good three months sailing around the Atlantic Ocean without seeing nothing else. Just in-between the sky and Ocean, an unbeliever will testify to the existence of almighty God when you sail round the ocean. Especially when sea is rough in raining season.
As a Mariner you can never stop going to school unless you are planning to be irrelevant in the industry because on daily basis the inventors comes up with new technological discoveries which you must be able to operate. So if you stop going for causes you stop growing automatically.
Imagine someone who became a captain 15 years ago and now OTONDO (a Maritime name for a novice) on board of a new and highly mechanised vessels. No company will employ such a captain to avoid sinking millions of dollars whort of sea going vessels.
Q; When and why did you leave Maritime Job?
R; I did not leave marine job and can never leave it. Let me tell you something, there’s a saying in politics, once a senator is forever a senator. No qualify mariner will leave maritime job he/she can only switch from one area to another which was what i did, only stop sailing in 2012. Then i floated two companies. OCEAN TRACK HOLDINGS and ROYAL COLONY HOMES LIMITED. oceantrack holdings is for consultation. We consults for other maritime companies, We help for ship buying inspection and negotiations, Dredging, maintenance, while the royal colony homes limited is a real estate development. So i didn’t leave my profession and i won’t. I will still have my vessels in the nearest future. Insha Allah.( by God’s grace)
Q; As a Mariner, how were you able to dabble into real estate?
R; well, no one came with any profession from God. All the knowledges are acquired here on the surface of earth. It wasn’t easy at the initial stages though but with grace of God and assistance of friends who had been in the real estate sector before me i was able to learn the business from them.
You see that’s where education and some elements of good lucks comes in. One of the reasons we were sent to schools is to survive in any whether. The univerzation of your knowledge is what makes you a westernized person not the hard copy papers. There are so many people with PhD, doctorate degrees and still they are properly configured rookies. Because inability to make use of education to be creative automatically makes you a shortsighted educated person.
A year after in property industry some of those who thought me the business have already calling me demanding for informations there was a day one of my mentor sent for me to help confirm the status of a peace of land in oniru area of Victoria Island. Getting there, there was a misunderstanding between the surveyor and i over the inaccuracy of some calculations and i held my grand that the surveyor wasn’t correct which at the end of the day he humbly apologized for having such arguments with me. So I considered the diversification as a defined soft landing. By his grace, Royal colony homes 10 years anniversary is around the corner and i give thanks and glory to almighty God so far so good royal colony have delivered countless estates across lagos state and planning to extend to Ibadan, Abuja, South Africa and United Kingdom by God’s grace.
Q; How have you been coping with managerial aspect of multiple entities?
R; there’s nothing difficult in running businesses as long as one have a very reliable and dedicated administrative teams. You don’t have to be in the office regularly, Professionals in charge of each department know how to perfect their perfection very perfectly once they are well paying when it dues without going through any stress.
As a business owner you only have meetings with them once or twice weekly or monthly. The only time you appear could be during presentation, site inspection or when there’s a serious issues like court case or annual reconciliation. Apart from that you don’t necessarily have to be in any of the offices regularly, No one pays for service and still helping in doing the same work.
Q; You mentioned litigation like court cases and Co. Does that means you regularly involves in shady businesses?
R; Not at all, But there are businesses that if you ventures into it is practically impossible not to have police case that could leads to court unless you are not doing okay in the business.
Let me break it down so that you could have a clearer understanding of what am talking about. As a property developer our mission is to provide affordable homes for Nigerians. First thing to do is to acquire a massive land then after that we start processing of title documents and building approval before we move to site, All those processes takes time because of the crowd in lagos state government. By the time you are done with documentation which next thing is moving to site then You realized the 20 hecters of land you legally acquired has been encroached by indisciplined land grabbers and re: allocated to others. As a company you can’t be taking law into your hands. You have to involve police and probably ends up in court.
Another example is gorverment charges on documentation, building approval and taxation.
There’s was a time the charges of annual tax was outrageous, I told the officials i won’t be able pay such amount and we ended up in court which royal colony was favoured.
The one that is constant is from our subscribers and that only happens during the raining seasons. The project use to be slower due to whether conditions and traffic use to be more Horrible in rain seasons. Imagine a supplier bringing materials to the site spend 4 to 5hours in traffic within a local government plus the whether conditions. So the 6months project could ends up in 9months, Some subscribers would not want to take those conditions into consideration. Of cause informing their lawyers which everyone knows legal practitioners would not advice a client not to go to court of law. Be it resolvable case or not. That’s why I mentioned litigation.
Some Africans and most especially Nigerians sees going to court as a big deal because of lacking of exposure and information. I think by the time we adopt the culture of going to court like western countries, things will change. It is only in Nigeria you see someone been served a court letter then, his blood pressure begins to rise immediately. Whereas court of law was established to make peace between two civil business partners. So anyone with clean records of honest can never be afraid of going to the court of law.
Q; As a Prince of Oyo the whole world knows that Alaafin passed away in April, Do you have a relationship with Him?
R; Yes, very cordially. Late Alaafin Adeyemi was a very receptive monarch. At the same time he was a very disciplined man right from childhood. I have always been a palace boy i used to be in palace from morning till night playing with my cousins (his children) without anyone questioning my frequencies.
We have a private football pitch in the palace where there was always a football competitions. I remembered in 1999 there was a celebration of kabiyesi’s anniversary and a friendly match was set organized i played for oba Adeyemi club versus other club that day.
Dignitaries, likes of Late Arisekola, Lam Adesina, government officials from both upper and lower Chambers of nigeria gorverment and other South-West Governors.
After daddy stepped into field and ceremoniously kick-off. The match began the opposition scored a goal towards the end of the first half looking at daddy’s face that day he was very unhappy. Am sure his thoughts were like…. how could they win adeyemi football club on the day anniversary Of Alaafin Adeyemi.
Then after the 15 minutes short rest the referee blew the whistle and the 2nd half began. After 70 minutes i had an opportunity to an accurate pass from (qowiyu) in number 4 jersey and as a striker i utilized the opportunity by dribbling four players to the extent they committed an offence inside the Box 18.
All this happened around 80s minutes. I carefully played the penalty to the angle goalkeeper couldn’t dare to dive to unless he wanted to break his spinal-cord.
If you see the way i brought a heavy happiness out of kabiyesi that day to the extent he stood up from the chair and started jubilate.
After the match all the players lined up to have handshake with him that day one after the other. After shaking each player he gave an envelope individually but when it got to my turn he gave me 3 envelopes.
I am telling you all this to know how familiar i am to the palace and all the departments. From KOBI ASIRI, AGBALA OGUN, AGBALA KOOKO, ITA OKOTO, ILE KOTO, OJU AMBATA.
The significance of nine roundabouts surrounded the palace and all.
I wasn’t born when daddy became king but i grew up knowing him. There’s was another day my father leveled an allegation against palace chiefs that he wasn’t comfortable with the way palace chiefs used to interfere when ever princes are having father to sons discussions with kabiyesi.
Daddy (ALAAFIN) immediately summoned the whole palace chiefs that day and gave them a serious warnings that their responsibility should be their primary concern. (Palace affairs) Not interfering when ever he is talking to his siblings. Can still vividly remember how i used to jug with him from palace to the Durbar stadium every last Saturday of the month with my cousins. I have eaten, slept in the palace countless time before i left Oyo so i know daddy, daddy knows me and he used to call me by my name. (Siyanbola)
I was even planning to make him chairman of royal colony homes Ltd and I have already sent a letter to him which he gave me a date to come to palace for further discussions not knowing he was already getting ready to join his ancestors.
Q; Are those your reasons for contesting for the stool of Alaafin?
R; Not just that, I am a crown prince and my eligibility status is one of the most superb on the list of contenders plus all those my awareness of how supreme oyo dynasty is been ruined. I think Nothing stops me from been one of the contenders.
Q: we saw a viral video of one German footballer (adeyemi) been chosen as new Alaafin, is it true?
It is not just a lie, But a pathological one. It was the work of those bloggers who doesn’t know anything about almost everything they talks about. I am telling you categorically as a blue-blooded crown prince of supreme oyo dynasty, there was verifiable nothing like that. If they dint say so, there will be Nothing for them to say to get people’s attention online.
Q; Do you think you can win?
R; Well, our ruling house is a very massive ruling house. Every members of the family have equal rights to become the next Alaafin and at the same time, there’s hierarchy a 4th , 5th or 7th generations can’t be chosen when there are 2nd generation. You can start thinking of 3rd generation upwards only if the 2nd generations are not qualify. As long they are, they can’t be skipped .
Whosoever among us almighty God crowns we shall support him forever.
Let’s STOP all this antagonizing each other. You can make your point without saying negative stuffs to water down the ideologies of others. I know everyone need to prove his competence and All are marketing strategies which there’s nothing wrong but application of decorum and courtesy very paramount. I consider Self promotion a valid method in politics, if you can’t convince people to believe you are capable of ruling no one will vote for you. People must be convinced beyond their reasonable doubt every positions of authority without Dramas is not a respected office.
Agunloye family remains one indivisible family and we love each other. Any ideology of disintegration will not be entertained and again, there’s is a clearer difference between MINE and OURS.
what belongs to me alone is known as MINE while what belongs to me and others is called OURS.
So the next Alaafin selection is ours and if anyone or whosoever that claims any superiority shall be challenged. In short that’s is when someone like me would be very confrontational and ask the person to explain why he is trying to be a Catholic more than POP.
Undoubtedly, i am a direct grandson of Alaafin ladigbolu but a tree can’t make a forest that’s why i said God almighty will choose the best of the best among us as the next head of yorubas world wide. (ALAAFIN)
I also want to urge all the contenders to accept their fate when ever reasonable decision is made but if perceive any fowl play along that’s when issues will be raised and if everything goes smoothly and the decision is fair don’t go to any court because if you do so to oppose the declarations you can never win.
Oyo people consider removing an Alaafin as abomination and a big insult to the stool and most importantly you won’t fill comfortable residing in town for life.
In addition Oyo talking drummers will dish out series of new mocking and discomforting songs out on your behalf which Oyos will be using to entertain Alaafin for life. Or don’t you know that all those anonymous and abusive songs in oyo has a direct meaning to certain people in oyo and the entire yoruba lands? Yes. they have.
Let me give you one or two
Owó wa l’ódé sí x2
Ìwé tí eko ko ko tí e òsùn tí e o wo
owó wa l’ódé sí.
Meaning: The letters you were busying drafting both days and nights to government in other to nail the king has been mistakenly delivered to the palace by the dispatcher due to missing of address.
Òrò o jo mi ni ×2
Aburo Eni t’oloun l’agba e ni
Òrò o’jó mi ni..
Meaning: It is another day discussion, a younger brother who is claiming seniority with his holder brother, it is irrelevant discussion for life.
Yio je gbese kun gbese ni ×2
Alaaru t’oloun o pe oba l’ejo
Yio je gbese kun gbese Ni…
Meaning: A labourer who want to sue a king to court, will end up in massive debts.
So I am humbly advising all the contenders including me to take it easy and allow due process to take place and everyone should face his business and trading after all the next Alaafin must come from our rulling house and whosoever God ordained among us is automatically our father and we shall support him do not allow anyone to use you or give any satanic backing and advice that could lead to everlasting bitterness at the end.
Safe your little money and focus on your occupation, remember those who used to get carried away with throne mantra and political offices without nothing to fall back on always remains stagnant for the rest of their life. Only 2% of people in such situation comes back to their fit and that’s only by God’s grace. So, please don’t fall victim of such predicaments. It shall be well with every one of us. (Amen)
I wish everyone a warmly happy new year of endless joy and opportunities.
Omooba Siyanbola Oladigbolu WARNS!!! Continue Reading
Contact: Nationnewslead.com
