Oba Rashidi Ladoja has become the 44th Olubadan of Ibadan, bringing a blend of tradition, experience, and leadership to one of Nigeria’s most historic cities.
Ladoja was crowned Olubadan today, Friday, September 26, with dignitaries in attendance.
President Bola Tinubu was present at the coronation alongside some state governors, lawmakers, and other politicians and officials
Here are four key things to know about this new monarch:
The new monarch was born on 25 September 1944 in Gambari, near Ibadan, to Alhaji Aruna Ladoja, a cocoa trader, and Alhaja Haleemat Ladoja.
Oba Ladoja began schooling at Ibadan Boys’ High School between 1958 and 1963, before moving to Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, for his Higher School Certificate.
His academic curiosity took him to Europe, where he studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Liège in Belgium between 1966 and 1972
After university, Ladoja joined Total Nigeria, where he worked for more than a decade in engineering and managerial roles. His trajectory mirrored that of Nigeria’s growing oil and gas sector in the 1970s and 1980s.
Ladoja’s transition to public service came with his election to the Senate during the short-lived Third Republic in 1993. A decade later, he achieved the pinnacle of state politics when he was elected Governor of Oyo State under the Peoples Democratic Party in 2003.
His term was turbulent. In January 2006, he was impeached by the State House of Assembly, only for the Supreme Court to overturn the decision and reinstate him in December of the same year.
