Kwara-born legal practitioner and Executive Director of the Eagles Foundation for Humanity (EFFH), Titilope Tawakkaltu Anifowoshe has joined sons and daughters of Igbonla Kingdom home and abroad to mourn the demised of His Royal Majesty, Dr. AbdulFatahi Olabode Jimoh, the Eleju of Igbonla Kingdom.
In a growing tribute made available to 9japarrot, the legal practitioner acknowledged the late monarch as a great lecturer and teacher par excellence.
The tribute reads;
I’d typically find the strength to express my thoughts, but today, words fail me.
I am overwhelmed by many emotions, yet guilt stands out the most, guilt for not giving back the love Oba Olabode Jimoh so freely showed me.
I always told myself:
“Someday, I’ll buy Kabiyesi a car. Someday, I’ll renovate his palace.”
But someday may never come… because my King is gone.
Our academic King is gone.
A lecturer and teacher par excellence. YES, I proudly bragged that my King taught at one of Nigeria’s finest universities.
He was not just a monarch, but a man of letters and vision.
I have countless tales of his unyielding passion for the Igbonla community.
He stood behind me when I sought admission to the University of Ilorin.
He played a quiet but steady hand in the founding of Eagles Foundation for Humanity.
And if you have read my book, you’d know how he made Igbonla a haven for me, always covering me in prayers, never sparing words of encouragement.
At the end of every village meeting with the Chiefs, He would specifically pray for me.
I still remember his words to our volunteers in October 2015:
“Nigeria is where it is today because we have dealers instead of leaders.”
That was Kabiyesi; bold, wise, unafraid.
There was never a time I reached out that he didn’t respond.
In fact, if I stayed silent too long, he would call. Concerned, sometimes annoyed that I hadn’t reached out sooner.
He was that present, that caring.
When I think of community development, I think of God, of my father, of my country, of Igbonla… and of Kabiyesi.
But now, my father is gone.
Kabiyesi is gone.
I only pray that my mother, my brother, and my uncle, Engr. Tajudeen, live long because I cannot imagine envisioning Igbonla’s future without them.
There is so much to say… but too little strength to write.
If a stadium were filled with people who believe in me and see something special in me, the late Dr. Olabode Jimoh, the Kabiyesi Eleju of Igbonla, would undoubtedly be seated in the front row.
May the soul of our King, our leader, our teacher rest in perfect peace.
May God grant Igbonla the strength to bear this sorrow.
This pain is heavy. Too bitter to swallow.
But Wallahu A’lam. God knows best.
انّما المرؤ حديث بعده، اللهم اغفر له وارحمه واجعل قبره روضة من رياض الجنة، آمين.
