The Oba-elect of Ikeja, Lagos State, Prince Samsondeen Adeleye, is dead.
The 65-year-old monarch-in-waiting, who had been clamouring to be installed for close to six years, reportedly died, on Monday, after a brief illness.
He had since been buried according to Islamic rites.
A leading member of the Gbobaniyi Royal Association, a frontline body in the community, confirmed the passage of Adeleye.
The association’s official, who preferred to remain anonymous, said members of the group were currently meeting with a view to communicating the death of Adeleye to the Lagos State Government officially.
In the same vein, a prominent member of the Council of Kingmakers in Ikeja, also confirmed the death, lamenting that despite repeated calls on the Lagos State Government to install Adeleye for the past six years, nothing was done on the matter.
Adeleye was nominated Oba-elect of Ikeja in December 2014, following the death of the then monarch, Oba Maruf Amore.
His selection was conducted by a five-man body of kingmakers headed by a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, late Chief Rafiu Jafojo.
Only recently, the late Adeleye had spoken during which he appealed to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to coronate him, after having to wait for close to six years.
He also regretted that he had spent a fortune in the hope that he would be installed, and that all his expenses and a huge loan he took from a close friend, which he had been unable to refund, had wrecked him financially.
Also, a kingmaker yesterday said the Ikeja community was still mourning the passage of the Oba-elect, and that some traditional rites were still being carried out.
The kingmaker, who did not want to be named, described the late Adeleye as “a father to all, who was loved by both young and old.”
