When Oba (King) Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo visited Detroit this week to meet with local business leaders and promote development projects in Nigeria, all were eager to hear more about the array of investment opportunities in the African nation and what they might expect in terms of return on investment. What may not have been expected though was to become so absorbed in the possibilities of conducting business in Nigeria — enough to make travel plans — that they began visualizing what these bricks and mortar developments would look like in the continent’s largest economy.
As the charismatic and knowledgeable traditional ruler addressed potential investors at Detroit’s Music Hall on Tuesday, Aug. 26, he presented practical concepts for economic development in the “Giant of Africa.” Shouldering the responsibility for the lives of more than 5 million citizens, is a daunting charge, but one that Oba Gbadebo was born to — literally, and a charge he intends to implement with all of the resources that his position and prestige bring to bear. He is a reserved confident man who tells a compelling story of his mission to improve the quality of life for Nigerians.
“The King is everything to the people over whom he is king. Some see him as the person who should solve all of their problems for them. Just as with the Jews in the Bible, when they selected Saul, they said they wanted to have a King like other nations. And some said, ‘God is already your king, you don’t need another king.’ But some said, ‘We want someone who will fight our battles for us, who will lead us in battle, and who will promote our development.’ And that is what an Oba is … someone that people will come to in tears and leave with a smile.”
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