An Interview with Oba Alhaji Abdulazeez Adebayo Olateju, The Oba Yoruba in Enugu,

Who settled in Enugu 46 years ago, in 1979

Excerpts:

Interviewer: Where are you from, sir?

Oba: I am from Ede, in Osun State.

Interviewer: You speak Igbo so fluently. Where did you learn it from?

Oba (responding in Igbo): I learned the language here in Enugu. God gave me the gift of understanding languages and the ear to hear. Many people often wonder if I was born or schooled here, but that’s not the case. I was already an adult, fully grown when I relocated to Enugu from Osun. I even voted during the era of Jim Nwobodo and later for Shehu Shagari.

Interviewer: I also learned you speak Hausa. Did you learn it here too?

Oba (replying in Hausa): Yes, I speak and understand Hausa fluently but I have never lived in the North. I picked it up here in Enugu, just by listening to people around me.

Oba: Everywhere I go in Igboland, people take me as one of their own. My grandmother who once tried to discourage me from settling here in Igboland but before she passed in 2012 was very happy and always thanking God for leading me to Igboland. I kept bringing all my relatives here and today they are all doing well because Igboland is good to us.