Oba Michael Adeniyi Sonariwo, chairman, Ogun State Council of Obas and Chiefs, and Akarigbo of Remoland, which oversees Sagamu, second largest of concentration of industries in the state after Igbesa/Agbara, is dead in a UK hospital.
The 90-year-old chartered accountant monarch, who ascended the throne on July 14, 1990, joined his ancestors in the UK where he was flown since July 17 for treatment.
“He died Saturday evening in the UK where he was flown to, since July 17, after a brief illness. He joined his ancestors in the presence of his Olori, Abosede, who accompanied him on the medical trip,” a source and top government official in Ogun confirmed in Abeokuta to some newsmen on Sunday.
Sonariwo, who was born in Ita Eleye in Lagos State in 1936, attended St. John School, Aroloya, Lagos from 1941 to 1949 before he proceeded to Methodist Boys High School from 1950 till 1955.
The traditional ruler, who became orphan at six and had dreamt of working with the Central Bank of Nigeria to become the Governor “so that I would sign my name on the naira notes,” later travelled abroad for further studies and series of training in tax and accounting profession, and worked with the Inland Revenue Service.
Formal announcement of the demise was still being expected from the state government as at press time.
