Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, the home town of the accomplished banker and Founder of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), the late Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, stood still on Saturday as eminent personalities from all walks of life, gathered to pay their last respect to the deceased.
The Roving Pen correspondent who attended the funeral service held at the Cathedral Church of Our Saviour in Ijebu Ode, reports that President Bola Tinubu represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, and Former Governors of the state, Ibikunle Amosun and Gbenga Daniel, joined other dignitaries and captains of industry at the ceremony.
In his remarks, Vice President Kashim Shettima, described the late Olasubomi Balogun as an institution in the Nigerian banking sector and a model for generations of bankers and lawyers, adding that he “was everything our ailing world desired.”
The Vice President said, “We are here to celebrate life. As he peacefully departs from this earthly realm at the remarkable age of 89, we lift our voices in prayer, offering our heartfelt appreciation for the profound impact he made during his time among us. So, this is more of a gratitude to the Almighty God for bringing such a noble person to our world and changing the course of our history.”
While extolling the virtues of the deceased, the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun said late Michael Balogun was a prodigious intellectual, an economist and lawyer who worked in the banking sector first, as the Principal Counsel and Company Secretary to the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) before he founded the First City Monument Bank (FCMB).
The Governor also said, in 1989, late Michael Balogun donated the newly built and fully equipped General Hospital to Ijebu Ode.”
Speaking with our correspondent, former Governor Ibikunle Amosun described Otunba Olasubomi Balogun as a hard worker with exceptional nose for business advantages and opportunities, adding that he left indelible footprints and legacies of excellence everywhere he traversed.
Amosun added that Otunba Balogun will be sorely missed for his Philantropic disposition saying he “stayed close to his Royal roots, promoted Culture and supported hundreds of good causes, charities and the work of the Gospel within his Ijebu homestead, Nigeria as a whole and across the globe”
Otunba Olasubomi Balogun died on Friday, 19th May 2023 at the age of 89.
