Kunle Adelabu
All arrangements are in place as the Ayangbure of Ikorodu and the First Permanent Vice Chairman, Lagos State Council of Obas and Chiefs, His Royal Majesty, Oba (Engr.) Kabir Adewale Shotobi, is set to install Otunba Steve Anifowoshe as the new Asiwaju of Ikorodu.
The accomplished pharmacist, humanitarian and a socialite will be replacing the late legal giant and national icon, Chief Babatunde Olusola Benson, SAN, KJW, as the Asiwaju of Ikorodu Kingdom, a highly revered honourary position.
According to the palace source, the installation of the highly reputable Pharmacist as the Asiwaju of Ikorodu, will come up at the Ayangbure palace on Thursday, January 6, 2022.
Also, his wife, Chief (Mrs) Olufunmilola, will be installed as Yeye Asiwaju of Ikorodu Kingdom, at the same ceremony.
Late Chief Benson, who was the immediate past occupant of the highly coveted position, died in 2021.
Chief Benson was first installed as Otun Asiwaju in 1983 by the then Ayangbure of Ikorodu, His Royal Majesty, Oba Salaudeen Oyefusi and was later elevated to the position of Asiwaju in 2008 by the late monarch.
Otunba Anifowoshe, who was a product of the Methodist Boys High School, Lagos, and later Federal School of Science, Onilkan, also in Lagos, worked briefly as the Clerical Officer with the Shell BP and Lagos State Ministry of Health.
He later proceeded to the United States of America (USA) in 1974 to study Pharmacology at Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, USA.
Otunba Anifowoshe worked at Eckerd Pharmacy, New Orleans, USA, as Manager and later as overall Store Manager.
He also worked with Rite Aid Pharmacy in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, a job which marked the beginning of his entrepreneurial quest.
In recognition of his contributions to the development of Pharmacy, Otunba Ayorinde has been honoured with numerous awards including Honourary Doctor of Pharmacy by Louisiana Board of Pharmacy and Maryland Board of Pharmacy in 1990. He is a member of the Maryland Pharmaceutical Association.
The highly respected honourary Chief in Ikorodu Kingdom is also enlisted in the America Nationwide Registers of Who – Is – Who in Executives & Businesses.
Otunba Anifowoshe, as a socialite, is a member of the Oriwu Club of Ikorodu, Island Club, Lagos, Lagos Lawn Tennis Club and Ikoyi Club 1938.
He is the President of the Ikorodu Descendants in Washington and the whole East Coast. He is also the Patron of the Ikorodu – Oga Division Descendants in Washington, USA, and that of the Eko Club International of Maryland and Virginia chapters in the USA.
He has been actively involved in various developmental projects in Ikorodu and has also been granting scholarships to students.
