Bisi Akande, Ooni and others will be expected at a series of lectures in his memory
THE Ekiti Council of Elders has announced plans to immortalize the late Chief Joel Babatola, a prominent nationalist and close ally of the first Prime Minister of the Western Region of Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, through a series of annual lectures in his honour.
Addressing journalists in Ado-Ekiti, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Joel Babatola Annual Lectures (JOBAL), Olufemi Adewumi, said the series will commence its inaugural edition on November 7, 2025 in Ekiti State.
Adewumi, a retired Service Chief in Ekiti, explained that the initiative was conceived to celebrate the life and legacy of Chief Babatola, who served as parliamentary secretary to Chief Awolowo during Nigeria’s self-governance era in the 1950s, a role comparable to that of a modern governor’s Chief of Staff.
He noted that Babatola, who died aged 96, was also the pioneer chairman of the Ekiti Council of Elders where he contributed immensely to social and political development across the South West.
The objectives of the annual conference, whose theme is: ‘Governance, Structural Reforms and Economic Landscape of Nigeria in the 21st Century’, according to him, are to stimulate intellectual reflections on the cultural and political challenges of contemporary society, inspire patriotism among the descendants of Yorubaland and honor the contributions of exemplary ancestors whose values shaped Yoruba identity and governance.
He added that the inaugural edition will feature former Governor of Osun State and leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, as guest lecturer and will attract dignitaries from across Yorubaland, including the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi as the Royal Father of the Day; The Governor of Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji and the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe.
Other expected guests include the chairmen of Obas councils in Ekiti and other Oodua states, the president of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) and several distinguished personalities from the academic, political and cultural worlds.
Adewumi said: “Due to its people-oriented services throughout their lifetime, the lecture series has been instituted by the Ekiti Council of Elders (ECE) to achieve the following important objectives:
“To provide and stimulate reflections and debates on the perspectives and challenges inherent in a developing cultural era in which literacy is the key and defining characteristic.
“Inspire us with patriotism as descendants of Oodua, in the service of our collective well-being in light of the above objective.”
Babatola was Minister of Interior and Information in the Western Region of Nigeria under Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola during the First Republic in 1960.
He was also a commissioner where he represented Ekiti divisions in the Western State Government of Nigeria in 1971 under Brigadier General Oluwole Rotimi and was Chairman of the Ondo State Housing Corporation and held this position during the second republic of the former Ondo State between 1979 and 1983.
He was also the patron of the Ekiti Council of Elders and the Government Elders Advisory Committee and was inaugurated by former Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State in 2012.