Founder of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and Olori Omoba of Ijebuland, Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, is dead.
Family sources revealed that he died in London Friday morning.
Balogun, who was Otunba Tunwase of Ijebuland, was aged 89.
As a high-ranking Ijebu Chief, his death has not been officially announced. It was however, gathered that the family has informed the Awujale of Ijebuland of his death, and a formal announcement would be made soon in line with tradition.
A direct descendant of Oba Tunwase of Ijebu-Ode, Otunba Balogun was the Olori Omoba (head of princes) of Ijebuland and the Asiwaju of Ijebu Christians.
Born on March 9, 1934 in Ijebu Ode, Otunba Balogun graduated from Igbobi College and studied Law at the London School of Economics. After he bagged his law degree, he returned to Nigeria and joined the Ministry of Justice of the Western Region as a Crown Counsel. He later became a Parliamentary Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice.
With the fall of the First Republic, Balogun joined the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB), where he advocated for the establishment of merchant banks. He joined ICON Securities, a merchant banking outfit established in 1973 as a subsidiary of NIDB, and became a director of operations at ICON Ltd.
Otunba Balogun later founded City Securities, a stock broking and issuing house, which handled Mobil, Texaco and Total petroleum marketing companies equity offerings. Balogun secured a merchant banking licence to establish First City Merchant Bank. The operations of the bank began in 1983.