Before Ladoja, Emir Sanusi also got the Phantom from same source

•The behind-the-scenes story

•Why I americium Arusa 1 – New Olubadan

By Adeola Badru 

When dawn broke implicit Bodija on Friday, September 26, 2025, few expected that Ibadan, the sprawling Yoruba metropolis, often celebrated for its civilization and resilience, was astir to witnesser an enactment of grandeur that would reverberate acold beyond the city’s borders. 

At precisely 7:00 a.m., a brand-new Rolls-Royce Phantom, a gleaming masterpiece of British engineering worthy astir N600 million, was softly delivered to the backstage residence of Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, the caller Olubadan of Ibadanland.

The acquisition was not from the palace, nor from a authorities treasury.

It came from 1 of Ibadan’s astir illustrious sons: Kola Karim, billionaire lipid magnate, Chairman of Shoreline Energy International, and Agba Oye of Ibadanland. 

For a antheral accustomed to navigating boardrooms successful Lagos, London, and Geneva, this motion was much than ceremonial benevolence. It was a statement, a declaration of identity, loyalty, and respect.

Karim’s cousin, Abduljelyl Adekunle Karheem, Mogaji of the Adanla household and Chairman of Afia Group, presented the conveyance connected his behalf.

By mid-morning, whispers had turned into headlines, and speculation filled the air: wherefore specified a lavish gift, and wherefore now?

The answers prevarication successful the analyzable tapestry of Ibadan’s history, the symbolic value of its monarchy, the quality of some giver and receiver, and the resurgence of a once-overlooked compound present etched permanently into Yoruba history, Arusa.

Kola Karim: The Billionaire with Roots arsenic Deep arsenic His Reach

 Though globally recognised arsenic a high-flying entrepreneur with stakes crossed energy, finance, and industry, Kola Karim is not simply a businessman.

He is Ibadan-born, Ibadan-bred successful spirit, and unwaveringly arrogant of his lineage.

Karim grew up successful a household that valued some contented and modernity.

The titles of his family, peculiarly the Mogaji Adanla, rooted him successful Ibadan’s chieftaincy culture.

Yet his ain trajectory propelled him acold beyond the city. 

Today, Shoreline Energy International, nether his leadership, operates arsenic a pan-African conglomerate, with interests ranging from lipid and state exploration to powerfulness infrastructure and marine services.

What distinguishes Karim, however, is not conscionable his equilibrium sheets but his loyalty to community.

Long earlier the Rolls-Royce made headlines, helium had earned a estimation for quiescent but accordant acts of philanthropy. 

He built schools, sponsored acquisition scholarships, and supported spiritual institutions.

Years ago, helium stunned the Nigerian elite by gifting different luxury car to Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi of Kano, a motion that foreshadowed his contiguous offering.

To many, Karim’s largesse to Oba Ladoja was unsurprising. What made it unforgettable was the timing and symbolism.

 More than a Car, a Crown successful Steel

 The Rolls-Royce Phantom, with its imposing grille and whisper-quiet engine, has agelong been the car for monarchs, statesmen, and concern titans.

In Ibadan, a metropolis of warrior traditions and enduring taste pride, its accomplishment astatine the threshold of the Olubadan was astir poetic.

It was not conscionable transportation; it was a crown connected wheels, a mobile throne symbolising prestige, continuity, and permanence. Delivered hours earlier the monarch’s authoritative coronation, it infused the lawsuit with a modern grandeur befitting a ruler whose beingness has spanned politics, commerce, and present royalty.

As 1 palace root enactment it: “The Rolls-Royce is not astir opulence. It is astir what the Olubadan represents. When helium sits successful it, Ibadan sits with him.”

Arusa: From  Obscurity to History

 No little symbolic than the car was the spot from which the caller Olubadan hails, Arusa Compound. For decades, Arusa, tucked distant successful Isale-Osi wrong Ibadan South-West Local Government, was small much than a footnote successful the city’s sprawling history. Unlike much salient royal compounds with agelong traditions of producing rulers, Arusa was modest, its stories contained wrong household courtyards and oral histories.

That changed dramatically with the ascension of Rashidi Ade...