Obateru Akinruntan is the CEO of Obat Oil, and flamboyant monarch of Ugbo area of Ondo State. Obateru was born into a local royal family of Ilaje in Jirinwo, a town close to the Nigerian Atlantic coastline. Through the influence of his mother, Obateru had developed interest in the oil business, hawking gallons of petrol in Ilaje as a boy. He threw himself fully to the business when opportunity presented itself, buying the Federal Government license to sell oil and taking advantage of the major oil company’s hesitance to establish selling points in the riverine areas, a terrain he is familiar with. He had been able to garner some capital through commercial activities in Lagos and Ibadan where he met his wife.
Obateru graduated from the Lead City University Ibadan in 2008 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. The Obat & Petroleum Ltd, which he founded in 1981, is a significant oil-marketing firm in Nigeria.