This is the story of a group of Ijebu decendants in the US who are doing very well in terms of their collective efforts at giving back to society. The group is called Omo Obanta Association. Let’s tell you about them. Segun Akeem Otusajo is the current President of this Omo Obanta Association based in Washington DC. Membership is drawn from those in Maryland, Virginnia & DC.
He told City People last week that the association was formed in 2002 by a group of Ijebu friends and elders who felt they need to have an association to concentrate on Ijebu-Ode and then spread out from there. The maiden meeting was held at Bowie City in Maryland” he said “Most of our meetings are held in Maryland. Most of us are from the Maryland area. We hold our meetings every month. We have about 50 members. The 1st President was Alhaji Koletowo. The 2nd President was Mr. Oriola. The 3rd President was Mr. Olowolayemo. The 4th was Mr. Nelson Alli and the 5th is the current President Segun Akeem Odusajo.
Since inception, the Omo Obanta Association has embarked on several community initiatives. The 1st project was the Telephone/Intercom project at the Ijebu-Ode General Hospital more than 10 years ago. There was also donation of text book to schools, backed up with Scholarships. “We award scholarships every year until we decided to donate a utility bus to the school” he explained.
“We are working on our forthcoming anniversary celebration. We are going to celebrate our 20th anniversary in 2022. That is 3 years from now”.
“We normally have 2 activities each year. One is something like Obanta Day celebration. We call it Omo Obanta Picnic. It usually takes place during Summer time, between June & August. We usually invite many of our friends from various ethnic groups, be it Yoruba, Igbos, or Hausa. Its usually a big festival. We normally have good feasting. We always ask them to support our activities. We have a website Omo Obanta.org.”
City People gathered that The current Vice Chanellor of TASUED, Prof. Arigbabu and the Publisher, Obanta Newsday, Gbenga Aroyewun are distant members.
The Omo Obanta Association, a group of Ijebu professionals in U.S.A on Thursday 30th August, 2018 gave a milk of kindness to the School of Special Needs Children in Ijebu-Ode with the donation of a bus to the school. Eminent personalities that witnessed the unique occasion included the Vice Character of Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode, Prof. A. O. Arigbabu. Dr. Tunji Dawodu former Provost Ogun State College of Health Technology, Ilese-Ijebu, Alhaji R. A. Odumosu, Chairman Ijebu-Ode Community Development Committee (CDC) and members or his Executive were all there. Gbenga Aroyewun the Publisher or Obanta Newsday, Zonal and Local Educational Officers; Mr & Mrs. Oshinkale (US based member) and The Head Teacher of the school Mrs. Kikelomo Omoyero-Olusegun all attended.
In his speech, the President of the Association, Mr. Segun Otusajo who led members of the Association to the presentation ceremony, noted that the occasion was to give their widows mite and in offering social service to the people at the community level. He added that the Association had made similar donations to the State General Hospital, Ijebu-Ode, scholarships to students at the secondary level. Hepledged that the Association will continue to offer from time to time more services to the continue to offer from time to time more services to the people and also identify with their roots.
While presenting the keys of the bus to the school, the Vice Chancellor of Tai Solarin University of Education, Prof. A.O. Arigbabu praised members of the Association for their kind gestures and prayed that God will give them the strength and energy to serve their fatherland.
In a speech the headteacher of the school who was retiring from service after 35 glorious years noted that the donation of the bus added more to her joy as she bowed out of services. She thanked the donors and prayed for God mercies on them and the Association.
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