His Royal Majesty Aleyeluwa Oba Lawrence Jaiyeoba Adebajo the Orimolusi, the paramount ruler of Ijebu-Igbo was the centre figure of the day. His enthronement as the Orimolusi of Ijebu Igbo was a victory for the town and its people. The town had existed without a king for 28 years following the demise of the last Orimolusi. His emergence as the new Orimolusi gave the entire Ijebu a sigh of relief as the giant community has just woken from its slumber as it is ready to push and achieve greatness. Oba Adebajo’s speech at the Ojude Oba Festival revealed his commitments towards the overall development of Ijebu Igbo. Below are extracts from his speech and they are translated as follows:
“Before I begin my speech, I would like everybody to respectfully stand and observe one minute of silence in honour of the souls of departed heroes of the land, most especially my fore-fathers that duly own the Orimolusi throne.
“The summary of what the previous speakers said was centred on how to develop Ijebu Igbo and make it reach its full potential. Ijebu Igbo is going to be great and God will spare our lives to witness its greatness. I need to appreciate our sons for their efforts in the ongoing transformation of Ijebu Igbo. As you can see, the palace is being upgraded and wearing a good look. You can see that there is a new ultra modern palace under construction. If you walk down the town, you would acknowledge that a number of our roads are being tarred. All these are from the efforts of our illustrious sons. A king should not venture into politics. I must boldly say that one of the two palaces was being handled by the APC government while the other is being done by the PDP. All we want is the development of the mind. We shouldn’t engage in politics of bitterness.
“There’s still much to be done. I hereby call the elders of this land to come tour aid. You need to persuade the illustrious sons and daughters of Ijebu Igbo scattered across the globe to come and invest and establish their businesses in Ijebu Igbo.
“Since I ascended the throne, I have been working assiduously to advance the development of the community. Even when we already had the building of the new palace ongoing, I still called the attention of Senator Lekan Mustapha to the dilapidated structure of the old palace and he swiftly responded. As you can see the palace is near completion, looking elegant.
We thought it wise that our youths need to be gainfully employed in order to steer them off violent and untoward behavior. We wrote a letter to the Awujale seeking to have the privilege of the Agricultural scheme in Eruwe here in Ijebu Igbo and he granted it. Awujale approved our request the same day he got it. I did barely two months on the throne. I want to assure my people that we are working on it and it will come to reality.
“I also observed that most of the banks in Ijebu Igbo are sealed off. When the Ileya Festival was on 3 days ago, I was having a serious meeting with Chief Subomi and Olokini on how the branch of FCMB Bank here would be re-opened for business. They however made a call to order the reopening of the bank. I was told the reopening would come to light once the central bank approves of it. And for Access bank, I’m prepared to meet their directors this week. If going there to meet them would yield the needed results, I won’t hesitate to go to them. I know very soon, Access Bank would also be re-opened.
“We are not resting on that. I learnt that the Apeje Agricultural-related contract signed by Ijebu Igbo during the Western region days has expired. I would engage technocrats in that line, the likes of Senator Gbenga Kaka to help us make findings on how to go about reclaiming our land for agriculture.
“I have also met one of our elders, Prince Adeshina, to seek his support and he pledged to always support us in every way. He assured us of his support at any point in time. May God continue to be with him. It’s unfortunate that time is golden and does not allow me to reel out all I have done in less than a year. Today’s event is for us to wine and dine and enjoy the glamour of the day. I hereby urge all and sundry to see Ijebu Igbo as a communal project which must be jointly achieved.
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