By Lekan Adejuwon
The first coronation anniversary of Oba Lawrence Adebanji Aladesuyi, Afayagbekun 11, the Onijan of Ijan Ekiti, commenced on Monday with a press conference held at his Palace.
The monarch, while fielding questions from newsmen, speaks on the state of the nation, the development strides in his domain the past one year while thanking Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s for restoring electricity to his community.
On the deplorable state of the road along Ado Ijan axis, the monarch lamented the hardships faced by motorists plying the busy road on daily basis noting that the pressure on the road in the past few months was quite alarming needing government urgent attention..
“This particular road, when you are coming from Ado, you can either pass through Ikole or pass through Ode to Kabba/Obajana enroute Lokoja before ending your journey in Abuja which means it’s supposed to be a Trunk ‘A’ road
“I won’t say the government is not trying but if you had passed through here about three months ago, the road was not as bad as this because of our environment and now to worsen the case, all the roads used by those trailers and heavy trucks before have all spoilt and impassable due to heavy rains. so the only alternative route they have is to pass through our towns and communities. What I’m I saying? The roads are bad and we plead with the government to come to the aid of the people” he said
The monarch however charged the people to also play their own part.
According to him; “The community too, we have our own role to play. Some years ago I was in Malawi and there was hunger in that tiny country. So, some of them were asking me the question of how Nigeria as a big country managed to feed her huge population and I simply told them that we feed ourselves through farming. This is because that African country, Malawi had been ravaged by drought. So in essence, we need to go back to the farm because God has blessed us with arable lands that is good to plant crops all the year round. But we need a lot of government encouragement in the area of establishing what they call cottage industries to process our farm products such as cassava, fruits and even tomatoes. That is what our contribution can be to the government. It’s in two ways; government can help the farmers not only in giving them money, but this will go a long way if they have industries so that their products does not go to waste”
Oba Aladesuyi responding to another question, commended the Ekiti State Governor for restoring electricity to Ijan after years of living in darkness.
His words;
“I on behalf of Ijan community want to thank the state governor for restoring light in this community. Some people may not know that electricityl does not stop at only domestic use but within the same community there are hairdressers, barbers welders and even petty traders who sell drinks. All of these people would be engaged and when they are engaged, then they become better. It brings sense into everybody in a way that the rate of insecurity would come down”
In a related development the monarch disclosed that a museum of history would be built in the town to preserve the culture and tradition of Ijan community.
He said; “You must leave something for someone when you are gone. In fact one of the things we are contemplating at the end of the day is to have a museum of history where we are going to display the historical artefacts of the people including the old crowns used by former kabiyesis, display them and let people come to see what we have. Don’t also forget that this community produced the first Professor of Law and first Professor of Forestry. Their memorable works can be preserved for posterity”
On the spate of insecurity along Ado- Ijan corridor the royal father said; “Security is everybody’s job and within the ambit of our own level we tried to manage the little we can but above all God is our protection and within the Obas all these are discussed through the committee on security because it is regrettable that some Obas were kidnapped, the Chairman of APC was recently kidnapped and released later even one of us here was kidnapped sometimes ago and we thank God he was released so like I said security belongs to all of us and we pray to God Almighty to keep protecting us”
Oba Aladesuyi used the occasion to highlight some development strides in Ijan community within the past one year on the throne the summary of which he identified as peace, harmony, love and stability.
He also mentioned a newly built school which has become fully operational within the community. Others include the Ekiti State knowledge zone and cargo airport both around his domain besides the lightening up the community which was recently made possible by the governor.
Saturday October 7, 2023 marks the grand finale of the historic event as the sleepy community in Gbonyin LCDA will play host to dignitaries from all walks of life to rejoiice with Oba Aladesuyi on his first coronation anniversary even as some eminent personalities will be honoured with traditional chieftaincy titles by the monarch.
