The Olokine of Ojowo, Ijebu-Igbo, Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba Abdulrasheed Abayomi Banjo, has advised Nigerians to be patient with the administration of President Bola Tinubu in its efforts to make the country better.
Oba Banjo made this appeal on Saturday during the celebration of his community’s annual Olokine Day celebrations in Ojowo, Ijebu-Igbo.
The monarch noted that Tinubu’s antecedents and performance as the governor of Lagos State were concrete evidence of his leadership ability, dexterity and readiness to take Nigeria to the promised land.
Oba Banjo, however, advised the Tinubu administration to kickstart the process of assigning constitutional role to traditional rulers by making them chief security officers of their communities with budgetary allocation to enable them to function effectively in their assigned constitutional roles.
He stated that doing this will enable the government to tackle the current widespread insecurity across the country as incidence of banditry, kidnapping and other crimes would be reduced to the barest minimum, resulting in significant improvement in agricultural production and food security.
The Ojowo monarch also expressed gratitude to the people of his community for their support since his enthronement, enjoining them to continue to give him their support in his efforts to develop the community.
The Olokine said, “To my people, I can’t cease to thank them for the support so far. I will continue to admonish them to continue to support my enthronement such that our community could continue to be on a high pedestal and be made conspicuous on the world map.
“Nigerians should be patient with President Tinubu. His antecedents as governor of Lagos State have left no one in doubt that God will use him to take us to the promised land. The process of giving constitutional role to the traditional institutions should start in earnest and traditional rulers be made real chief security officers in their domains with budget allocation for such role. This I’m persuaded will reduce banditry and kidnapping to the barest minimum while also enhancing agricultural production and food security.”
Oba Banjo noted that the Olokine Day celebrations was instituted about three years ago following his installation as the town’s monarch and “after more than 530 years of our community’s existence to drive unity, create job opportunities, reward merit in all fields and show the world how rich our culture is.”
He noted that the annual Olokine Day has been structured in such a way that it is “sponsored by all segments of our society or Ijebu-Igbo community and even our friends. The sponsorship is not done by an individual or group; hence the withdrawal of any person cannot affect the annual programme.”
On the choice of Asiwaju Alex Onabanjo and Otunba Emmanuel King as the Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively, for the 2023 Olokine Day and festival, Oba Banjo explained, “If you’ve been following the trend of my career path, you’ll have noticed I’ve been adventurous with eye for best quality. The choice of the duo as chairman and vice chairman for the occasion has been because of their commitment to community development and the successes they have recorded in their business and personal lives, which are of any world standards.”
He also disclosed that he has continued to maintain a cordial relationship with the Orimolusi of Ijebu-Igbo, who “is our head who doubles as permanent chairman of Ijebu-Igbo and Ijebu North Council of Obas and I’m the Secretary. I’ve always been a man under authority. So, despite being the prescribed authority in Ojowo, Orimolusi is my father and I’ve never and will never say no to his instructions even when it’s not convenient. This is the training I got from my father and late Otunba Subomi Balogun.”
During the event, some eminent personalities honoured with various awards by the Olokine include Prof Adebayo Odutola Odukoya, Bishop Felix Owolabi, Otunba Dr Adebayo Odunowo, Prince Ogunlari Olumuyiwa Adeyemi and Princess (Rev) Dr Mrs Adunni Temitayo.
Raffle draws were also held during the celebration of the Olokine Day with the winners going home with various prizes.
The celebrations threw the whole community into a frenzy as the ancient town was agog.