By Akinwande Soji-Ojo
With the level of work on the ongoing Ibadan Central Palace project, there were every indication that the first phase would be completed before the end of this year, the President-General of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Prince Oluyemisi Adetayo Adeaga, has said.
The CCII boss gave this assurance on Tuesday at the Alarere residence of the new Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Lekan Balogun Alli, Okunmade ll.
Adeaga and executive members of the Ibadan apex socio-cultural organisation were at the Olubadan’s residence to pay homage as part of the ongoing Ibadan Week Festival which began on Sunday with Church Service at St. Peter’s Anglican Cathedral, Aremo, Ibadan.
Radiating joy and confidence, Adeaga said that what could serve as encumbrance had been taken care of by the Almighty God, noting that just as the hindrance was being resolved, an unexpected fund from the Federal Government for Palace projects across the country came and it was very handy.
He requested for the support of the new Olubadan by sanctioning the CCII to set up a committee to monitor the usage of the money, just as the orgaisation is generating additional fund, not only to complete the phase one of the project, but to also begin work on the next phase.
The CCII President-General, who said the palace project “is a project that would involve everybody,” adding, “with our population in Ibadan said to be four million according to the last population census, if just one million people out of the four million is captured as eligible to a thousand naira each, a billion Naira would be raised and that would do something.”
He expressed happiness on the emergence of Oba Balogun as the new Olubadan despite the initial hiccups, nothing that the kind of coronation held was unequalled in the history of coronation ceremonies in Ibadan land.
“With the way things turned out and the kind of weather experienced on the day of coronation with a harmless heavy night shower that rounded off the day, we can say with confidence that the morning had already shown how the night would be as the good time to expect under the reign of the new Olubada,” Adeaga said.
Insisting that this year’s Ibadan Week Festival would have been an exercise in futility without Olubadan’s presence, the President-General said everything had fallen in line with the coronation held last Friday, just as he disclosed that CCII members would not go to the venue of the grand-finale on Saturday without the assurance that Oba Balogun would be physically present.
Responding on behalf of Olubadan, Otun Balogun of Ibadan land, High Chief Tajudeen Ajibola, thanked the CCII for their commitment and sacrifice for the ancient city, urging them not to relent on every move and effort that would raise the bar of Ibadan socially, economically, culturally and even politically.
He described the socio-cultural group as the conscience of the Ibadans, a duty that places on them enormous responsibility for the total well-being of all the residents of the city, with a prayer that that the Almighty God would always crown their efforts with resounding success.
