KABIYESI: Good morning Ashiwaju, are you surprised that I sent for you?
I salute you, the reason I sent for you is this , I thank God that we are all alive today, it is just by His grace, nothing more.
Some hours from now, it will be a year that I ascended the throne of our political forbearers, and a lot has happened in all areas of our living and lives.
Prior to my election by our town’s people, to occupy this position, more than a dozen of us came out to try our luck and best possible, but at the end of the day you find me Worthy to preside over your affairs.
Four of us were the front runners, one of us was a governor in waiting, before the first Kabiyesi in the fourth assembly of political and democracy, seconded him, to be his “Amugbalegbe”.
Myself and other two contestants were also chiefs in our respective clans , before putting ourselves forward for the position of Kabiyesi.
From the word go, I knew I was better. And our people also believe I have the best solution to their problems, hence, I am here today. It has being a year.
The journey to this palace was not too easy at all, all these you knew about Ashiwaju, every clan I visited then, I told them what I will do, if only they can support me with their votes to be their Kabiyesi , so also, societies and associations, I even went beyond our town, trying to convince their Kabiyesis too for support and told them how I will impact their businesses and our friendship, all this, were sorted.
I promised our people, live abundance, I spoke on how I will solve the problems of Security, Education, Power, Infrastructures, Health, Economy, Foreign Policy, Agriculture and so on.
My words were straight forward and direct, because, I have been in that position before, though as a Senior Chief, presiding over a clan, and I made success of it, hence, I had an easy ride to this palace with the help of all.
When other contestants and their followers were mocking me, I buried myself into the business of winning the race, and all of you stood resolutely in seeing me through, thank God we are here, doing what we know how to do best, I mean, governance.
Ashiwaju, please, don’t be bored, all these are just introduction to what I wanted you to tell our people before I address them at the palace shortly, during this past one year, we have delivered on our promises, the ones that seems not clear to you people are being resolved, especially , our power problem, because without it, our economy will just lie prostrate, God forbid.
We have done a lot in the area of Security, internal affairs, education, Taxation, infrastructure and Agriculture.
You must have noticed that myself, my wife, my high chief are not relenting in the area of Agriculture, the shout of Ebi npa wa, has taken a lot of good will out of our reign, it nearly discredited us, though, this was and is no empty shout, since the first day I came on this throne and announced removal of fuel support for people, things have taken live of their own, prices of food stuff and other commodities have gone up, so also other services, taxes have been increased in some other areas, yet income remain the same, we are aware of all these and will not rest until we find lasting solutions to them.
These are teething problems, most of which were carried over from the former Kabiyesi, though, from my family, there is nothing I can do, more so, I promised to take both asset and liability.
My brother, as we move into next year, I will make right all the wrong, as earlier promised, Agriculture will be the bed rock of our journey, please, tell our people, they need to be patient a little more, after all, after darkness, what follows is daylight.
Thank you.
ASHIWAJU:
Thank you for all you have said, I don’t have much to say, you have sent me to our people, I will have to deliver your message, but remember, the story of your doing well when you were a clan chief is no longer be tenable. In fact, it is now sounding like a broken record, people are worried, they can no longer be patient, things are not working the way we told them, we need to go back to our drawing board.
Agriculture, to me, will serve as a game changer, if only we are serious going forward, the little we have achieved, we must be ready to build on it, so we don’t make nonsense of our promises on food security.
Ebi npa wa, in a town that is blessed with good soil, weather, rain throughout the year, what else do we need? I would say good policy, we need a lot of it.
Security for our farmers and their families must be guaranteed, good roads and a reliable transportation system, if all these are done it will be a good step as we look into the future.
A town that cannot feed herself cannot achieve anything meaningful, when you have food security, other things will follow.
Kabiyesi, these are just my observations, which I believe you will take seriously, going forward.
As I take my leave of you now, l will go and deliver your message as promised.
Thank you, once more, Kabiyesi and happy anniversary.
