WHEN AWUJALE CLOCKED 50 YEARS ON THE THRONE IN 2010

Details of his 50th Coronation Anniversary ln April 2010

First, I should like to express my greatest joy on this special occasion of the fiftieth coronation anniversary of His Majesty, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, Ogbagba ll, the Awujale of Ijebu-land.

Every reader of this article will agree with me that a coronation anniversary of this kind is rare or uncommon in the annals of the history of traditional monarchs everywhere. If we dig a little into the history of monarchs and their time of rule, we shall discover that a great number of them hardly spend two or three decades, which could be considered a fairly long rule.

But through God’s grace and guidance, our Kabiyesi Oba S. K. Adetona ascended the throne of his forebears five decades (fifty years) ago and is still looking fit, strong and feeling fresh like a new born.

This kind of festivity has never happened in Ijebu-land and if my search is accurate and I hope it is, no traditional ruler in Ijebu part of Ogun state has spent fifty years on the throne. In Yoruba land, Oba Adesoji Aderemi almost completed fifty years on the Ife throne but fell short by a few months.

He ascended the Ife monarchy in September 1930 and passed on to eternal life in July 1980. Oba Akoro Akenzua ll of Benin reigned between 1933 and 1978; a period which came to forty-five years. Oba Sir Olateru Olagbegi and his royal family had a controversial golden anniversary in 1998.

It was controversial because he was deposed and sent into exile for twenty-five years by the western Nigeria government as a result of political brick-bats of that period. While in exile, another Olowo, Oba Olawale Ogunoye was installed.

Oba Ogunoye spent twenty-five years on the throne before he passed to great beyond. Sir Olateru Olagbegi was still alive and by providence, the civilian governor of Ondo state, Bamidele Olumilua returned the exiled monarch to the Owo throne.

When the fiftieth anniversary was held in 1998, the implication of the anniversary was that the reign of Oba Ogunoye was a nullity, but history will take care of all that. Oba Oyekan of Lagos reigned for a fairly long period but he spent thirty –seven years as the Oba of Lagos. An important Yoruba Oba that spent a very long period on the throne was the Deji of Akure, Oba Afunbiowo Adesida l, 1897 to 1957.

He was a spectacular monarch who was unlettered, yet he is still regarded the most progressive and most dynamic among all occupiers of the Akure monarchy to date. He had passed to life beyond before our great Kabiyesi Oba Sikiru Adetona was chosen and installed as the Awujale in 1960.

When the Emir of Adamawa, Lamido Aliyu Musdafa died in March 2010, a Lagos newspaper the Daily Trust referred to him as the longest reigning traditional monarch in Nigeria.

That assertion is absolutely wrong because the writer did not check historical records; a serious error which is common to many of our journalists. People who write professionally for public consumption should always endeavour to verify their facts when necessary to do so.

This is purely idle journalism. Oba Afunbiowo Adesida l, the Deji of Akure ascended the Akure throne in 1897 and died in 1957, making him the longest reigning monarch in Nigeria till date. If we go outside our country and continent, the reign of Queen Elizabeth ll of Britain is very long. She was crowned in 1953 and is still going strong.

Her father King George Vl did not live long despite all the medical facilities available to the royal household in England. However, the Almighty God is the giver of life and health and every other thing whether it is ephemeral or not.

The Golden Anniversary of the Awujale (1960-2010)
This particular golden anniversary of the Awujale is very significant considering the political snares often encountered by traditional rulers in Nigerian political situations. Civilians in government have often intimidated traditional monarchs with deposition whenever the political calculation of Nigerian politicians do not receive theanticipated sympathy of traditional rulers.

Traditional rulers have become subjected to the whims and caprices of powerful civilian political leaders. If a traditional leader dares make a personal choice on any issue that has to do with government policies, he would be treated with utmost disrespect. One may sympathize with the regularly blackmailed traditional leaders in a situation in which they have to hold back their objective truths or opinions in the face of suspected or anticipated backlash.

The cases of Sir Olateru Olagbegi of Owo and that of Oba Ladapo Ademola ll, raise many questions about the institutional disrespect which is often extended to traditional leaders by politicians in modern Nigeria. I make reference to these two monarchs because they somehow returned to re-occupy the thrones from which they were removed owing to the displeasure of powerful civilian politicians.

In 1980, our own Awujale was subjected to a situation of deposition by the government of Chief Olabisi Onabanjo of the Second Republic in Ogun state. This writer was a member of Ogun State House of Assembly at the time, representing Ijebu-Ode. I saw everything that went on and was a witness to all the political calculations and misjudgments that took place.

I was assigned to call. division by division, all members of the Assembly to meet with late Governor Olabisi Onabanjo at the Attorney General’s (Adaramaja) official residence in Abeokuta in the middle of the night. It was all an extended nocturnal meeting. I wondered why I was assigned that kind of dirty job because I was the least trusted among the legislators of the UPN hierarchy in Ogun.

We held four separate meetings; one per a division. I was the only member present in all the series. The general agreement was that the House would pass the required Bill already prepared for the planned removal of the Awujale from the throne of his forebears.

All the readings from the first to the third would be rushed through the parliamentary process including that of the Committee of the Whole on the same day and the final passage would be effected for the governor to sign into law. My head was spinning in disbelief and my stomach was full of butterflies. Chief Onabanjo was Awujale’s friend and he loved stopping at Igbeba first, anytime he entered Ijebu-Ode returning from his travels,before going to his personal house.

This was how the relationship was before he became the governor in 1979. Chief Onabanjo himself told me about his close relationship with Kabiyesi when the relationship was cordial. He also told me in person that the Awujale gave him campaign contribution for his governorship aspiration.

But suddenly on becoming the governor of Ogun state, he was going to use his political power to remove our great Kabiyesi; his supposed friend, to advance his political career. By some inquisitive tendencies, one may ask why at the same time, Professor Ambrose Alli, the governor of Bendel was working assiduously to have Omo N’oba Ereduiwa removed in Benin.?

Governor Lateef Jakande was bent on persecuting and harassing Oba Oyekan of Lagos too. He was removed as the President of the State Council of Chiefs and replaced with Oba Rafiu Goloba, the Asolo of Isolo. What a travesty! What a questionable judgment shrouded in abuse and misuse of political power!

This kind of abuse does not allow democracy to grow and the society suffers the retrogression and backlash for a long time to come. It is obviously a bad example for succeeding generations of politicians and leaders. It is absolute injustice borne out of the worst prejudice of man.

In the case of the Awujale, all the planned assault on the institution of the Ijebu land monarchy and the occupier of the office Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona collapsed the moment all of us legislators arrived at the Assembly building to attempt giving the Bill its first reading..

My personal role was negative and my colleagues saw the dark side of the falsities and orchestrated lies including the Sogbetun report which was carefully put together through false and sponsored evidence of a select few from Ijebu-Ode. In short, we suddenly reached a stalemate in the legislature without moving the bill forward.

I can, with humility, claim that the handi-work of stalemate was mine. While holding a general meeting of members at the Speaker’s, a message came that the governor wanted all of us in his office. We all immediately attended to the governor because he was also the state chairman of the party.

Inviting all members of the House to his office is an aspect of our traditional life and culture which has its weight imposed on political modernization and a progressive dispensation of attitude and behaviour which we hope to acquire and adapt for the survival of our society. When you put these two positions in a single hand, this is the kind of dictatorship that is created to the detriment of progress, democracy and the human rights of others.

Plans have been concluded that as soon as the Bill is passed and signed into law, the Kabiyesi Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona would immediately be apprehended by the Nigeria police and moved or escorted to Ilaro where his exile residence had been prepared.

The whole idea was so frightening and troubling that one would tend to ask if it was a ruse, a joke or a trance of a midnight dream. It would sound incredible to any fair minded person. While the meeting was progressing with the governor in his office, the Attorney-General Chief Adaramaja came from the court and told the governor in confidence that the court had given its approval to the old Western Region of Nigeria Chieftaincy Laws of 1958 that it was applicable to Ogun state because Ogun state was an integral part of the old Western region when the law was promulgated.

The governor’s mood which was melancholic when we entered his office changed for better immediately with a smile on his face that victory for him and his evil planners was near. But alas, the situation as known to God alone, at that very moment, would be total failure for Ogun state government.

The strategic Bill for legislation which laid in the Assembly had collapsed and the news from the court delivered by Chief Adaramaja further made the Bill unnecessary. The constitution of Nigeria during the Second republic would render the Chiefs Law of Western Nigeria of 1958 a nullity. The Awujale did not waste anytime, though these facts were not known to him at that moment, he challenged the decision of Ogun state government that suspended him from office and asked the federal appellate court to prevent the Ogun state government from installing a new Awujale until the legal challenge of his suspension from office was finally disposed by the court. The prayers were all granted.

This kind of event needs to be told to the Ijebu people, their sons and daughters, their friends, the rest of Nigeria and the world so that rumuors and hear-say will not prevail over the objective realities and truth on ground.

This attempt to visit a major event in the history of the Ijebu monarchy and the Ijebu people, becomes imperative because of those of us who could not dissociate ourselves from the desperate politicization of an event which debases the status of our revered traditional rulers. In the case of the Awujale or any paramount ruler, I still continue to wander after so many years of study of democracy in many of its phases, all over the world, why those who aspire to lead think they need to be selfish, intolerant, avaricious,wicked, vengeful and unfriendly and domineering over the people they intend to lead.

If we all believe that we can not be here for too long, which is a reality, what is the essence of our selfishness and manoeuvre to accomplish the impossible all the time? If one looks at history with understanding, one can only destroy whatever one hopes to destroy to a limited extent, time and space.

As a desperate destroyer, if one survives not destroying oneself in the process, one will ultimately be destroyed by nature, if one is lucky to die a natural death. After all the destructions of Abacha, material and human, he had been buried in Kano before the Nigerian people heard of his death in disbelief.

In July 1979, when I had become the chosen candidate to represent Ijebu-Ode in the House of Assembly of Ogun state, I strolled to Ipebi to watch the traditional dance of the Awujale for the Agemo festival. One prominent Otunba; a medical doctor accompanied the Awujale to perform the ritual.

As soon as the ritual was completed, the Otunba in question deliberately raised two fingers whichindicated the political support for our political party; the Unity Party of Nigeria led nationally by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. As soon as this Otunba displayed these ‘two fingers’ to the people, the shout of Awo rented the air. To my consternation, missiles started flying in the direction of the Awujale and he had to be guided and shielded into his car, on which a ferocious attack of more missiles continued.

The late medical doctor who inspired the ugly scene had to leave for his home because he must have got the result of his conjectured plan, to get the Awujale humiliated in public. Until that time, I had never been privileged to meet the Awujale.

The Otunba; the doctor, knew me because I had been selected as the UPN candidate for Ijebu-Ode. Politics in Nigeria later exposed me to much of the treachery which mindless cadre of politicians engage in from time to time, because politics to them is a kind of business to seek personal survival and means of survival.

The required standard of education needed to lead a people is not part of their antecedent and every issue has to be treated as a means of political survival. They are so desperate of holding political positions that they can trade off their own parents for political advancement.

If you are new in Nigerian politics, but well educated and resourceful in many other ways which can benefit the society, the old politicians would look for ways to destroy you either by sending assassins to take your life or some other means which are available to them.

Besides being heartless, most Nigerian politicians are backward in their thoughts and orientation. Most of them are opportunists who cannot perform well in other human endeavours. Finally, most of them are terribly corrupt in behaviour and in thought.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should effectively operate in every state and they should co-ordinate their operations to be effective.

David and Goliath.: The Awujale’s political struggle and survival in the Second Republic was an episode of calling ‘a dog a bad name in order to kill it’ but God was watching and confirmed to all doubting Thomases of our world that He had the last word and the ultimate decision. As a party member, I did raise questions which some of our parochial leaders were not willing to answer.

First I was considered an educated radical who was not prepared to go along their nefarious and evil plans. When elected to the House of Assembly, I saw nothing that required unnecessary secrecy or haughtiness in the ways things were done in government. But those above us in the hierarchy of responsibility in Abeokuta reflected as if the whole idea of governance was a big deal which a president or governor must keep to his chest.

Political power belongs to the people who voted at the polling booth believing that the power entrusted to the elected politicians was sacred and must be used in that expectation. But in Nigeria, it is the opposite attitude that people see everywhere every day.

The biblical Goliath would destroy whoever challenged him to a physical duel. He was the great warrior of the Philistines who became the frightening and unyielding tormentor of the Israelites. David was a poor Hebrew shepherd who became the second King of Israel as a result of his feat in accepting the challenge of Goliath and succeeding in killing the giant in a physical combat. Without wearing any armour or some war-like paraphernalia, he killed Goliath with a single sling and every one was shocked but rejoiced.

In consequence, David was made the King of Israel after Saul. The Awujale, though huge in traditional value, faced a situation in which the power of the government of the day was being used to remove him from the throne of his forebears.

Ijebu kingdom whose sovereign authority collapsed with the defeat of its rag-tag army in May 1982 at Imagbon in the face of a planned attack by the British surrogate army, had been reduced to a province in NIgeria under the colonial system.

The Awujale was a sovereign authority; a Head of State who was due for mutual respect among other nations. But the colonial subjugation and the subsequent effective occupation by Britain in later years took away the entire external dignity of the royal fathers if not the domestic honour which still survives partially till today.

The culture and tradition of the people which the colonial system could not sweep away remain the peoples’ identity in a world of cultural awareness. Today, the Awujale and all other traditional monarchs in Yoruba land and Nigeria as a whole are still very relevant to the development of their people and the preservation of their cultures.

The Obinrin Ojowu and the Agemo festival which in this case was misused in 1979 and politicized in order to physically attack our royal father was a dastard violation of Ijebu culture and tradition. The incident was unprecedented in terms of behaviour from someone who saw himself as an Otunba in Ijebuland.
The suspension order of the Awujale and the challenge of it.

The legal challenge of Ogun state government suspension order upon which an outright removal from office was anticipated was well handled by the Awujale in this fight of his life and the protection of his Ruling House.

There was no doubt that in the heat of all the unfolding episode, the Awujale and Bisi Onabanjo saga remained a nightmare to all especially the state government in Abeokuta.

The desire of the state government to resolve the issue very quickly in its favour and install a new Awujale did not materialize because the Awujale was up to the task. Otherwise, the government of Bisi Onabanjo which had started searching for a candidate to fill a vacancy that did not exist would have gone further to install a pretender to the throne.

I knew those he had in mind but I wish to use this opportunity to clear the suspicion mounted by some people against my Egbon, Otunba Tunwase, the Olori omo Oba of Ijebu that he was interested in having the Awujale removed in order to have the high traditional office given to him.

The whole plan to circulate such a disconcerting rumour and create artificial enmity, bad blood and huge misunderstanding was all the handiwork of late Chief Onabanjo himself.

From my findings and careful enquiry within those who were fully aware of day to day events at that time, Otunba Tunwase was not interested in becoming the Awujale and did not express any desire to succeed our great king who unfortunately was being pursued by his friend Chief Olabisi Onabanjo of blessed memory.

It was Chief Onabanjo who needed Otunba Tunwase as a prominent Ijebu son on his side while pursuing his impossible dream of deposing the Awujale. The matter dragged on for about four years and as God would have it, an unexpected military coup led by General Buhari occurred on December 31, 1983; the last day of the year.

The military coup changed the whole picture of events and that game changer; that is, the coup d’etat, upset whatever plans the government of Ogun state had in its deposition efforts of the Awujale. The late governor had more than he expected from the Buhari/Idiagbon junta. He was the first governor to be tried for corruption, convicted and imprisoned for twenty-one years by the military court.

The issue of the Awujale had become an unresolved albatross which the Ogun state military governor had inherited. The Buhari military government had disbanded all political parties and asked all political office holders and other party related politicians to report to the Police Headquarters of their various states.

Having been branded a radical and an open-ended legislator who could not engage in sycophancy or any kind of political apprenticeship which everyone of us was expected to acquire, I was discharged by the police as soon as I reported myself at Elewe-Eran in Abeokuta.

The policemen on duty claimed that they knew me and knowing me meant that I did not belong to the gang of treasury looters, to which many of my colleagues in the Assembly belonged. A few members of the House were periodically rewarded financially, for performing some unethical functions for our political bosses in the party.

They were given cheques to be cashed at the Central Bank in Abeokuta and the rest of us who were regarded “politically recalcitrant and uncooperative” were usually left out. The money given by the governor to the legislators then were supposed to be utilized for road maintenance and other repairs in their various state constituencies.

Anyway, all these colleagues of mine were locked up and incarcerated before they were later made to repay the looted amounts of money into the state government account.

The Oladipo Diya military government of Ogun had inherited the legal tussle between the Awujale and the Ogun state government. The case had to be settled as early as possible because Buhari/Idiagbon’s military junta’s policy was to abandon the politicians and rule the country by relating with the traditional rulers.

That policy pre-supposed that the paramount monarchs were very important in the scheme of Buhari’s government. Buhari’s policy suddenly became the determinant of the situation and would expect the Diya government to discontinue with the case and withdraw it in favour of Kabiyesi Awujale but he did not do that, he went ahead to defend the position of Onabanjo’s government and lost.

Justice Kolawole presided over the case and concluded that the Western Nigeria’s Chief Law of 1958 could not be used to depose the Awujale because the constitution of Nigeria of that time gave every individual, including our traditional monarchs, the human rights which the Chiefs Law denied them.

He also concluded that if the Bill we legislators had initially rendered untenable in the House of Assembly had been passed into law, the new law would have impeded Awujale’s effort to return to the throne of his forebears.

The court’s final judgment was that the Awujale of Ijebu-land was reinstated to his position as the only Awujale of Ijebu-land who was installed in 1960. On the question of appeal in case the state government was interested in seeking some judicial points of objection to the judgment, the Awujale was reported to have told the military governor Diya that an appeal by the Ogun state government might not be necessary because he could unilaterally offer to resign as the Awujale, since God had given him the victory over all conceived evil.

If a unilateral resignation by the Awujale had occurred, governor Diya himself would have been in trouble with his boss at the centre in Dodan barracks. Politicians had no favours with Buhari/Idiagbon’s regime, it was the traditional rulers. When Diya called on all Ijebu people to receive the Awujale at the Awujale palace on Awujale street in early 1984, consequent upon the judgment of Justice Kolawole, a new epoch was about to unfold.

We all need to appreciate God the Almighty that this current Awujale did not experience what Oba Ladapo Ademola of Abeokuta suffered between 1948 and 1950 when he had to abdicate for about two years. In the case of Oba Olateru Olagbegi ll of Owo, there was an inter-regnum of twenty-five years during when Oba Olawale Ogunoye became the Olowo for twenty five years before Oba Olagbegi came back to the throne after his death.

The Second Twenty five years        

Precisely in early May of 1985, the first 25years of Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona was celebrated after the deluge of political persecution of our monarch by late Chief Olabisi Onabanjo’s state government in Ogun. From a hindsight, the whole evil plan and the time expended to lay the ground work for the unexpected outcome brought nothing but ridicule to the haughty bravado of the Ogun state governor as a political leader with any substance.

The celebration of 1985 marked the beginning of another glorious reign of the Kabiyesi’s tenure. The Regbe-Regbe age grade was reintroduced and announced on radio and television after its approval by the Awujale. The ancient idea to pull all Ijebu sons and daughters into age grade associations was initially muted by Otunba ‘Taiyese, Adetunji Adesoye.

The Awujale, as easy and simple as he was accepted the idea and suggested that we pursue its practicality. A committee was subsequently set up and its members were Otunba Adesoye; chairman, Alhaji Lekuti, member, and the writer of this article Professor Bankole Okuwa was the secretary.

We did the work and set up the scenario for all Ijebu sons and daughters to organize themselves into age grades as laid down in our publication. The Awujale approved it and told me to have the announcement made on Ogun Radio and the OGTV for all the sons and daughters of Ijebu within Nigeria and in diaspora.

From that particular time, the pomp and pageantry that annually accompany the Ojude-Oba event grew several folds, in an unprecedented fashion and in the collective hope for a more meaningful preservation of traditional legacy which has become part of all Ijebu youth.

Today Ojude-Oba has become an institution of a major event among similar events in Nigeria such as the Durbar in Kaduna. In 1985, a special Ojude-Oba was held in honour of the Awujale for the 25th anniversary celebration.

To my memory, I could not remember when Ojude-Oba was specially held for any unique purpose before that time. The usual nature of Ojude-Oba was to visit and pay homage to the Awujale by Ijebu people (the Muslims) especially the Balogun families of Ijebu-Ode, riding on horse backs with appreciable music of all kinds.

They all display their colours, beauty and fancy, dancing along a traditional route which every one knows so well in Ijebu-Ode. But today, a few changes have taken place. While the horse riders still do their merry-go-round the town, the age grade associations have virtually taken over the festivities at the Awujale palace. The organization and the positioning of several event schedules for the Ojude-Oba have become exceedingly sophisticated. The population of Ijebu-Ode during the Ileya festival until after the celebration of Ojude-Oba on the third day doubles without any doubt. Coming from other parts of the country to watch the Ojude-Oba event may soon become a social pilgrimage. Long live our Baba,the Awujale, Long live Ijebu kingdom, the transformation of which is imminent as a new state within the federation of Nigeria.

The Incredible Reconciliation.
After a severe storm comes some atmospheric tranquility. Some amicable reconciliation between Chief Bisi Onabanjo and the Awujale was arranged by people of goodwill so that Chief Onabanjo could regain some spiritual and psychological repose in Ijebu-Ode since he was a native of the town.

The Babangida regime had benevolently extended the humane aspect of its domestic policy to the former governor by allowing him to go to Britain in order to take care of his poor health, which had seriously deteriorated when he was in prison.

A prominent Ijebu-Ode born journalist who was the press secretary to the military President Babangida was rumoured to have helped in getting Babangida’s government to allow Chief Onabanjo the rare privilege of being released to take care of his health and travel out of the country.

This individual would rather have his name kept secret and I am not going to reveal it in this write-up, but if you know him, good-luck to you. The only remark I am inclined to make is to say that the individual concerned was not in the good book of Chief Onabanjo and they did not share a common political persuasion.

Many people do not reflect on what they do or the way they behave. Otherwise, a leader must always be fully aware of his pattern of behaviour and the purpose of that attitudinal pattern.

The reconciliation which occurred between Chief Onabanjo and the Awujale was assigned to the ex-president, ex-General; Chief Olusegun Obasanjo by people of goodwill.

On Monday October 1 , 1979, General Obasanjo was rudely denied the receptional and joyous public parade which the people of Owu had planned to welcome him home after transferring political power to Alhaji Shagari in Lagos.

The ordered state cancelation of Obasanjo’s welcome parade which was organized by the Owu people was a shame which defies common sense and decency, but the same Obasanjo came to settle the negatively entrenched differences between Bisi Onabanjo and the Kabiyesi when Bisi Onabanjo needed such a settlement with the Awujale he wanted to destroy.

The issue could be settled because the Awujale had won the struggle and Onabanjo was a helpless son of the Awujale who needed some moral boost at that time. By the time Obasanjo’s plea was concluded, Chief Onabanjo had no choice other than to rise and prostrate fully to ask for the forgiveness of the Kabiyesi.

The Awujale must be seen a great monarch because he forgave Chief Onabanjo and some kind of cautious relationship occurred between them before the ex-governor died in 1989. After his death, the Awujale installed two expensive prayer lecterns at Christ Church Porogun, Alapo, Ijebu-Ode in remembrance of his old adversary.

The prayer lecterns are still there with full inscription of the purpose till this moment. A good number of the Second Republic political office holders who were incarcerated for some reason by the Buhari regime died in detention owing to their poor health conditions and inadequate medical care at the detention facilities.

The writer of this article is aware of some bogus and inaccurate publications which continue to circulate our communities about events some later- day opinion writers neither knew nor witnessed during Chief Onabanjo’s governorship in Ogun state. I have read some of these accounts which are grossly incorrect and at best were based on falsified rationales.

I would not know why some people engage in writing thrash to deceive the public with the hope of making money. They claim conducting some research which cannot see the light of day, the findings and results, which do not exist anywhere.

I still hope to write about other events, political in nature, which occurred within our great party; the Unity Party of Nigeria. Those of us who desperately wish to make cheap money by publishing falsities, lies and rationalized untruth should think twice before engaging in such resentful adventures again.

Journalism is a noble profession but in our society, its value has been terribly diminished because we are basically dishonest, we love to promote sensations and false stories in order to fool those who are not privileged to know about the event we are discussing or are ignorant of them as they unfold. Kabiyesi, Oba Awujale, ki Ade pe l’ori, ki bata pe l’ese, Oba to ju Oba lo, Ogbagba a gba ote w’ole, Kaaaabiyesi, ee pe fun gbogbo Ijebu, gbogbo Orisa Ijebu a gbe yin and the Almighty God will continue to protect you and guide you for ever and ever, Amin Ase.

Culled from IJEBU CONGRESS