Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

Ajia, the ancestral village of Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, is in Ona Ara Local Government Area of the state. The village is surrounded by communities like Alakia, Adegbayi, Ajoda New Town, Egbeda, Badeku, Jago, Olokemeji, Ojoku, Amuloko and Akanran. 

The atmosphere in Ajia village was electrified recently as Governor Makinde was received in grand style by his kinsmen amid drums and fanfare. The villagers were joined by illustrious sons and distinguished daughters of the village to give Makinde a warm reception.

For the governor, it was a triumphant entry, with the chorus of  ‘Omi tuntun’ (fresh water) renting the atmosphere.

Pupils of primary and secondary schools in the village, including their teachers, lined up on both sides of the road from the frontage of the headquarters of Inukan Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Ajia and waved to the governor as the convoy went slowly between them.

The reception was held at Cocoa Culture, in front of Pa Olatubosun Makinde Media and Agro Allied Complex, Ajia, Ibadan. The late Pa Olatubosun Makinde was the governor’s father.

Some in the crowd had to mount trees to enable them catch a glimpse of the governor. Scores of traditional chiefs were also in attendance to honour the governor.

“A prophet is not without honour, except in his own town,” so says the Bible. But that was not applicable in the case of the people of Ajia. They honoured Makinde on the special day to show that they value him so much.

Chairman, Ajia and Its Environs Descendants’ Union, Mr. Amos Fakayode, an engineer, in his welcome address, lauded Makinde for making Ajia and Oyo State proud, through his achievements within the first 100 days in office. He noted that even as a private citizen, the governor had singlehandedly provided electricity to the community.

Fakayode appealed to the governor to provide good road networks into and out of Ajia; pay attention to the employment and empowerment of its youths and above all, make it a model village with model primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, among others.

He noted that Ajia community would remain solidly behind the governor and continue to pray for his successful tenure in the office.

A former Head of Service in the state and a native of Ajia, Pa. Theophilus Akinyele, who noted that Ajia village had also produced three heads of service for the state, enjoined Makinde to continue to place premium on the welfare of people as he had been doing as a private citizen, and make Ajia a model village as it obtains in South Africa and some other places.

A veteran popular radio presenter, Alhaji Olalomi Amole, who anchored the reception, allowed interludes of song renditions by students and groups between each of the speech presentations. One of the troupes successfully made Makinde to stand up from his seat and join the dancers m on the stage for a brief dance.

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Governor Makinde, in his address, noted: “It has been said that a prophet is without honour in his own town. But today, the people of Ajia, my kinsmen, have honoured me and you have not made selfish demands from us. You have asked us to govern with integrity and the fear of God; you have warned us to be wary of sycophants and to continue to pay attention to the welfare of the people as we have been doing. I assure you that we will do all these and many more in fulfilment of our promises.”

He noted that he would have single-handedly constructed the road to Ajia in 2014, but for the administration of Senator Abiola Ajimobi that frustrated his plan.

The paper work, he said, had been completed and the budget had been drawn, but the then administration did not give approval for the construction of about three-kilometre road that would have linked Ajia village with Ibadan-Ife Road.

He explained that the time he wanted to do the road construction with the support of Pa Theophilus Akinyele, was about the same time the popular Aleshinloye Market, Ibadan got burnt in 2014 and it was discovered that the fire service station in the market could not respond to the inferno because of lack of water.

Makinde said he decided to sink a borehole for the fire service station so that the fire fighters would have access to water to adequately respond to such disaster in the future. He added that while work was nearing completion, some sponsored hoodlums stormed the fire service station, vandalised the borehole drilling equipment and brought stones with which they filled up the borehole.

Makinde said he had to halt his plans for the road construction so that a similar fate would not befall the construction equipment. He, however, promised that his administration would commence work on the construction immediately the dry season begins.

Makinde also told the people of the state to get prepared for unprecedented development with him at the helm of affairs so as to reward the people across the state for voting for him.

“As I stand in front of you, I promise that I will not disappoint the people of the state. I am telling you here today, prepare yourself for the unprecedented development of the state,” he assured.

“We have started talking with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). They have given us their conditions to upgrade Ibadan Airport to a facility where bigger aircraft would be landing and taking off. This means, all the communities around the airport will increase in value because cargo business will start in the airport soon, and horticultural and other agricultural outputs will also be airlifted from Ibadan Airport.

“We will do it in such a way that people that are coming from Osun, Ekiti, and Ondo States would not have to go to Lagos to board an aircraft. This will be an opportunity for us.

“Whatever God has predestined for a person will surely come to pass in the life of the person. Who could have said that the grandson of a school food seller, grandson of a bean cake seller, the grandson of traditional palm oil producer would be the first to become governor that Ajia would produce?”

The reception was attended by top government officials, including the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Olubamiwo Adeosun, chairman of the Advisory Council, Senator Hosea Agboola; commissioners special advisers, heads of parastatals and other officials.