Lisabi Festival: Alake, Osile, Olowu, call for unity in Egbaland

The Alake and Paramount ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, the Osile of Oke-Ona Egba, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso and Olowu of Owu-Abeokuta kingdom, Oba (Prof.) Saka Matemilola have called for a greater unity among the Egbas at home and in diaspora in order to drive infrastructural growth and development in the state.

The monarchs spoke separately in their remarks at Mokola, in Abeokuta, during the celebration of the 37th Lisabi Festival and honour the late Otun of Egbaland, Chief Tairu Braimoh Olaleye, as the Hero of the Year.

Late Chief Tairu Braimoh Olaleye was honoured for his valiant contributions to the development of the Egba nation as the third Otun Egba from Oke-Ona Egba between 1907 and 1913.

Oba Gbadebo while describing the celebrations as the most successful festival in the region’s 15-year history, expressed gratitude to the family of the 2024 Lisabi Hero, led by Alhaji Sarafa Tunji Isola, Tayese of Egbaland and Nigeria’s immediate past High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

According to him, unity between the four divisions of Ake, Oke-Ona, Owu, and Gbagura was necessary to carry on the rich traditions of its ancestors in the areas of sound education, human development, particularly skills acquisition for continuous socioeconomic development of Egba-nation.

On his part, Oba Tejuoso stated that there was no longer room for difference among the people and traditional institutions, assuring the Alake and other divisions that Egbas would remain more united.

Also, Oba Saka Matemilola, expressed concern over disunity in Egbaland , which, he said, had negatively impacted the socioeconomic development of the Egba nation.

The Olowu emphasised the importance of utilising the yearly Lisabi Day cultural festival to emphasise what will improve Egbas’ togetherness rather than those trends towards division.

“We still have a lot of work to do, we should strive for more development of Egba-nation, particularly Abeokuta that should be competing favourably with Lagos in terms of physical infrastructure and others , Egbas in diaspora should come to fastrack development of Egbaland,” he said.

The Regency Council of Gbagura who was represented by Chief Sakirudeen Adenekan pledged the Gbaguras’ continued support for the unity of Egbas.

Speaking on behalf of the family of the year’s Lisabi Day Hero, Isola praised Alake and the entire Egbaland for recognising the achievements of his Grandfather to the prosperity of Egba-nation, while pledging to uphold the rich legacy of the Egba kingdom’s predecessors.

Highlight of the event was the unveiling of the statue of Chief Tairu Braimoh Olaleye at the family home.