The much-awaited coronation rites of the Orimolusi-Elect of Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State, Prince Lawrence Jaiyeoba Adebajo, publicly started on Thursday, 3 February, 2022 with the presentation of the Ìkaró by the Orimolusi-Elect to the Awujale of Ijebu land, Oba (Dr) S.K Adetona, CFR.
The Ìkaró presentation ceremony was held at the palace of the Awujale in Ijebu Ode, according to a statement made available to The Dream Daily Newspaper by Chief Press Secretary to the Olokine of Ojowo Kingdom, Chief Femi Ogunlari.
Going down memory lane at the event, Oba Adetona stated that the Orimolusi throne was created in ancient times in order to meld the five districts which make up Ijebu Igbo – Oke Sopen, Ojowo, Etikori, Oke Agbo and Japara – into one kingdom with a view to fostering unity among the peoples of the districts, which are today kingdoms over which second class kings reign.
In an assertion which recalled a long-drawn supremacy battle between him and the last Orimolusi of Ijebu Igbo, late Oba Adetayo Sami, the Awujale stated that the unity “purpose was achieved by late Oba Joel Adeboye” who reigned before Oba Adetayo but that “late Oba Adetayo could not achieve same”.
Against this backdrop of history, the Awujale enjoined the “Orimolusi-Elect to ensure that the unity of Ijebu Igbo larger community was not compromised”.
The paramount ruler of Ijebu land also charged the five district kings in Ijebu Igbo “to openly and individually pledge their loyalty to the Orimolusi-Elect,” which the Obas did publicly at the event by paying homage to Prince Adebajo and praying for the Orimolusi-Elect in order of their seniority, starting with the Sopenlukale, then followed by the Olokine, Kegbo, Bejeroku and Abijaparako in that order.
Subsequently, the Awujale called on the Ajalorun of Ijebu Ife, HRM Oba Adesesan Oguntayo and the Dagburewe of Idowa, HRM Oba Yinusa Adekoya to address the gathering. Both kings advised the Orimolusi-Elect, the five district Obas and all Ijebu Igbo indigenes to pursue their town’s “development through unity and oneness of purpose as advised by the Awujale”.
Thereafter, Oba Adetona used traditional items to pray for the Orimolusi-Elect. That rites completed, the Awujale formally welcomed the Orimolusi-Elect to the traditional council of Obas.
At the colourful and well-attended ceremony were many prominent sons and daughters of Ijebu Igbo, including elder statesmen like Mr. Olusegun Olusanya, Prof. Ayo Ogunye and a former Commissioner of Health in Ogun State, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, who narrated how the 27-year-old interregnum over the Orimolusi throne was resolved via a long legal battle which ended with a Supreme Court judgment delivered in February, 2021.
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