By Banji Ayoola
The Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai, will on Monday, September 14 commission the age-long bridge over Osun River, which links Kuta, Ikoyi and Ede communities in Ayedire and Ede Local Government Areas of Osun State.
Also to be commissioned by Buratai is the new magnificent Palace of Olowu of Kuta, Oba Adekunle Oyelude, Tegbosun the Third, popularly called Makama.
The Royal Father confirmed the bridge’s commissioning in a message yesterday night to all his sons and daughters at home in Nigeria and in the Diaspora.
He wrote: “My dearest sons and daughters, I have the pleasure to happily announce to you that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt General TY Buratai, will be in Osun State on 14th September, 2020 to formally commission the Kuta – ikoyi – Ede Bridge. I just received his confirmation today. Congratulations to all of us. Kuta tuntun a gbe wa oooo.” (May the New Kuta favour all of us.)
Swiftly, the Kuta United Front, KUF, the umbrella organisation for all the sons and daughters of Kuta and Ikoyi, swung into action and fixed an extra-ordinary emergency meeting of its Central Planning Committee including all members of the Elders, Fund Raising, Publicity, Protocol, Security, Welfare and Venue Sub Committees for Thursday September 10 at 10.00 am at the Olowu Palace.
In an interview with The Radiance, today, KUF President, Mr Adegboyega Adeniran, elaborated on the meeting’s agenda, saying: “A meeting has been fixed for tomorrow Thursday 10th September 2020 at the Olowu’s Palace at 10 am for actions to be taken over all that we had agreed on earlier to make disbursements to ensure that the day does not fall short of expectation.
“By the grace of God, the Publicity Committee would go to the press today (Wednesday) to make sure that the programme is ready.
“Disbursements would be made to all other committees to ensure that they function as expected so that the day would be a glorious one for all of us.
“I was just speaking to the Security Sub Committee Head, Supol Lateef Ajani, retired. He has promised to be in Kuta tomorrow to ensure that the security aspect of the programme is put in place to ensure that we are all safe.
“It is true the Army is coming with its own security arrangement. Nevertheless, as hosts, we would ensure that adequate security is in place pre, during and after the programme.”
Adeniran especially thanked Oba Oyelude for his efforts in facilitating the bridge project’s completion and scheduled Monday commissioning, apart from initiating other landmark projects for the development of the town.
His words: “I put a call to the Kabiyesi in the early hours of the day. Just like all his sons and daughters, he felt elated and fulfilled. He is our father that God has used to accomplish this project and commissioning at a time like this. I feel happy for him and I expressed my happiness to him. I congratulated him.”
He said: “In all, to God be the glory for making this commissioning a reality in our own time especially now that He has privileged me to be President of KUF. We appreciate Him.”
He captured the mood and general feelings of the people of both communities saying: “I feel so elated and fulfilled especially that it is happening when it pleased God that I am President of Kuta United Front.
“I have been inundated will calls from numerous sons and daughters of Kuta and Ikoyi communities expressing their happiness and being fulfilled too that the official commissioning of the Kuta – Ikoyi – Ede Bridge is coming up at this time.
“The aura in town has been very high and everybody is expressing the joy of being part of the programme.
“I just received a call from some of those who are yet to participate financially that they cannot do without having their names appear on the list of contributors. The details have been sent to them. Some of them have responded. Many more would still do.”
He said: ”I congratulate all sons and daughters of Kuta and Ikoyi who have been part of the planning exercise since we started meeting over the commissioning taking place on September 14, 2020. I appreciate them.
“As many as have called, I congratulate them. I have spoken to about two committee subheads. The joy of it shows in the aura in the town. I believe that the Good Lord would give us the day by means of fair weather.
“I want to assure the general public that from the calls I have received, virtually all sons and daughters of Kuta and Ikoyi are planning to be part of the planning exercise.”
Also, the Chairman of Ayedire Local Government, who will host the COAS together with Oba Oyelude and Governor Gboyega Oyetola, Alhaji Mukaila Adeboye Oladejo, was thrilled that Kuta and Ikoyi communities are getting out of what he described as a dead end.
He told The Radiance: “We thank the Almighty God that Kuta is getting out of a dead end where it had been since inception. Kuta led to nowhere.
Promising to be actively involved in the commissioning progogramme, he said: “We thank Him that we are now getting connectivity with Ede with the help of the Chief of Army Staff Gen Tukur Buratai through the connection of the Olowu of Kuta, Oba Hammed Adekunle Makama Oyelude.
“I feel so honoured and great because our town is going to receive a large crowd of who is who in the country.
“The whole town is agog. Our people are happy that the age long road is getting connected. I feel so great that this is happening during my tenure as the Chairman of Ayedire Local Government.
“I would be visible during this occasion. I have been visible all along.”
Showering encomiums on the royal father, Oladejo said: “I thank the Olowu. He is one in a million because with his solo personal efforts, he has helped in accomplishing this feat. We appreciate him and pray that the Almighty would grant him long life and good health to pilot the affairs of Kuta for so long.
“We have a great Kabiyesi who is very versatile about the progress of the community.
“I thank all who have been involved in the planning. We are working as a team. I thank all our egbons, the professors, doctors and our juniors that we are getting out of a dead end.”
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is a prominent Owu son; Osun State Governor Gboyega Oyetola; Arole Oduduwa and Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja the Second; Chief of Defence Staff; Head of Army Information in Osogbo; the Army Commandant from Ibadan; and most of the Obas in Osun State among other eminent dignitaries across the country, are being expected at the commissioning.
The bridge, which since the settlement in Kuta and Ikoyi had perplexed the forefathers of the communities’ traditional rulers and people, and retarded their socioeconomic development, was completed recently by the Nigerian Army through the royal father’s robust relationship with the Army and particularly the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Gen Buratai.
Oba Oyelude on behalf of the communities, had earlier in an interview paid glowing tributes to Buratai and the Army he leads for breaking the age long jinx.
In an exclusive interview with The Radiance in his magnificent palace on Wednesday, August 19, he had paid glowing tributes to the Nigerian Army, and particularly the COAS, whom he said had been used by God Almighty to break an age long jinx that had perplexed his forefathers as well as those of the Timi of Ede, Oba Adesola Lawal, and the grandfathers of the entire people of the communities.
In the words of the royal father: “With what God has been using me to do, my subjects are full of gratitude to God. They can only pray for longevity of life from God. I have created a history, and we are still creating.
“There is an age long agitation on the Bridge. Over 500 years, my forefathers, and Kabiyesi Timi of Ede’s forefathers had been looking at it so that we would have a road network that links us; but the Osun River has been the barrier.
“Before the colonial era, they had been on it. But to God be the glory, our relationship with the Nigerian Army and the Chief of Army Staff, God has used Gen Buratai to become a jinx breaker. The bridge has been completed fully.
“Our able governor also has promised now that he is doing the road. I told Gen Buratai that he has given me retirement and pension because the day I was enthroned, before my community said a pregnant woman would deliver well, aboyun ile a bi were, agan a towo ala b’osun, the first thing they said was that l’asiko tiyin, oju ona Ede a lo. (during your reign, Ede road will be constructed.)
“And it has been done. It’s a fulfilled mission. So if God gives me a hundred years more alive, my people in Kuta are not expecting me to do any other thing. What they want me to do, what all my forefathers had not been able to do, I have done it.
“So if I do any other thing it is an addendum. I can pick my brief case and say I am going on holiday; I am going to Canada, Eskimos, anywhere in the world. I have fulfilled the mission of New Kuta. The aspiration of my forefathers that they were unable to fulfil, I have fulfilled it.”
On the reactions of his subjects, sons and daughters nationwide and worldwide to the bridge’s completion, he said that these have been electrifying.
He said: “Oh! It’s marvelous because they didn’t believe it could come this time around. They didn’t believe. Their fathers and forefathers had been contributing money and manpower to do it manually, but despite that, it didn’t materialise. Now without anybody contributing a penny the bridge has been completed.
He said most of his subjects are happy with the development in his kingdom since he ascended the throne about eight years ago, saying: “they believe they have never had it so good.”
On his experience on the throne, the royal father said: “To God be the glory, we give thanks to God and our ancestors. There are ups and downs; but I believe my subjects would be in the best position to tell you the general overall assessment. But I think it has all been good.”
On how far he has attained his dream of turning Kuta to a mini London, which he declared at his coronation eight years ago, he said: “My proclamation then was that this is New Kuta, Kuta tuntun; that the Kuta tuntun of my dream would be a mini London.
“And a mini London: turning an ancient community into a mini London is not a day journey. We are on it, and we are achieving it gradually. Like where you are interviewing me now. This used to be igbo igbale (sacred grove) then. Over 500 years ago, it had existed as igbo igbale.
“Now you are seeing a magnificent palace that can compare with any other palace in this country. That is what you would find here. That is a mini zoo by the other side of the palace. And I can assure you that we are getting to the dream and destination of mini London.”
Expressing pride in his ancestry of warriors, he said: “With all modesty, I feel sense of pride, having been an Owu monarch. First and foremost, I am an Owu son, Owu prince, then an offspring of Akindele Anlugbua the great Owu warrior. So I feel sense of pride.”
Stressing that the Owu people of the Yoruba race “are the Jews of Nigeria,” Oba Oyelude said: “This is because you find us scattered all over. No matter how small an Owu stead or community is, you still find one powerful person there that you cannot do without. That is how the Jews are all over the world.
“After the holocaust, the Jews scattered all over; and after the Yoruba internecine war in 1820, Owu scattered all over. And today, you hardly attain any height or do anything good without the involvement of an Owu son or daughter in this country.”
His words: “I am an Owu person. I am an Owu Oba. The GSM you are using to transmit your information was made possible in Nigeria by an Owu general, who was our former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. GTB Bank was started by an Owu son, Aderinokun. The likes of Adekunle Ojora are Owus; the Babalakins are Owus.
“We have many Owus that are contributing to nation building, that one way or the other you find that you cannot do anything successfully without the involvement of Owu. So that’s why I said that we are the Jews of this country.”
Altogether there are about 27 Owu communities in the country and they are bonded together in stronger unity and cohesion according to Oba Oyelude, who said: “We are united now than those days. We meet quarterly and annually we have a large gathering of all Owu sons and daughters for two days. We call it Owu National Convention.
“We have an umbrella body that unites us. It is known as Royal Union of Owu People (RUOP). That body is headed by the former Governor of old Ondo State, Gen Ekundayo Opaleye. We hold meeting from one Owu community to the other, we rotate it. So we are united.”
On how he acquired his popular name Makama, he said: Could you give us the story behind your additional name, Makama, he said: “That’s the name of my guardian in the North. It appears in most of my credentials. So I see no reason to remove it.
“As you are aware, an outsider cannot be enthroned as a monarch in Yorubaland. The name issue came up while the Governor wanted to approve my selection as a traditional ruler in the State Executive Council then, then Governor Raji Aregbesola.
“The Secretary to the State Government placed a call to me and said: “We are in the Council; we are in Exco. The Governor is about to sign your nomination as a traditional ruler in the Exco; but he said the name Makama should be struck out.” I said “Okay, so be it.” So it now remained Oba Hammed Adekunle Oyelude, Tegbosun the Third.
“But after enthronement, the first time I would visit the Governor to pay him a thank you visit, he was the first one that said: “Ha, Baba Makama.” I said: “Your Excellency, but you removed it.” He said: “I don’t want it to be on record that I approved an Oba with a foreign name.” I said: “Well.” But he is calling me Makama since then. We give God the glory.”
On the challenges he faces in ruling, he said changing his people’s orientation has been his major challenge especially the notion of people staying away from home to avoid being devoured by perceived witches and wizards.
His words: “But changing people, orientation and concept has always been a problem generally because some people still believe that they have to do things the old way.
“Yes, as traditional rulers, we are being enthroned to preserve culture and tradition. But we have to conform to modernity; and we have to move with the pace of time.
“In the past, people didn’t like coming home. We have sons and daughters of Kuta who are doing well in Iwo, Ibadan, Osogbo, England, Abuja, all over. But coming home they believe they would be killed by witches and wizards.
“But we are here. No witches and wizards kill anybody. Few days ago, I flew my family from Badagry down here in the palace with helicopters. Witches and wizards did not kill them. So I use that to encourage others to come.
“The challenges have been let our sons and daughters, our kith and kin believe in their ancestral place because if you don’t come here while you are alive, we would reject your corpse if you die. We would just send the corpse back to where you contributed to. Those are the challenges.”
He therefore appealed to his subjects far and near: “My message for my subject is that this is New Kuta. I want them to look back home; most of them that are not even up to tenants in Lagos or elsewhere and back home they are landlords, they should come back home.
“A lot of good things are happening at home. They should come back home. Let’s build the New Kuta of our dream together. As a leader, I am leading by example every day. I am contributing financially to this community on daily basis, on daily basis, like no other is doing. And I know that my subjects are capable. They should look back home.”
Oba Oyelude, a civil engineer by profession, described himself as “someone that does not believe no for an answer; someone that is so passionate about this tiny community but mighty in nature; someone that believe that Kuta could attain the pace which he dreamed of, that is becoming a small London.”
Besides, he described himself as open and friendly; “someone that believes in the instrumentality of the traditional institution; and he is someone that believes in polygamy among traditional rulers; and he is someone that is so passionate about Kuta.”
