Aareonakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Abiodun Ige Adams yesterday said the new Local government bill will enhance the development at the grassroots.
Speaking in Ikorodu, Lagos, during the 2019 edition of Ogun Festival, the Yoruba leader affirmed his beliefs in the autonomy of the local governments, saying the old arrangements had only made the local governments lose their relevance.
He said the new arrangement will boost infrastructure and bring about about healthy relationship and competition that will later translate to the overall development of the entire state.
“Within the purview of my position as the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, I think the newly amended bill for local governments autonomy was a welcomed development. Before the new development, the local governments across the country have lost their relevance”
But the new bill really raised the hope of the people at the grassroots. As far as I am concerned, I know the bill will surely expose the potentials of the local governments by bringing development to the grassroots”.
“Local government remains the closest to the people and the people will surely feel the impacts with emerging young and brilliant politicians coming up for elective positions”
Happily, the bill will reduce the idea of political godfatherism and will also open up the political space for independent candidates.
This is an opportunity for young politicians that had suffered political loneliness in the hands of political leaders”
Adams insisted that there are alot of potentials at the grassroots, especially,with young politicians emerging from the grassroots warning that state governments should not feel threatened by this development because the glory of all the development coming from the local governments is surely theirs.
Representative of Ikorodu Monarch, and Chairman Council of Baale in Ikorodu, Chief Odusoga, his remarks, expressed worry at the pace by which the
Yoruba culture and tradition is going into extinction.
He lamented the gross neglect of the core values of the Yoruba race, saying those values are the traits that made the Yoruba race the pride of all races.
“All glory to God for making Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Abiodun Ige Adams, the torch bearer for cultural transformation.
Aare Gani Adams has{uu=o been doing a yeoman’s job, providing platform like this to promote the cultural identity of our race. Therefore, I urge all Yoruba sons and daughters from across the country to support him in members
Chairman of the occasion, Chief Abiola Olowu extolled the chief promoter of Olokun Festival Foundation(OFF) for committing financially to this project, adding the best could be done by raising the bar in Festival celebration.
He charged all the guests to support Aare in his quest to liberate the Yoruba race.
On the festival, Iba Adams further re-echoed the importance of Ogun Festival, saying the deity is mostly referred to as the God of Iron.
“We can hardly live without using the world’s technology. That largely accounts for the supreme powers of Ogun. Stories of his superior powers as the first of the primordial deities are well documented in Yoruba history and mythology. Ogun is a divine being with godly characters.
“According to our tradition and the history handed down to us,Ogun played important roles when other deities were coming from heaven to the earth. He is mostly visible in traditional festivals and rituals”