Ijesa people in support of college upgrade, says Oba Aromolaran

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo

Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Gabriel Aromolaran, has said that the people of Ijesaland are in support of the decision of Governor Gboyega Oyetola on the upgrade of the College of Education, Ilesa to a university.

Oba Aromolaran said the people of the area are united on the upgrade.

The traditional ruler said this when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the state, Senator Ademola Adeleke, visited his palace in Ilesa, to seek his royal blessing before the commencement of his campaign.

Earlier, Adeleke said the college of education should have been upgraded since the inception of Oyetola’s administration, if truly his decision on the issue was genuine.

He said: “In 2018, I talked about a university for Ijesa people. When I raised it, the Oyetola-led administration said they will also do it.

“If they are truly willing to do it, they ought to have taken steps since he assumes office.

“By now, the university ought to have commenced operation.

“I am promising you that when I get to the office, I will start what is called procedure and when we proceed like this, the university will start operation.”

But in his response, Oba Aromolaran said that government would always follow due process before taking any step.

The monarch said: “It is not that they just made the announcement; it requires time and several steps. 

“It is not possible for government to make a promise and not fulfil it. 

“They will start very soon. You know when the government made the pronouncement of upgrading the College of Education to a university, the government followed the law.

“Every action of government must be gazette. The present government is working on the gazette and before June, the upgrade will start. 

“They cannot announce it in a day and change it to university that same day; it is not possible.

“I congratulate the Ijesa people for the promise which has come to fruition. We are united in Ijesa over the matter.”

Oba Aromolaran also boasted that the Ijesa people are independent of government and don’t need money from anybody.

“We are not here to abuse anybody. You said the other time that the people of Ijesa are suffering; we are hungry truly but God will continue to feed us.

“In Ijesa, we are independent of the government. We built the palace ourselves without collecting a dime from outsiders. The current governor wanted to give us money but we did not collect except for our sons and daughters.

“The only thing we demanded from the governor was to help us inaugurate it. We don’t need any money from anybody. We built a hospital for the aged,” the royal father said.

Adeleke, who also decried the rate of suffering in the state, assured that he would do the needful to alleviate the misery when elected the governor.

He said he has a track record of keeping promises when he was representing his constituency at the Senate, stressing that things will change when he comes to power.

“Osun is suffering too much. We are tired of promise and fail. The roads are bad; it is even worst in Ilesha. Even the road that leads to the palace is in bad condition. 

“We will do the needful. Give us your royal blessing before we commence the campaign,” he said.