By Ayodele Abere
The Traditional Ruler of Igede in Irepodun/Irepodun Local Government Area of Ekiti State, His Royal Majesty, Oba James Adelusi Aladesuru II, the Onigede of Igede-Ekiti, has appealed to the State government to revamp the historical Elemi river in the ancient town and make it a center of tourism.
The monarch made this appeal while addressing journalists at his palace as part of the activities put in place to celebrate the 90th birthday and 64th coronation anniversary of the adjudged long reigning king in Nigeria.
According to Oba Aladesuru, “in 1987, when we were to worship the river with a cow, as we got there, we saw chickens of different colours on the it. It was a wonderful experience and that was my first time of seeing such”.
The Kabiyesi noted that Elemi usually gave hens to people to go and rear, and that after they had grown and hatched, the chicks hatched by that particular hen given would be brought back to Elemi in appreciation of the gift of the hen.
“Since the river is no longer flowing well, we don’t usually experience such again”. said the Kabiyesi.
In his own reaction, High Chief Adebayo Fadairo, Olota of Igede-Ekiti, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, explained that, Igede has lots of potential tourism. “We have Elemi, Osun and Ogbese, even mountain that has hot water and lots more.
“We’ve been trying on Osun for the past five years now and we have been having Osun festival every May 27th and people come all over the world.
“We are appealing to the government, we wrote to the Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Abuja, and that of the State. They have been supporting us but we are still appealing to them to come to our aid and make sure the thing is big and well placed all over the world”.
Also, one of the High Chiefs of the town, Surveyor Peter Adeyinka Adeleye, the Adara of Igede-Ekiti, said Igede-Ekiti has been a local government headquarters in name and not in tools as he stated that the town lacks good roads and infrastructure.
“I make bold to say that this is local government headquarters in name not in tools because no good roads, no infrastructure.
You can scarcely go on any road without tears and the health centres are glorified dispensaries without having equipment.
“As a result, many people don’t go there because they don’t serve the people well, they need improvement, the schools too need improvement and we really need a technical college here to train carpenters, electricians, builders etc so that they can graduate and replace old people who are dying.
“We need government to reconstruct the road from Ado-Ekiti to Iyin, Igede, Aramoko down to Ilesha which have been abandoned since 1983”. The High Chief requested.
Another Chief , Engr. Philip Ayodeji Adebolu, the Ajiroba of Igede-Ekiti, remarked that there was a road that was started several years ago and was to go from Ado-Ekiti to Itawure, that road was abandoned over several years but the previous administration started it again from Ado-Ekiti to Iyin and stopped. Chief Ajiroba explained.
“It will be good if this road continues to ease traffic, enable business to strive in the state and it will help the State to develop”. He however appreciated the State Governor, Mr. Biodun Abayomi for doing things well.
The 64 years reign of the monarch, Oba James Adelusi Aladesuru, the Onigede of Igede-Ekiti, who ascended the throne of his progenitors on 26th June, 1959 was said to have brought remarkable progress and lofty achievements to the town and its people.