Eminent personalities from all walks of life on Wednesday gathered on Ibadan, the Oyo State capital to shower encomiums on late Senator Abiola Ajimobi on his post humous 71st birthday, calling for devolution of power and true federalism.
The occasion was the Third Senator Abiola Ajimobi Foundation ceremony and public lecture organised in collaboration with the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies of the University of Ibadan, where late Ajimobi was given admission for Ph.D before he died on June 25, 2020.
In attendance were many dignitaries, including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented by the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun; Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Babatunde Ekanola; and other principal officers of the institution.
In the Ajimobi entourage were the Governor of Kano State and in-law to Ajimobi, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje; his wife, Prof. Hafsat; children of Ajimobi; officers of the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies, led by Prof. Isaac Albert (Dean); and its Director, Prof. Tajudeen Akanji.
Thereafter, the sod of the proposed multipurpose 450-seater Senator Abiola Ajimobi Resource Auditorium, which the widow of the family said would be commissioned during the next post humous (72nd) birthday, was turned.
The Acting VC promised to work in synergy with the Foundation to ensure that the conditions enshrined in the MoU are followed to the letter “for the advancement of knowledge and preservation of the name of Senator Ajimobi so long as this institution continues to exist”.
The lecture proper, which was entitled: “States and the burden of National Development in Nigeria,” chairmanned by the former Osun State Governor and ex-Interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Bisi Akande, had in attendance many dignitaries, both physically and virtually.
Among them was the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was represented by the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat.
Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, who was the Keynote Speaker on the occasion, addressed the gathering virtually via the Zoom technology.
Others present included Governors of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN); Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State; Governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, who was represented by his Deputy, Benedict Alabi; former Deputy Governors of Oyo State, Iyiola Oladokun and Moses Alake Adeyemo; Chief Adebayo Adelabu, gubernatorial candidate of the APC in the 2019 election in Oyo State; Chief Akin Oke, former Chairman of the APC in Oyo State; first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Folake Solanke; Dr. Onikepo Alande; Senator Teslim Folarin (Oyo Central); Senator Abdulfatai Buhari (Oyo North); and Basorun Kola Daisi,
Among the royal fathers of the day were the Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, who was represented by the Samu of Oyo, High Chief Lamidi Oyewale; and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja 1.
The lecture was preceded by the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Ibadan and the Board of Trustees of the Senator Abiola Ajimobi Foundation, led by its President Chief Florence Ajimobi, the widow.
In her opening address, Florence said the 2020 edition of the Roundtable “provides the platform to discuss the critical roles States can and should understandably play in facilitating national development in Nigeria.
“A number of amendments in the country’s laws has been made, yet complaints about inadequacies abound all over the geopolitical zones of the Federation.”
Tinubu praised the Ajimobi family for keeping the flame alive by holding the Roundtable on yearly basis.
He praised late Ajimobi, who he described as having performed adroitly, “bringing an unprecedented level of civic pride and public works to Oyo”, and flayed the over-centralisation of power in the country.
He said: “Our system remains too centralised with too much power and money remaining within the federal might.
“This imbalance leads to relative state weakness.
“We need to overhaul how revenues are allocated between the States and the Federal Government.”
In his keynote lecture, Fayemi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, reinforced the burden of providing infrastructural facilities by governors to their people, noting that it is too much and that more funds should be provided for them to make the nation better.
His emphasis was on devolution of powers and review of the Nigerian Constitution to reflect true federalism that Nigeria really needs to develop among the comity of nations of the world.
Akanji described Ajimobi as a man of peace.
According him: “Late Senator Ajimobi is a man of peace.
“The roundtable was instituted by Senator Abiola Ajimobi to contribute to the national discourse.
“We pray may God grant him Aljanah Firdaus, Amin.”