The Alake and Paramount ruler of Egbaland, Oba Addition Aremu Gbadebo, the Osile of Oke-Ona Egba, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso and Olowu of Owu-Abeokuta kingdom, Oba (Prof.) Saka Matemilola have stressed the need for more unity among Egbas at home and in diaspora, so as as to fast track rapid infrastructural development of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital
The three top monarchs in Egbaland made the call on Thursday in their separate remarks during visitation ceremony to the Mokola family home of the 37th Lisabi Day cultural festival's Hero, Late Chief Tairu Braimoh Olaleye who is being celebrated for his heroic contributions to development of Egba- nation as the third Otun Egba from Oke-Ona Egba between 1907 and 1913
Oba Gbadebo was full of praises for the family of the 2024 Lisabi Hero led by Nigeria's immediate former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Tayese of Egbaland, Alhaji Sarafa Tunji Isola for what he described as the most successful celebration of the festival in the past 15th editions under his reign as Alake of Egbaland
The paramount ruler emphasized unity among the four divisions of Ake, Oke-Ona, Owu and Gbagura to enable Egbaland to sustain its strong legacies of fore-fathers in areas of sound education and other human capital development, particularly skills acquisition for continuous socio-economic development of Egba-nation
Similarly, the Osile of Oke-Ona Egba, Oba Tejuoso reassured Alake and other divisions that Egbas would continue to be more united , saying there is no more room for disunity among the people and traditional institution in Egbaland
Earlier, the Olowu of Owu-Abeokuta kingdom, Oba Saka Matemilola had expressed concern over the disunity among Egbas which had seriously affected socio-economic development of Egba-nation, particularly Abeokuta which according to him, should be competing favourably with Nigeria's commercial city of Lagos
The Olowu stressed the need to always use the celebration of the annual Lisabi Day cultural festival to focus more on what will strengthen the unity among the Egbas and not those divisive tendencies
"We still have a lot of work to do, we should strive for more development of Egba-nation, particularly Abeokuta that should be competing favourably with Lagos in terms of physical infrastructure and others , Egbas in diaspora should come to fastrack development of Egbaland" ,he emphasized
The Regency Council of Gbagura was represented at the ceremony by Chief Sakirudeen Adenekan who pledged continuous support of the Gbaguras for the unity of Egbas
Speaking on behalf of the family of this year's Lisabi Day Hero, Chief Sarafa Tunji Isola appreciated Alake and entire Egbaland for recognizing the contributions of his Grand Father to the progress of Egba-nation while promising to sustain the rich heritage of the forefathers of the Egba kingdom
High point of the event was unveiling of the statue of Chief Tairu Braimoh Olaleye at the family home
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