Chief Oluyemisi Adetayo Adeaga, the President General of Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), is a Chartered Accountant who retired from the public service of Oyo State government before venturing into private business. In this interview with KUNLE BAKARE, he reveals how CCII is contributing to the growth of the state and ways to actualise Ibadan State.
Can we meet you, Sir?
I am Chief Oluyemisi Adetayo Adeaga, the President General of the umbrella body of all the associations in Ibadan. I worked with the Oyo State government before I retired to start my own business. Presently, I am fully engaged in humanitarian services to the community through the Nigerian Red Cross Society in which I am a national office as a member of the Governing Board from 2015 to date. I am the Chairman of a petroleum company, though not very religious but I see myself as a godly person, seeking peace and run away from discord. I always promote the tradition and culture of my home community and Yoruba people generally anywhere I find myself.
Can you tell us about the uniqueness of Ibadan city?
Ibadan is a place consisting of people from different socio-political backgrounds in the ancient towns of Yorubaland, from Ife, Owu, Ogbomoso, Oyo and different places, mainly warriors who had made their marks in various wars involving their communities that gathered to form Ibadanland. So it is a fusion of various powers, physical and spiritual, into a good political establishment that brought about what later became Ibadan nation, a city with 21 towns, 1621 villages that look boundless, ever-expanding with a Kabiyesi that ruled over the land.
What has been the achievements of the CCII in the development of Ibadan?
One of them is the establishment of grand rooted respect for the stool and position of the Olubadan of Ibadanland. We have brought some influence to the values that will enhance the socio-cultural growth of the city. We also ensure a peaceful cohabitation of Ibadan indigenes with other tribes, assist any government in power in areas such as the education sector and others that will benefit the people of the state.
How do you intend to build on the foundation of your predecessors?
Everything that my predecessors, from inception till date, did are positive. Though there is no perfect system, the more reason why things keep changing and life dynamic. So for now, what we need to do is to look into some areas where gaps exist. One of them is the re-establishment of the loving relationship that we inherited from our forefathers which values are fast eroding because of the realisation of promoting self-esteem and which had given way to a lot of hatred and disagreement among the natives themselves and also non-indigenes.
Also, the issue of youth restiveness will be addressed while we will also try to ensure that those who believe in the court as a way of settling issues will be encouraged to settle issues amicably because I see those things as inter-area or compound challenges and all these people are our children. We have identified areas of gaps to turn the strength of the youths into more positive things than negative ones. We want to promote love and peace among the people; promote mutual understanding and a positive attitude. We also want to ensure that the people know the real cultural value of Ibadan to bring progress to Ibadan and Oyo State in general.
We also want to ensure an effective installation and security for the position of Olubadan from any possible external attacks either political or structural, because that is the symbol that represents all of us. Sensitive issues will be taken over by the CCII as we have always been doing in the past. We want to ensure that the people understand the real cultural values of Ibadan and make good use of them to promote tourism, and by doing this, Ibadan will soon become a tourist destination in Nigeria and all over the world.
We want to thank God for what Chief Dotun Sanusi and all other people in the hospitality sector are doing, we now have A-list hotels and amusement centres in Ibadan. In essence, we want to bring everybody together to contribute their quota to the growth of Ibadanland.
The clamour for Ibadan State seems to have gone under as a result of the recent clamour to have Odua Nation out of Nigeria. What is your take on this?
With God nothing is impossible, and I want to say that we have in the National Assembly now active representation by those who are representing us there. Recently, the immediate past President-General, Chief Yemi Soladoye and I were in Lagos to present a paper at the National Assembly public hearing towards amending the constitution and we presented papers on the case for the creation of Ibadan State. In the course of doing that, we made suggestions on why it has been difficult for the creation of the state and lauded all the senators from Oyo State at the National Assembly for their contributions because they created the chance for us to present our case before the lawmakers.
The issue now is the clamour for Odua Nation, don’t you think this will jeopardise the efforts to realise Ibadan State?
Odua Nation is the wish of the people of Yorubaland and we are part of the people. However, we are leaders of people who have the independence to determine what they want to do and how they want to do it. If it becomes a collective thing, a good leader will support the followers on what they want to do. That’s exactly what a good leader should do. And I want to say that if the circumstance that is breeding this thought doesn’t change, perhaps, if the people want to go, we will go along with them because we do things along with the people. But I want to say that with Odua Nation, Ibadan State will still have its status. So, if it is created we will go as Ibadan State, and if not we will remain Ibadan State.
So when it comes to the issue of state creation that has gone beyond my personal opinion. We have grown beyond that, it is now what the people want and how they want it and we have various organs to express this position to such level as the national and state assemblies. Thus the agitation for Ibadan State are been sent to the appropriate channels to tell them what the people want. So when it comes to the leadership of the CCII, it is the way the people want it that we will support them.
The level of Insecurity is very prevalent in the country now, how do you think it can be curbed?
It is quite unfortunate that there is nowhere that is secured in the country today. But one of the challenges we have is the change in value which is causing the self-inflicted security challenges. Here in Ibadan, we are talking of the one million boys, that is not a Federal Government challenge but if you look at it indirectly it is a challenge that erupted from the system of government we have. There was a time that gross neglect of the education sector, teaching with striking teachers of the classrooms for a long period of months paving way for some decadence in children who engaged in so many atrocities with no direction. It will be better for the President to address the menace that cropped up as a result of that strike and to also address the challenges that are traceable to the federal government.
How would you advise youths in this era of inspirational vacuum, vis a vis the crave to make it at all cost?
There is nothing like making it the wrong way, and I don’t believe having money to throw about anyhow is making it. Making it is to be wise, been positively directed and be knowledgeable, not the possession of money and material things.
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