Omo Ibile Igbomina’s New President Urges Respect For Traditional Institutions, Promises To Rescue, Rebuild Igbominaland

New leaders who will run the affairs of Omo Ibile Igbomina took oath of office on Saturday with the National President, Chief Bisi Fakayode promising to hit the ground running while urging ‘unity of effort’ to rescue, revitalize, and rebuild Igbomina land.

‘Our vision as contained in our covenant, is: ‘to create an Igbomina Land where our heritage thrives, our safety is guaranteed, our political interests are unified, and a sustainable socioeconomic development is accomplished’ he submitted.

Chief Bisi Fakayode, who said this in his acceptance speech, also noted that ‘today marks an unmistakable turning point in the history of the Igbomina people’.

‘We gather not merely to celebrate a transition, but to also ignite a transformation. For us, this is the time to act boldly in the strategic interests of Igbomina land’ he added.

The new National President also touched on his four-year Transformation Agenda that according to him has a detailed roadmap from ‘rescue to rebirth’, built on ‘our collective will, our intellectual capital, and our unbreakable unity as a people’.

‘ The Security Rescue Plan: The crisis of security plaguing our farms, forests, and highways is an existential threat. We declare a state of emergency on safety. Working with all relevant agencies of government, we will immediately convene an Igbomina Security Compact (ISC), a unified strategy connecting all Royal Fathers, community leaders, hunters, and vigilantes. We will establish coordination centres per LGA and village-to-village rapid alert platforms. But we will not be solely defensive. Our strategy is two-fold: a Security Clearing operation using community-led patrols and technology, and a visionary Land Conversion Strategy.

Working with all the stakeholders, we will reclaim the vast, menacing bushes by turning them into Large-Scale Commercial Farming Clusters and Agro-Security Estates. This will be productive, fenced zones for maize, cashew, cassava, and livestock that will provide jobs for our youth and deny sanctuary to criminals. We will concurrently lobby for permanent security outposts in high-risk areas.

The Poverty & Economic Rescue Plan: Insecurity’s twin brother is poverty. We will launch the Igbomina Economic Revival Coalition (IERC), mobilizing our elites, professionals, and bankers to fund microbusiness grants and vocational hubs. Crucially, we will initiate the Igbomina Industrial Seeds Programme (IISP), moving from rhetoric to action. We have mapped it: Ifelodun for rice and honey processing; Irepodun for cashew and cassava processing; and Isin for cocoa and livestock. We will create investment booklets for each LGA and pursue Community-Investor Joint Ventures. Furthermore, we will establish Youth Employment Accelerator Centres for digital and agro-processing skills and a structured Diaspora Investment Fund to channel resources into strategic projects.

The Governance & Political Inclusion Rescue Plan: Our political fragmentation has been our Achilles’ heel. This ends now. We will form a Non-Partisan Igbomina Political Council (NPC). Every political representative from Igbomina will be required to sign a ‘Commitment Charter’ to our communal agenda and report progress quarterly at a Leaders’ Forum. We will mobilize our people to vote strategically and establish a Women Sensitization Forum to promote the active participation of Igbomina women in politics. Our goal is unified advocacy and undeniable relevance without any antagonism or bitterness towards any other blocs in our dear state. We will not close our eyes to strategic alliances, where such serves the interest of our people.

The Education Rescue Plan: Our schools must once again, be citadels of learning. We will launch a Teacher Quality Improvement Drive and a nationwide call for Alumni Give-Back Initiatives. We will champion the Adopt-A-School and Adopt-A-Child models, reviving our communal spirit to sponsor indigent students and renovate infrastructure, ensuring no Igbomina child is left behind. The death of this communal spirit has done so much harm to our collective good and it is time to rethink our approach.

The Primary Healthcare Rescue Plan: Health is wealth. We will partner with NGOs and foundations, among others, to reactivate all Primary Healthcare Centres and relaunch an Igbomina Mobile Clinic Project to reach our remotest communities. Maternal and child health will also be a non-negotiable priority’ he submitted while also disclosing what will be the subsequent steps.

‘With stability achieved, we will cement the gains and build enduring institutions that will propel Igbomina land into a prosperous future.

1. Revitalizing and Rebuilding Security: We will establish a permanent Igbomina Vigilante Academy and create digital land surveillance maps. Security will become a professional, community-owned institution within the boundaries allowed by our laws.
2. Revitalizing and Rebuilding the Economy: Our industrial seeds will blossom into Igbomina Economic Transformation Zones, birthing LGA-based commercial and agro-processing hubs. We will host an annual Igbomina Investment Summit to attract sustainable capital.
3. Revitalizing and Rebuilding Political Power: We will secure institutional representation for Igbomina in state committees and publish annual Igbomina Policy Position Papers to guide our representatives. Our political unity will be structured,
   permanent, and pragmatic.
4. Revitalizing and Rebuilding Education & Health: We will found the Igbomina Teachers Fellowship for continuous training and upgrade our PHCs into mini-medical centres with telemedicine capabilities, supported by a Community Health Endowment Fund.

The Engine of Our Transformation: The Underlying Assumptions.

This agenda is pragmatic and progressive. It is powered not by a government treasury, but by a five-pillar engine of Stakeholder Mobilisation, Influence & Advocacy, Public-Private-Community Partnerships (PPCP), Strategic Coordination, and Evidence-Based Planning.

We will mobilise our Kings, our elites, our women and youth groups, our churches and mosques, and our mighty diaspora. We will use our collective voice to advocate, our unity to attract partnership, and data to ensure accountability’ he said.

Chief Bisi Fakayode also warned that henceforth no Igbomina son or daughter should criticize traditional rulers in Igbominaland in public while urging every Igbomina son and daughter to work as one.

‘This is the time for the retiree to offer counsel, the professional to offer expertise, the trader to invest in a community bond, the farmer to join a cluster, the youth to seize a training opportunity, and the diaspora member to channel his or her resources home strategically.

We must revive the spirit of ‘Owe’ – communal labour. Let the banker in Lagos design our trust fund, let the engineer in Canada advise on our agro-estates, let the teacher in Oro mentor our children, and let the farmer in Omupo till the reclaimed land’ he added.

In an interview with Team@orientactualmags.com, the Financial Secretary of the association, Engineer Jibola Olugbenga said necessary efforts will be made to actuate the agenda plan of the new exco.

‘We want to thank God for this new exco. You know we have a very capable and energetic president this time around in the person of Bisi Fakayode and we have worked assiduously together to see that we contact every important Igbomina son and daughter, this is a joint project and we have everything that is needed to actualize the dream.

By the time we interact with every Igbomina person, you will see that the issue of funding will not be a problem. As far as I know, Igbomina is having over 80 wards in Kwara State and by the time we interact with the CDA’s and well-meaning Igbomina people so many things will be achieved by the grace of God’ he said.

‘We are well prepared because if you listen to the National President, Comrade Bisi Kayode’s acceptance speech, you will know that this present team, this present National Executives of Omo-Ibile Igbomina, we are fully ready to put all the points contained in our agenda plan into action, Igbomina as a people has a very large expanse of land. We have two local governments in Osun State, and three in Kwara State here.
We have the needed synergy , we are working together as one and by the grace of God, the blueprint which has been read out by the National President, we are going to ensure full implementation by the grace of God’ the National Publicity Secretary, Barrister Bisi Adedayo also submitted.

Omo Ibile Igbomina is a socio-cultural organization that represents the interests of the Igbomina people and there was a delegation from Ila-Orangun, Osun State that attended the inauguration ceremony of the new national executives at the Igbomina House, Ganmo on Saturday, which was headed by the Ejemu of Ila-Orangun, Chief Paul Ogunrinade.

Was he at the event because Ila-Orangun is the traditional headquarters of Igbomina people?

‘Yes, but it is not entirely because Ila is like the traditional headquarters for all of us’ he quipped.

‘Anytime we celebrate Igbomina people like it is being done today, I should be there to oversee things on behalf of Kabiesi Orangun and we work together. We are siblings and we share the same name’ he added.

.Chief Paul Ogunrinade also noted that he was glad that the event went well.

‘It was a very successful programme and I’m happy to be invited and Iam happy to see Igbomina people in unity. What I’m very excited about is the unity that has been demonstrated by Igbomina people from all the towns in Igbominaland here. It is something to be very happy about and it reinforces the belief that what we are after will be ours’ he said.

Prominent Igbomina indigenes at the event include former Military Administrator of Bauchi and Osun States, retired Colonel Theophilus Bamigboye, Deputy Chief of Staff, Government House, Ilorin, Princess Adebukola Babalola, former Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Raheem Adedoyin, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, members of the state house of Assembly, Hon AGF Salahudeen and Hon Shola Odetundun, chairman of Ifelodun local government, Hon Femi Yusuf, chairman of Irepodun Local Government, Hon Abdulazeez Aremu Yakubu, chairman of Isin local government, Hon Benjamin Jolayemi, Executive Chairman of Kwara State Internal Revenue Service, Mrs. Shade Omoniyi, Professor Muritala Awodun , Olupo of Ajase-Ipo, Oba Ismail Alebiosu, Olomu of Omu-Aran, Oba Abdulraheem Oladele Adeoti , Olupako of Shaare, Oba Haruna Olawale, former Speaker Babatunde Mohammed, Hon Jide Ashonibare, Hon Tunde Fadipe, Hon Abdulrahman Akanni, Henry Olaosebikan, Alhaja Shakirah Omobolanle Saheed, Hon Kazeem Adekanye, and Hon Tunde Fadipe-Team@orientactualmags.com   Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08035023079, 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com.  Thank you.