At the back drop of mind blowing achievements being recorded by Governor of Lagos state, Babajide Olushola Sanwo-Olu, youthful politician cum broadcaster, Prince, Ladega Ibrahim, has urged students of Lagos State University (LASU) who are of the Awori extraction, to continue to give necessary support to the governor so he can further dispense dividends of good governance to the people of the state.
The Awori Prince made the admonition at the celebration of Awori day, as convened by Ikeja Division of Lagos State University.
Making a case for why the governor deserves all the support he could get from the Aworis, Ladega made reference to all the beautiful projects as being executed in Alimosho area of the state, a place believed to be dominated by the Aworis. He further pointed at other laudable projects that have been carried and being carried by the Sanwo-Olu led administration as more reason why not just the Aworis should support the governor but the entire people of the state as the number one citizen has not discriminated against any set of people in the state even as the governor doesn’t play politics with development of the state and the people. Oladega pointed at how the number one indigene of the state has continued to complete all the projects his predecessors started, no matter where such projects are situated.
Meanwhile, in his paper titled “Awori Race, The Youth on Rescue Mission”, Ladega started by going down the memory lane to recall the origin of the Awori. “The Awori as a race and one of the direct lineages of Oduduwa, moved from Ile-Ife to their current settlement in Lagos and Ogun state through the Ogun River, Odo Ogun in the current Agboyi Ketu LCDA in Kosofe.’
He went on to eulogize Awori people of Ikeja Division for what he called their demonstration of high level of commitment and loyalty to the service of their father land and immediate origin. This made him sighted as an example, the immediate past Vice Chancellor of LASU, Professor Fagbongbe, who didn’t not only put LASU in the world map but also rewrote history of LASU to becoming second best university in Nigeria.
Dwelling significantly on the role of the youths in securing the rightful place of the Aworis in the scheme of things, Ladega urged the youth to take advantage of the social media to do the needful. He said the youths of today have more opportunity than the youths of yesterday.
“The youths of today can speak to the entire world in less than a minute and the response could be heard loud and clear’, he said.
Continuing, he says “The era of social media has made it possible to reconnect our history and to continue to emphasize the notion that the Aworis are the original owners of Lagos and they deserve a better place in the government of Lagos state”.
He however added the current government should be appreciated for his numerous developmental projects in Alimosho which are core Awori environment.
Further, he said though the political situation had crippled the history of the Awori but yet their history can never be eroded by any form of political class. He therefore urged the youths to let the whole world know that the Lagos west which is primarily the domain of the Aworis produced one of the best politicians in Africa. The Jagaban, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was voted as a senator by the Aworis in 1993 and gone ahead to become the shining light of the political space in Africa.
On that note, he charged the Awori youths to get the history right and focus on their studies as there are lots of Jagabans among them.
“ I know we have so many Jagabans here in the gathering, all you need to do is to focus on your studies, get historical origin right, preach the history of Aworis as the descendant of Odua through Olofin Ogunfunmire and reaffirm that Olofin Adimula of Iseri Olofin is the paramount ruler of the Awori race’, Ladega submitted.
