Piqued by the slow pace of work at the new Ibaban Palace under construction at Oke-Aremo in the Oyo State capital, the Olubadan Advisory Council has summoned the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes’ (CCII) and the Contractor handling the project to a meeting.
CCII, is the umbrella body of all the socio-cultural groups in the ancient metropolis, under which care the supervision of the project that has been on for over a decade was said to have been giving different dates of completion of the first phase of the project and its occupation by the Olubadan but with no any sign suggestive of the fulfillment of such promise.
Making known the decision of the Olubadan Advisory Council was the Otun Balogun of Ibadanland, High Chief Tajudeen Ajibola after the inspection of the new palace project by the Council, led by Olubadan himself, Oba Sen. Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II at the Oke-Aremo site of the Palace.
In a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan by the Personal Assistant on Media to the Olubadan, Oladele Ogunsola, the Council expressed dismay at the level of work done on the project which was described as ‘non-starter’ by High Chief Ajibola while giving the report.
According to the Otun Balogun, “last December was the latest date given by the CCII as the completion date and when it would be ready for occupation by the Olubadan. The December date was not the first of such promise, mind you. This time, Olubadan decided to visit the palace to see things for himself and we joined him, but what we saw was a far cry from the promise made by the CCII through its President-General, Prince Oluyemis Adeaga.
“We are not pleased by what we saw here today. As against the promise of moving to the palace last December which was not possible, the work is a non-starter. At least, if at all the last December date was not feasible as we had all seen, there must be signs that, well, certain things made such impossible and one can be confident that, oh, in a couple of weeks time, the job would be completed.
“But, in this instance, that’s not the case. Infact, with what I saw there today in company of our other members of the Advisory Council, it is certain that before we can near the promise made against last year December, it would be in the next eight or 10 months’ time. So, the question to ask now is that what was the basis of the confidence upon which the CCII has been giving us unrealistic date of completion”, High Chief Ajibola queried?
The High Chief further explained that the CCII had disclosed that the contractor handling the project was responsible for the slow pace of work. He said, “it is for this reason that we are summoning both the socio-cultural body and the contractor to a meeting. We want to know where the problem actually lies and after the meeting, there would be a firm position on what we would do as a Council.
“The generality of the Council is not satisfied with the pace of work and that is the truth. We cannot keep waiting upon promise upon promise without any tangible and visible action to show that the project is progressing. We have been inundated with promises of completion since early last year when the Olubadan stool got to Aliiwo and here we are now, no sign that the place can be occupied in the next 10 months or thereabout”, High Chief Ajibola stated.
Members of the Olubadan Advisory Council that joined the monarch on the inspection visit were High Chiefs Tajudeen Ajibola (Otun Balogun), Lateef Gbadamosi Adebimpe (Osi-Balogun), Abiodun Kola-Daisi (Ashipa Olubadan), Hamidu Ajibade (Ekerin Olubadan) and Azeez Abiodun Agagagugu (Ekarun Balogun).
