Obaship status: Joy for Ebute-Igbooro community after 143 years
The desire of the Ebute-Igbooro community in Ketu Local Council Development Area, Ogun State, to have its traditional head (Baale) elevated to a traditional ruler (Oba) has become a reality 143 years after the community was founded. Ebute-Igbooro is situated along the Yewa River bank In Ogun State. Occupants of the community, founded in 1875, […]
The desire of the Ebute-Igbooro community in Ketu Local Council Development Area, Ogun State, to have its traditional head (Baale) elevated to a traditional ruler (Oba) has become a reality 143 years after the community was founded.
Ebute-Igbooro is situated along the Yewa River bank In Ogun State. Occupants of the community, founded in 1875, speak the Yoruba Ketu dialect, with farming as their major occupation.
Eko Trust checks showed that the first Baale of Ebute-Igbooro was installed in the year 1890. The community had since installed 15 Baales and had been appealing to successive Ogun State administrations to upgrade its traditional head to a full traditional ruler.
Last week, the community’s prayer was answered when its 15th Baale, Amusa Adetunji Dosunmu, was elevated and given his staff of office as the first monarch of the town. The state government lifted Oba Amusa Dosunmu (Isolo 1) from part II Baale, which it was gathered he had been since 1992, to part II Oba.
The joy of the community knew no bound as the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, presented Oba Dosunmu his staff of office in a colourful ceremony at Ebute-Igbooro.
At the event, Amosun, who was represented by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Jide Ojuko, said, “I want to celebrate our new and first Elebute of Ebute- Igbooro. By this appointment, you have become a member of the Yewa Traditional Council.”
The Chairman, Coronation Planning Committee, Chief Tunji Ijiola, remarked that Gov Amosun had laid “an unforgettable record in the history of Ebute-Igbooro by upgrading our part II Baale to the status of part II Oba in Ogun State.”
The Chairman of Ketu Local Council Development Area, Moses Adegbite, described as timely the consideration and approval of the upgrading of the Baale stool of Ebute-Igbooro to part II Oba status.
Adegbite, who described the people of the town as industrious and enterprising, pointed out that indigenes of Ebute-Igbooro had been in the forefront of most of the development projects in the town and its environs.