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The Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe, has set aside October 18 of every year for the celebration of a legal luminary and founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola, in the capital city.
The Co-chairman, Afe Babalola Day Celebration Planning Committee, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, who made the disclosure at a press conference in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday, said that the gesture was to appreciate and celebrate the nonagenarian who he said had done a lot for the community and state.
Ojudu said, “I can assure you, the moment this is done by Ado Ekiti, the state government will follow suit, the Yorubas as a whole will follow suit, and I believe that the Federal Government will follow suit to honour this man.”
The community called on President Bola Tinubu to accede to their request, by elevating Babalola to the Grand Commander of the Order of Niger from the present Order of the Federal Republic given the magnitude of his contributions to development in the country.
Ojudu said, “We have called on the Federal Government to promote him with further honour. We want to wake up on October 18 to the announcement that our President, Bola Tinubu, has made Aare Afe Babalola a GCON. “That day, all of us will be on the streets and dance and thank the President for the honour.”
He said that friends and beneficiaries of Babalola’s lofty gestures including former President Olusegun Obasanjo; the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi; lawyers and traditional leaders from different parts of the country would grace the maiden edition of the celebration at the Ewi Palace next week.
He said, “Nothing of this magnitude has been celebrated in this town before. No Ado Ekiti son or daughter, no Ekiti son or daughter, no Yoruba son or daughter has been this celebrated before.
“Up to now, people are being honoured after their death. But Ado Ekiti wants to establish a new standard of honouring our living heroes so that this will further encourage those who are living to do good in their communities.”
The Ado Ekiti people said that the elder statesman had attracted many things to the community and Ekiti State including influencing the location of Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti; constructing a building in Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti to ensure approval of law programme; a vital role in creation of Ekiti State; and establishment of ABUAD and as well Multi-system Hospital, Industrial Park and farms.
The committee said, “What Kabiyesi has done for Afe Bablola will further extend his lifetime because there is no joy greater than being honoured by one’s people. You can take honours from abroad, you can take Nobel prizes, you can take honours from the Federal Government, the honour given to you by your people is the most prestigious.
“This is a day every year when there will be no market open when there will be no store open, when all indigenes of this town will come together to say that we are celebrating this man. We will bring out our masquerades, we will bring out our musicians and our dancers, we will bring out our intellectuals, our academics will come out we will celebrate him”, Ojudu said.
