On behalf of the exalted office of the Olubadan of Ibadanland and the members of Olúbàdàn-in-Council, also on behalf of all sons and daughters of Ibadan residing in United States, I welcome us all to this important meeting. I thank the Executive Teams of both the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes and Ibadan Compound Peace Initiative led by PG Barrister Sulayman Niyi Ajewole and Mogaji Akinade Nurudeen respectively, for convening this security meeting to address the issues of security in Ibadan in particular and Oyo State in general.

I have a message from the Office of Olubadan to inform this gathering that Ibadan and its people believe in the present democratic government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Nigeria and Governor Seyi Makinde in Oyo State. We are not a party to any activity that will truncate the present arrangement of governance. We therefore have no relationship with the agitators of Yoruba Nation and their sponsors. The Office of Olubadan on behalf of Ibadan people unequivocally reject any association with the proponents of Yoruba Nation and we seek that they must not have a place to operate anywhere in Ibadan and its environs.

Before I round off, let me salute the gallantry of our security agents who stood up resolutely to foil the attacks by the agitators in their attempts at taking over our seat of government in the Secretariat and to fly their flag. I use this opportunity to implore our security agents to work more on intelligence gathering so that we will not have a repeat of the ugly incident that took place in Ibadan last Saturday.

Thank you all for coming and I wish us fruitful deliberations.

Oloye Abiola Iyiola
Ajia-Olubadan
President, Ibadan Descendants’ Union – USA