The monarch stated at a news conference slated as part of activities to mark his 75th birthday which holds on Friday with Islamic prayer at Ake Palace and a thanksgiving service at St. Peters’ Anglican Church, Ake, Abeokuta.
Other activities to mark the celebration were free eye screening test; visit to Stella Obasanjo’s Children Home, Ibara; Lepers Colony and Stephen’s Children Home, Obantoko.
Oba Gbadebo tasked the nation’s politicians to think less about themselves and think more about the people they are representing, asking them to be selfless.
“Politicians should think about the masses, not things that will benefit them (politicians). We should tolerate ourselves. It should be jaw, jaw and not war, war”, Oba Gbadebo stated.
He commended sons and daughters of Egbaland for supporting its growth by contributing their quota to its development through different projects embarked on by them.
“Sons and daughters of Egbaland both home and in the diaspora must be appreciated for their support towards the development of the land and its people. They ensure the corporate existence of Egbaland. I craved for unity among us because in unity lies our strength,” Alake added.
He decried low patronage of locally made goods as one of the greatest challenges in his 13th year on the throne of his forebears as the Alake of Egbaland.
“My greatest challenge as the Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland was the inability of our people to promote culture which is our way of life. Please let us promote what is our own,” the monarch further added.
and then