Giving back to the society was re-enacted at Otun-Ekiti, headquarters of Moba Local Government Area of Ekiti State recently when the children of one of the community leaders, the late Pa Michael Babatunde Ajiboye, fed indigent members of the community with the proverbial ‘milk of human kindness’
The town was literally animated as guests from far and near came to be part of what some people described as historic in the quest to lift the less- privileged in the community.
The elaborate event also featured the inauguration of an orphanage home and the empowerment of 100 persons through cash gifts to enable them engage in small-scale business enterprises as a source of putting food on their tables, especially as the Nigerian economy has not been helpful. The event coincided with the celebration of the 75th birthday of their mother, Madam Agnes Ajiboye. The orphanage home will cater for the orphans and children who for various reasons cannot be cared for by their biological families, especially parents who might have died or other causes.
It is not that the organisers can be described as the wealthiest in the ancient town, but the gesture verges on the commitment to affect the lives of those they feel cannot measure up to them in economic terms. And as a way of reciprocating God’s grace on them. But according to the facilitator, Mr. Samuel Ajiboye, who is based in the United States of America, the economic crunch gingered his siblings and himself “to sacrifice from the grace the Almighty God bestowed on us.”
To many in attendance, the humanitarian gesture sends signal to the well-heeled in the society to start looking back at what they can do to alleviate the sufferings of the less-privileged in the society. Palliatives worth millions of naira were given to mostly the elderly men women who thronged the venue in their numbers aside the fact that some of them also benefitted from the cash gift.
A community leader in the town, who was one of the special guests, Prince Adedayo Abolarin, said the gesture of the Ajiboyes was “an opportunity for those they are equipping to start a new life,” and noted that “in the whole of Moba Local Government, comprising about 13 communities and villages, this is the first of its kind. I witnessed one in Osun State, but not here in Moba land.”
Abolarin challenged other sons and daughters of Moba who are well-to-do to look back and give back to the society that made them. Prince Abolarin pointed out that the children of the late Ajiboye were not born with silver spoon in their mouth, rather they struggled from the grass and today they are moving towards the grace.
Speaking on their gesture, one of the sons of the late Pa Ajiboye, Mr. Olawunmi Ajiboye, said they were following the foundation laid by their late father when they were children, in which he counselled them that whenever they had the wherewithal, they should not forget to help the less-privileged in the society. Ajiboye added that their late father charged them to ensure that others moved forward like them.
He described the initiative as a continuous one which he said would touch different segments of his people. According to him, the assistance was anchored on three areas: The first is education, where school fees were paid for some people “because not all parents can cope with the situation in September when schools resume.” The second, he said dwelt on health challenges by ensuring that the people had access to medical care. The third was conducted during festivities like Christmas, Eid-el-Kabir and others, where they would provide the people with palliatives to make the celebrations enjoyable for them.
Also speaking, another son, Mr. Samuel Ajiboye, posited that the gesture had no political undertone, but was meant to help the needy and other less-privileged, especially in education “because my father was one of the people who cherished education.” He said “it becomes incumbent on us as the children to sustain that fundamental legacy. I say this because from what our father told us, it was difficult for his own parents to send him to school, but on his own he tried to engage in jobs, not only to train himself but also to send his siblings to school.”
Some of the beneficiaries expressed appreciation to the organisers.
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