The governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, urged the people of the state to avoid allowing irrational feelings to drive a wedge between them on Saturday.
Abiodun urged them to maintain their peaceful coexistence through nationalism, patriotism, love of the community, and selflessness.
As a special guest of honor at the 2023 Lisabi celebration held at the Alake Palace Ground in Abeokuta, Abiodun gave a speech.
“This celebration affords us the opportunity to reawaken the Lisabi in us. It should reawake the spirit of selflessness, patriotism, and nationalism that Lisabi represented. We must be a leading light in all that we do by not allowing primitive, primordial, or decisive sentiments that diminish the bond that defines us.
“The celebration is the symbolic demonstration of communal love and peaceful co-existence that transverse the Egba community. This is the demonstration of the people’s collective commitment to the development of their homestead,” he added.
The governor described Lisabi as the celebration of history in its finest form and a memorial of the legend who emancipated his people from oppression and destruction.
According to him, the annual celebration has metamorphosed into a unifying force that has become a cultural platform that brings all sons and daughters of Egbaland together for continued development.
Abiodun explained that the state government’s policy on culture and tourism was based on cultural heritage, and was committed to the implementation of programmes that engendered prosperity for everyone in the state.
He said Egbaland had benefited from major projects executed across the Ogun just as major roads, including Panseke-Adigbe, Elite, Olomore-Sanni and the 41km Sagamu-Siun-Abeokuta roads were reconstructed.
The governor said that the 250-bed hospital in Abeokuta was in the process of being taken over by AfreximBank for completion, adding that the government was currently initiating the Kajola Dry Port project to encourage export activities in the state.
Earlier, the Chairman of the 2023 Lisabi Day celebration, Capt Rasheed Raji (retd.) said the celebration was an opportunity to showcase the cultural heritage and bring all sons and daughters of Egbaland together to brainstorm about the development of the people.
Raji described the celebration as unique as all four seasons of Egbaland had come together to plan for the event.
He also said the theme for the event was focused on effective ways parents could bring up their children to be useful to society.