Breaking: Owa Of Igbajo, Oba Olufemi Fashade Joins His Ancestors

Oba Fashade

The Owa of Igbajo, Osun State, Oba Olufemi Fashade, has joined his ancestors.

This is the way Yorubas traditionally announce the death of a king.

The reason is that they believe that an oba does not die, at least not like an ordinary mortal.

He only ‘waja’, a way of saying he ascends onto the ancestral realm metaphorically through the roof.

The monarch, who was crowned the Owa in 1990, was said to have died after an illness.

This is what the he said about the development that Igbajo witnessed during his reign, according to a 2017 interview in THE TRIBUNE:

Since I became the Owa of Igbajoland, I am very grateful to God for the developments attained. There are many good and lofty things that have been recorded in this town. I am especially thankful to God for the spirit of unity in Igbajo town.

There is no where you see an indigene of Igbajo, he will be seeking the progress of Igbajoland; the leadership of the town, starting from myself, Owa and the chiefs in council, who we call Iwarefa Mefa, headed by Obanla Iloro and if you trace his origin, you will discover that he is from Ile-Ife work together for development. Among the Iwarefa Mefa are Ekiti, Igbonna, Oyo and Ijesa. There are intermarriages.

Oba Fashade

When I became king, there was peace and tranquility and I have been able to maintain it up till now. On my achievement, when I became the king, our electricity or power supply was nothing to write home about. When they give us light, it was like a tiny illumination from a lantern; in fact, the lantern was far better compared to the kind of light we had then. Not quite long after I ascended the throne, one of my subjects was appointed a minister. He is Professor Ademola Adesina; we organised the Igbajo Day celebration and we were able to raise money to get electric transformers installed in all the designated locations and that was how we were able to fix our perennial power problem. We even have some extra transformers on standby in case we need to change the one that is bad if any. Igbajo is expanding almost on a daily basis.

When Osun was created, an Igbajo man was the first Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief M. I Aboaba, he is the Bobagunwa of Igbajoland. Igbajos are very diligent and enterprising in their chosen fields. We have more than 20 professors in this town. We have been able to move forward. The road that leads to Igbajo, which is now in a deplorable condition had been rehabilitated about three times, through communal efforts since I came on board as king.

The last time the road was tarred was during Governor Oyinlola’s tenure but due to heavy rains and erosion here, the road has become bad. Any government that is ready to do it now must do a thorough job. The current Osun State government had done the bridges, remaining the road. We also have a polytechnic in Igbajo. It is called Igbajo Polytechnic and this has also contributed to the educational development of our town.

It is a government recognised institution and they are running HND programmes, with their students participating in the NYSC scheme. When the government realised the enviable educational development in Igbajo, they have been using our facilities for WAEC, NECO exams, including the writing of JAMB exams here.