Wale JAGUN & Olatunji ADEMOLA
As part of the activities to kick start the 2019 Ikorodu-Oga Day Carnival, the Chairman, Ikorodu-Oga Development Association (IKODASS), Otunba Ganiyu Olusegun Abiru led other members of IKODASS executives and over one thousand Ikorodu residents on a marathon fitness walk round the town on Saturday, October 19, 2019.
The walk, tagged, ‘Walk Together, Keep Fit Together ‘, was designed to sensitize the public on the week-long carnival scheduled to start on November 9.
The walk, which took off at 7:30am at Ikorodu Town hall, saw participants walking under a friendly weather through Owolowo road, Ita – Elewa, Aga, Adaraloye and Ireshe road in Ikorodu.
The fitness walk train also passed through Anibaba, Ota-Ona, Itunpate/Alhaji Street where Otunba Abiru led the team to pay homage at the Eluku palace after which they moved through Alhaji/Itunmoja road to link Ojubode down to Ikorodu garage roundabout.
At exactly 8.30am, the movement berthed at the Oga statue point (founder of Ikorodu kingdom) at the Ikorodu garage where many of the participants took time to take photographs with the legendary statue. The scene added colour to the walk.
From there, the fitness walk continued through Ojubde/Ayangbure road and terminated around 8.48am at the Ayangbure palace where they engaged in some exercises to draw curtain on the walk.
At the palace, some of the participants engaged in boxing, body fitness exercise and several others to entertain the gathering.
The Agbaakin of Ikorodu Kingdom and former Commissioner for Information in Lagos State, Otunba Ayodele Elesho , was on ground to welcome Otunba Abiru and other participants on behalf of the Ayangbure of Ikorodu, His Royal Majesty, Oba Kabir Adewale Shotobi.
Otunba Abiru, while addressing the crowd at the palace, commended them for coming out en masse for the fitness walk.
He announced that the 2019 Ikorodu-Oga Day Carnival would start in November and enjoined the entire residents of Ikorodu to participate fully in the week-long activities lined up for the annual celebration.
Otunba Abiru said that, “The Ankara for the celebration is sold for N2000 only, we implore you to buy and come out en masse like today for our activities and have fun and celebrate the big event ” , he appealed.
“On the 23rd of this month, we will organise a Spelling Bee and Show Your Talent program for secondary and primary schools in Ikorodu. The event will hold by 9am at Regal Event Hall, Olu-Odo. We are also expecting the general public to be part of this event” , he added.
Otunba Elesho Ayodele, while welcoming participants to the palace, urged them and the general residents in Ikorodu to support IKODASS by trooping out to partake in the programmes lined up for the 2019 Ikorodu-Oga Day Carnival.
“I urge all of us to be part of these programmes in full when it started. Ikorodu is no longer a small community. We can be more than this when we start executing the prohrammes.
“I, therefore, urge you all to mobilise other residents when we start lkorodu Oga day. The celebration is designed to promote peaceful c-existence among indigenes, residents and our neighbours and also to promote developments”, he stated.
