Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, was at the Government House Chapel, Agodi, Ibadan, on Tuesday for a thanksgiving service for his wife of 36 years, Florence, who just turned 57.
Senator Ajimobi, 66, is a liberal Muslim.
The service provided an opportunity for the Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ibadan, Most Revd Gabriel Abegunrin, to advise leaders to think out of the box by evolving pragmatic ways to alleviate the suffering of the people.
He also told the people to be patient as the country’s leaders intensify efforts to rebuild the country from the ruins of many years.
“We require patience to rebuild this country. But, I will call on our leaders to think out of the box to fashion out ways of alleviating the suffering of Nigerians so that people can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Abegunrin said.
“Followers must imbibe the spirit of patience, but leaders must also show empathy to the suffering of the masses. I cannot start to enumerate them here. We need peace in this country and no effort should be spared to maintain peace.
“Let me use this opportunity to plead with labour leaders and the government of Oyo State to embrace dialogue in resolving the current dispute for peace to continue to reign in the state. Strife and destruction of property will do a lot of damage to the country and destroy the future of our children”
The governor later inaugurated an ICT centre donated by his wife to her alma mater, Our Lady of Apostle Senior Secondary School, Odo Ona, Ibadan.
Ajimobi called on students to emulate hardworking and successful people in the country by striving to achieve sound education through ICT as according to him, the illiterates of tomorrow would not be those who could not read and write, but those who could not use the information technology.
“The person that we are celebrating today, who is my wife, did her Master’s program online with the aid of information technology and she is today your role model because she has made an in-road to success through education,” Ajimobi said.
In her speech, the wife of the governor appreciated God for giving her the grace to attain 57 years of age and the privilege of being able to impact positively on the school and the society in general.
She however challenged the students to make good use of the facility in achieving empowerment and smooth journey ahead.
“I advise you to make positive use of this facility for future empowerment and a better journey ahead. Do not be lured into using it for destructive purpose that will endanger your future,” the celebrant said.
