Ilase Ijesha: One town, one man and his quiet philanthropy 1 BY OUR REPORTER ON MAY 5, 2013 · SOUTH-WEST MAGAZINE By Abdulsalam Nasir Away from the urban cities, there are towns hidden from view but are the epitomes of “small places where big things happen.” Sometimes, the extraordinary happening in such backwater communities don’t go beyond their geographical confinement. However, in the case of Ilase-Ijesa, a medium-size agrarian community in Osun State, its on-going good development reverberates far and wide. The news is that, there is a town whose inhabitants refused to resign to their fate and they are doing their best to catch up with development, not by virtue of any political effort, but by the extraordinary efforts of one of its illustrious sons. The news is so resounding you would be tempted to visit. Can anything good come out of Ilase? To see is to believe. A trip to the town is the answer to curiosity. Ilase-Ijesa is a middle-of-the-way community sandwiched between two prominent cities, Ilesa and Oshogbo, the Osun State capital. The community is a medium-sized town with a modest population of 13, 000 people according to the 2006 national census. With about 52 villages under the Ilase township, the community town shares boundaries with notable towns such as Oshogbo, Iragbiji, Ikirun, Atakumosa West and Ilesa West. To get there, you travel along the Ilesa-Oshogbo road, then get off the ‘beaten path’ of the highway at the Idominasi Junction and a 10-minutes drive on a tarred road that cuts and curves through verdant forest will take you straight to the centre of the town. Your first impression about the town will hit you hard: this is not a small village. A police station, a post office and a giant water work structure are all parts of the town’s backdrop. On the tapestry of the lay of the land, gigantic church spires and mosque’s minarets feature prominently in the pied panorama. The mixed architecture of mud-brick home and cement houses projects a rural-urban interface that piques your senses with a quaint déjà vu. A village city. Or a city village? The newly renovated Town Hall, standing strategically at the centre of the town offers a good preface to the town. The one-storey building is spick and span, its new paintjob washed anew by recent rain. At the balcony of the hall, men of all ages lounge. Old men sit chatting outside, while young men stroll in and out of the building. This Monday afternoon, precisely 3 p.m., the hall is the epicentre of the town’s activities. Two LCD televisions, 42 and 50-inch, are showing different channels of DSTV. The hall also boasts of a gigantic Home Theatre (whose loud speakers amplify the emission from the televisions), a giant generator, fans and 1000 new plastic chairs and tables that could quickly transform the hall into an event centre. Outside, work is in progress to complete the perimeter fence with iron rails. Built in the 1970s, but recently renovated, the hall’s new look is complemented with new glass windows and roof. “Actually, renovation started last year, October,” a youth offers unsolicited. Lest you get the wrong notion, they are quick to add that the renovation of the community hall and all the amenities provided therein are not the result of a community effort, but an individual’s feat. An inscription on the white chairs provides the answer. Presented by A. Fadahunsi Foundation. In our tour, it turns out that the big story about the town is not a myth about some supernatural occurrences, but the feats of the Pa Israel Adekunbi Fadahunsi Foundation, an initiative of one of the illustrious sons of the community, Chief Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi, a retired Assistant Comptroller General of Customs, ACG, and a holder of the national award of the Member of the Federal Republic, MFR, who by his unending philanthropic activities has become a veritable pillar of the community. By and large, Ilase-Ijesa is a story of one man’s dedication to community development. There is no way you would visit the town and miss the story. If you fail to notice the projects, the town’s inhabitants would not fail to sing the song to your hearing. He is the town’s hero, the Mahatma Gandhi of Ilase-Ijesa. Every laudable project, spread over a period of 10 years, has a plaque bearing the name of the foundation. There are yet men whose grasp of history brings into proper perspective the reason the current development means the world to the people of the community. One of such custodians of history is Abudu Faturoti, a man whose age is estimated to be above 100 years, which makes him the oldest man around in the town. Faturoti, who is also the Seriki Adinni of Ilase, proudly tells us, in a feeble voice, “My father brought Islam to this town.” According to him, his father, whose name was Sanni, “brought Islam from Kano. Islam was here 10 years before the advent of Christianity.” In a typical old men’s way of recreating the past by oral account, he begins to un-spool the folds and layers of time, taking care to dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s of history. He recreates the circumstance under which his father ‘brought light’ to a community that was steeped in idol worshipping. “In the evening,” Pa Faturoti continues, “the people would gather to mock at my father, especially given that before him, someone called Bello had earlier brought Islam to Ilase, but reneged under pressure and went back to his old ways.” In the beginning, his father was the only adherent of the Islamic faith. “During Ramadan,” the grand old man further recalls with clarity of mind, “he would wake up at dawn to observe Sari and in the evening he would make available bean cakes (akara) and invite all his kinsmen to join him. After eating with him, they would make jest of him. However, the religion caught on and in no time an entire family, the Family of Saloro, became the first converts to join him. At that time, the entire household in this town was not up to 20.” The story was a leaf out of the huge sheaf of the town’s history. Today, Ilase-Ilesa is a town brimming with religious diversity. With as many as five major mosques and countless church denominations, an uncommon harmony reigns over the town. Faturoti, the town’s Methuselah offers: “As it is of old, so it is till today; there is no religious disharmony in this town. We celebrate our religious festivals together.” He adds an adjunct: “Oh, that man, Ade Fadahunsi, Owulo f’eru, O wulo fun omo”- (loosely translated, it means, he is benevolent towards all and sundry). Although electricity was first brought to this town by Abim, Fadahunsi took over and has been working tirelessly for the progress of the town.” Sitting down later with Alhaji Dauda Akorede Sadiku II, the chief Imam of Ilase Central Mosque, in the upper chamber of the mosque gleefully rehashes the Ade Fadahunsi factor. The 42-year-old cleric, himself, a son of the soil, further enlarges the perspective about the town through his own story. “I became Chief Imam on October 13, 2006,” he informs about the magnificent one-storey mosque. “Then, this mosque was under construction.” The Chief Imam of Ilorin commissioned it on January 28, 2008,, Alhaji Muhammed Bashar. Averring that it was when he came into the town that he became an acquaintance of Chief Fadahunsi, the cleric explained that he was sojourning in Ado Ekiti after completing his formal and Arabic education in Ibadan. “I was living in Ado Ekiti, but Fadahunsi sent me a message that I should return home.” At the time, both of them hardly knew each other, but had heard of the other person. “His message was simple: the knowledge you are renowned for in Ado-Ekiti, bring it back home and impact on our community.” Since his arrival, Sadiku avers that people have been coming from far and wide into the community and by that, the town has gained more population. He used to have two Markaz (Arabic schools) in Ado Ekiti, which are still thriving in the Ekiti State capital. Currently, he is putting finishing touches to his plans to establish a new Markaz in the Ilase community before the end of the year. Just as Imam Sadiku was invited back home, Fadahunsi has in like manner been recalling illustrious sons and daughters of the town to come back home and develop their community. Such was the man’s passion to see the town develop. And in achieving that, he recognizes the importance of forging unity first in a community of such religious diversity. “In this town, he forges unity among the adherents of different religions: Moslems, Christians and traditionalists. He is not biased and there is none he left out of his benevolence,” declares the Imam who is not only the treasurer of the association of Islamic clerics in Obokun Local Government, but also a prominent member in the larger association of Imams in Osun State. “There is nothing we want to do that he will not respond in cash and kind. Any project we want to embark on, he is always a major stakeholder. In fact, he gave me a jeep as the Imam.” Perhaps, there was an ulterior motive behind such benevolence, you suggest to the Imam with a wry smile, playing the devil’s advocate. Sadiku will not brook such thinking. “What do we have to offer him in return?” the cleric asks rhetorically. “What he did, he did all that for God. I think it is just his nature to give and touch lives,” adding philosophically: “But I know one thing, he is doing all these to prepare a good place for himself in the hereafter. I wish all human beings, rich or poor, great or small, would nurture the same aspiration and conduct their affairs in like manner. And to say that the man doing all these is a Christian? Allah is great. If he were a Muslim, his contribution to the development of Islam and the Muslim Umma of this community is enough to earn him the title of Aare Musulumi of Ilase.” In case you didn’t know, Fadahunsi, though born Anglican, is currently an elder in the Redeemed Christian Church of Christ, RCCC. The central mosque is, indeed, a testament of great work. A one-storey building, built and donated by the foundation, fitted and furnished with a 20 KVA generator, the central mosque is not the only Islamic edifice that has been touched by Fadahunsi’s “giving hand.” A second mosque, Odomisa Mosque, the first praying abode in the community, built on February 28, 1874, was also rebuilt by the same foundation and similarly commissioned by Alhaji Muhammed Bashar, the Chief Imam of Ilorin on Thursday, January 24, 2008. In all, his philanthropic gesture extends to five mosques. Though a Christian, Chief Fadahunsi’s benevolence spread around to all and sundry. He extended the same measure of generosity to the Christian communities. Various denominations – The Redeemed Christian Church of Christ, The Apostolic Church, Cherubim and Seraphim Church, to mention but a few – enjoy a range of goodwill that include but not limited to rebuilding of their edifices, complete re-roofing, comprehensive furnishing of the church, tiling of the floor, provision of musical instruments and functional generators and new paintjob. These were the scope of his efforts to uplift the church. And in his characteristic liberal approach to community work, just as he made no distinction between one religion and the other, he has no bias for or against any denomination. Even though he is the patron of the Saint Paul Anglican Church, he spread his good work to all the “Houses of God” in the town. As an agrarian community, the people of Ilase are essentially farmers. While their major cash crops are cocoa and kolanuts, they cultivate such food crops as cassava, maize and plantains. The town has three public primary schools and one public community high school. Some of the youths of the town are polytechnic graduates and as such are not spared from the epidemic scourge of unemployment that affects the larger society. At present, they are into petty works. Some of them are barbers, others bricklayers. Majority took to part-time okada (commercial motorcycle) riding. Despite these, the town is crime-free. The youth of the town have a story to tell. Again, the nub of the story revolved around the same man. Oladele Abiodun, the youth leader in the community who has a diploma from Ire Polytechnic, talked about the new orientation ingrained in the youth by Chief Fadahunsi. “After I finished my OND in 2006,” he begins, “I went to Lagos, looking for job but without success. Then, I came back home and have been involved in self-help projects, thank God for the Fadahunsi Foundation.” Indeed, the foundation has been working round the clock to give the youth better opportunities. For instance, the foundation’s job placement scheme has become a way of getting unemployed youth placements in the Federal Civil Service since 2009, especially in the Federal Department of Prisons and the Nigerian Customs Service where Fadahunsi worked and ascended to the post of an Assistant Comptroller General in charge of Federal Operations before his retirement few years back. The foundation has also been undertaking educational intervention by purchasing forms for students in during JAMB, GCE, WAEC and NECO exams. It is on record that out of his pocket, Fadahunsi employed 10 teachers for the community high school. Currently, four members of the National Youth Service Corps are doing their primary assignment in the community as teachers in the Community High School. They offer the most informed outsider view of the community. Their abode, known in the community as “Corpers Lodge,” is a beehive of activity as a result of after-school extra-mural classes they organize for SS 3 students. The only male member of the quartet, Ofomuna Blessing, a native of Oghara, Delta State, and a 2013 Batch A corper, is a graduate of Mathematics and Economics from the University of Benin. Barely two months old in the community, he has already acclimatised to the people so much so that he returns a verdict that “Ilase Community is very cool.” By that, he means the people are very peaceful and accommodating. “They are friendly,” he affirms. “They gave us accommodation. The accommodation is very cool.” In describing the people, he says, “they are awesome” in the sense that “wherever you go, they always acknowledge that you are a corper and they are always ready to help. They always call us ‘Corper wa’ (that is: our corper). “All those stuffs make me laugh and feel welcome and I feel honoured to serve.” In the case of Okotos Iyenimi, popularly known as Corper Favour, the first day she got to the village, she was discouraged because the community “was like a village and I felt discouraged.” However, the warm reception accorded her made a big impression on the Niger Delta University’s graduate of Biochemistry. “On that first day, they brought down a bus to the local government secretariat to take me and my other colleagues down to the village,” says the Batch C corper who hailed from Southern Ijaw, Bayelsa State. “They entertained us. They cooked rice for us and provided accommodation for us. I have a room to myself. The room is okay, it is well-painted and has mattresses.” Currently teaching Chemistry to SS 1, 2 and 3 classes, each of which has an average of 40 students, Iyenimi sums up her stay in the community thus: “I have no regret coming here. I don’t think there is anything I am missing by not being posted to a city.” Ekong Gloria, a native of Cross River State, who studied Genetics and Biotechnology at the University of Calabar, is currently a teacher of Biology and Basic Science at the community high school. Her very first day also remains memorable: “The school was happy to receive us,” she says. For Okafor Anita Chinedu, the Oguta, Imo State-born graduate of Accountancy of Imo State University, the community offers her a complete life. “It’s a village alright, but it has the elements of the town. I don’t go to town or other city, except on our Community Development days. I attend the Anglican Church here. I do my shopping in the market here.” Though the four corpers are from faraway communities of completely different ethnic background, yet in Ilase-Ilesa, they found a sense of belonging that bonds them to the people. Their lodge, a “six-room, six-boys quarter” building, tiled, painted and gilded with necessary amenities, is one of the reasons they feel so comfortable. Beyond that, they enjoy a greater sense of security and acceptance as a result of the community’s sweet natured disposition towards them. Indeed, their perception and experience give a broader view about the town. It turns out that their lodge is yet another project of the Fadahunsi Foundation. As you continue your tour of the community, every turn brings you face to face with another commendable work. Even the Police Station has a Fadahunsi story behind it. Once upon a time, the Police in the town was a tenant of a building owned by an individual. At a point, the owner served the law enforcers quit notice and it was evident the symbol of law and order was about to vacate the community. Through the aid of the Fadahunsi Foundation, a new police station has been built. At the moment, the community is gearing up to build a police quarters so the officers of law will become residents of the community. The project, of course, is being handled by the foundation. High Chief I.O. Ajewole, the Orisa of Ilase, the next in command to the town’s king, duly confirms this, declaring: “Whatever the town is doing, it is Francis Fadahunsi that is doing it.” The aged second-in-command, a retired schoolteacher, offers yet another perspective of how this one-man effort has been sparing them of the “humiliation of marginalization.” He gives this analogy: “There was a time when our king and the king of Obokun had misunderstandings in their council of chiefs meeting. Our king was subsequently barred from attending meetings. His salary was stopped too. When Fadahunsi heard about the case, he intervened by going to see the late Oloko of Iloko, Oba Olasore, who was then the chairman of the council. Fadahunsi raised no objection about the banning of our king from attending the meeting, but he reasoned that his salary shouldn’t have been stopped since he is being paid by the federal government. And, indeed, as he reasoned, they resumed payment of his salary until the rift was eventually settled.” The chief does not fail to confess that he too has benefited from the milk of human kindness flowing from Fadahunsi. “He is the big star of Ilase,” he acknowledges. Today, the community boasts of a big modern market, christened Isedo Market, which was single-handedly built in a new location by the foundation. Commissioned on May 21, 2007, the market, which holds every five days, pulls people from many surrounding towns and cities such as Iponda, Iragbiji, Ikirun and even Oshogbo. As you move through the town retracing your footsteps back to the community centre, you behold small structures scattered here and there – “shops built for traders to keep their commodity at the end of the day,” a youth informs. As you go past each school, the youth would intermittently points out at new blocks of classrooms donated by the foundation. And at Saint Paul Anglican Primary School, founded in 1919, Fadahunsi’s four blocks of three classes, comprises of a pair each of two and three classrooms were significant portion of the school’s buildings. Of course, St. Paul is his Alma Mater. At the impressive St. Paul Anglican Church, where Venerable Olugbade Adebayo Adetunji is the vicar, you hear further story of this man’s illustrious doings. Though, not son of the soil, Adetunji, transferred to the community in July 2010 by the Anglican Communion to oversee the Anglican Church, says a lot about the town’s benefactor. “One can point at numerous activities embarked upon by him all over the town,” he affirms. Averring that his contribution to the church has always been tremendous, even before his arrival, the vicar attempts to catalogue what he has done in the Anglican Church – from financial contribution to the flooring the church, from purchase of new modern musical instrument to chandeliers and pews and from reconstruction and roofing of the church to renovations of the vestries. Complete tiling of the floor, renovation of the chancery area and purchase of eight marble seats are also part of the good work. “He is a
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 16:01:03 +0000
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