By OLA AJAYI

IBADAN — As the country marked its 53rd independence anniversary, yesterday, Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State said no effort should be spared to checkmate agents of destabilisation in the country.

Speaking at the 53rd independence anniversary celebrations at the main bowl of the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan, the governor noted that the liberty being enjoyed today came with a great price for past heroes

According to him: “The significance of Independence Day in Nigeria is that no matter the imperfections of our nationhood and the mindless savagery ongoing in the Northern part of the country, today brings the hurtful nostalgia of the toils and struggles of our heroes past. ‘This is why everyone within the country and even in faraway lands of Europe, Asia and America see today as a strong symbol of the journey we undertook to get to where we are today.  It is for this reason that the survival of our sovereignty must be pursued by all and sundry.”

“For some of them, it was imprisonment; to some others, it was loss of great economic investments and yet to virtually all of them, they became pariahs in a land that their forefathers suffered to bring together. In the same vein, we owe one another a debt of gratitude for our collective resolve and decision to disconnect from the shame of our immediate past where violence and gangsterism were the order of the day. ‘The tranquility we enjoy today in Oyo State is borne out of providence’s blessings, our collective decision to shut our state’s door against men of violence and the God-given sagacity He has given us as leaders of the state.”