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The Palace that Ijesaland would eventually celebrate in December 2020 did not begin with blocks, cement or a building site.
It began with a royal charge that, at first, Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi did not believe he could carry.
On October 22, 2016, shortly after he and Yeye Asiwaju Dr. Olubisi Fasuyi were installed as Asiwaju and Yeye Asiwaju of Ilesa, the late Owa Obokun Adimula, Oba Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran II, gave him an unexpected assignment: build a befitting Palace for the Owa.
The charge came against the background of previous unsuccessful attempts to replace the Palace destroyed by fire.
Fasuyi later acknowledged that he did not initially take the assignment seriously—not because he disagreed with the need for a modern Palace, but because the responsibility appeared too great to place on one person’s shoulders.
Then, quietly, events began to change his mind.
In February 2017, when the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, visited the Owa, Fasuyi had the opportunity to usher the royal visitor into the Palace. But when the reception had to be moved into a makeshift canopy beside the Palace, the significance of the Owa’s earlier charge suddenly became clearer.
Another experience had already raised the same question.
During the prelude to the 2019 national elections, a team led by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, visited the Palace. Here was Ijesaland—a people widely known for their education, enterprise, sophistication and cosmopolitan outlook—yet the physical infrastructure of the Palace did not appear to match that image.
Those two experiences became the turning point.
The old royal charge no longer sounded like an impossible assignment. It became a community responsibility.
On December 14, 2019, Fasuyi returned to the Owa with the idea of a new Palace. After obtaining the monarch’s consent, he began reaching out—not to a government, not to a single wealthy individual, but to Ijesas.
Phone call by phone call, he approached eminent Ijesa sons and daughters at home and in the diaspora, explaining the need for a new Palace and asking them to join hands in making it happen.
The response gave him the confidence to move forward.
A maiden meeting followed at his Ilesa residence on December 15, 2019. From that small beginning emerged the Project Management Team that would eventually drive the project to completion.
But there was something else happening behind the scenes.
Before the first block was laid, the architecture of accountability was already being designed.
The proposed project was to have clear financial targets, professional consultants, competitive tendering, defined payment procedures, monitoring mechanisms and regular reporting to stakeholders. Professionals were to contribute their expertise pro bono, while an independent Project Monitoring and Evaluation Committee would provide checks and balances on the Project Management Team.
In other words, the Palace was being designed twice: first on paper, and then on the site.
The concept was to mobilise Ijesaland around a common heritage, while ensuring that the resources entrusted to the project were professionally managed and transparently accounted for.
And that is where the real story begins.
The question was no longer whether Ijesaland needed a befitting Palace.
The question was whether Ijesas could collectively turn the idea into reality—and do so within a clear timeline, under professional supervision and with the confidence of those whose resources would fund it.
The answer would soon emerge.
LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
Fasuyi did not merely ask others to support the project. He placed himself at the centre of the mobilisation, personally engaging stakeholders and demonstrating commitment to the cause.
From December 14, 2019, he reached out to about 100 eminent Ijesa sons and daughters in Nigeria and the diaspora, convincing them individually to join the project. The eventual participation of 102 Ijesas gave the initiative a broad community base.
This was the first major test of leadership: could one person turn a royal charge into a collective Ijesa mission?
The Palace project would provide the answer.
From Three Failed Attempts to a Completed Palace in Nine Months
Among the five major milestones highlighted in the 10-year development stewardship of Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi is the successful mobilisation of Ijesas to construct an ultra-modern palace for the Owa Obokun Adimula and Paramount Ruler of Ijesaland.
The project was not simply about constructing a building. It was about reviving a long-standing community aspiration, restoring confidence after three unsuccessful attempts and demonstrating what could be achieved when Ijesas were mobilised around a common purpose.
The Palace project also became an early demonstration of the five principles that run through Fasuyi’s decade of service: leadership by example, vision, integrity, transparency and accountability.
FROM THREE UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO A FOURTH OPPORTUNITY
The story of the new Owa’s Palace did not begin with Fasuyi.
Following the devastating fire of 2008, which destroyed the former palace, three attempts had already been made to reconstruct a befitting palace. None succeeded.
The repeated failures created doubts about whether another attempt could deliver the desired result. The challenge was even more daunting because the earlier efforts had involved individuals who were widely regarded at the time as prominent and well positioned to undertake such a major community project.
It was against this background that the fourth attempt became a defining moment in the long-running search for a new palace.
THE CHALLENGE FROM THE OWA
The turning point came with Fasuyi’s installation as Asiwaju of Ilesa on October 22, 2016, by the late Owa Obokun Adimula, Oba (Dr.) Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran II.
The late monarch subsequently challenged the new Asiwaju to help build an ultra-modern palace to replace the one destroyed by fire.
Fasuyi accepted the challenge.
Rather than treating the assignment as the responsibility of a few prominent individuals, he approached it as a collective Ijesa project.
That decision changed the character of the mobilisation.
LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
Fasuyi did not merely appeal to others to contribute. He personally committed himself to the project and demonstrated financial involvement.
His approach was to make stakeholders see the Palace not as the private responsibility of an individual, organisation or group, but as a collective heritage project belonging to Ijesaland.
The mobilisation therefore cut across traditional rulers, chiefs, professionals, artisans, market women, students and Ijesas in the diaspora.
According to the compendium, 102 Ijesa men and women eventually supported the Palace project.
This broad participation was particularly significant because the project had to overcome not only the practical challenges of construction and financing, but also the disappointment and doubts generated by three previous unsuccessful attempts.
MOBILISING WITHOUT A CONVENTIONAL PROJECT LAUNCH
One distinctive feature of the mobilisation was its highly personal character.
Rather than relying primarily on a conventional formal project launch, Fasuyi embarked on an extensive and demanding campaign of direct engagement.
Telephone calls, WhatsApp communications, virtual meetings and personal appeals became important tools in reaching stakeholders.
It was a laborious and time-consuming approach, but it enabled the project champion to take the message directly to individuals and groups whose support was required.
The objective was simple: convince Ijesas that the Palace could become a reality if the responsibility was collectively embraced.
VISION: TURNING A PALACE INTO A COMMUNITY PROJECT
The vision went beyond putting up a new building.
The challenge was to provide the Owa Obokun Adimula with a befitting Palace while demonstrating that a major community project could be delivered through broad-based participation and disciplined management.
That vision shaped the structure of the project.
Professional expertise was deliberately brought into the process through a Project Management Team and a Project Monitoring and Evaluation Committee.
Six professionals covering architecture, structural engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and quantity surveying provided their services pro bono, according to the compendium.
Their involvement placed professional standards at the centre of the design, construction, monitoring and evaluation of the project, while also helping to reduce costs.
INTEGRITY: KEEPING THE PROJECT ABOVE PERSONAL INTEREST
The Palace was treated as a collective Ijesa heritage project.
The emphasis on professional input, community participation and structured management was intended to ensure that the project remained focused on its stated purpose.
Rather than allowing the huge community mobilisation to become an informal exercise, systems were put in place to guide how the project would be executed.
This reflected the principle of integrity: keeping the project centred on the collective objective for which contributions were mobilised.
TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
The project also incorporated mechanisms intended to promote transparency and accountability.
Tendering and contractor selection were subjected to professional processes. Project monitoring and financial disbursements were similarly structured around oversight.
Payments to the contractor were linked to certified stages of work, while the Project Monitoring and Evaluation Committee provided an additional layer of checks and balances.
The intention was clear: funds raised for the Palace should be applied to the purpose for which they were raised, with expenditure corresponding to measurable progress on the project.
NINE MONTHS TO COMPLETION
Then came the result.
The Palace project was completed in nine months, despite being undertaken during the COVID-19 period.
It was commissioned on December 26, 2020.
For Ijesaland, the completion brought an end to a reconstruction effort that had remained unresolved since the 2008 fire and had survived three previous unsuccessful attempts.
The fourth attempt had succeeded.
THE ₦36 MILLION SURPLUS
But the financial story of the Palace project did not end with its completion.
According to the compendium, the project produced a ₦36 million surplus after the Palace was completed.
That surplus would later become significant in the continuing development story of Ijesaland.
Rather than marking the end of the mobilisation philosophy that produced the Palace, the resources left from the project became the seed funding for the subsequent Ijesa Health Is Wealth Project, which eventually gave birth to the Ijesaland Geriatric Centre.
In that sense, the Palace project established not only a physical landmark but also a model of community mobilisation, prudent management and reinvestment.
FIVE PRINCIPLES, ONE MAJOR MILESTONE
The Owa’s Palace project provides a practical illustration of the five leadership principles running through Fasuyi’s 10-year stewardship record:
Leadership by example — demonstrated through Fasuyi’s personal involvement and commitment to the mobilisation.
Vision — demonstrated by transforming the Palace challenge into a broad-based community project rather than leaving it to a few individuals.
Integrity — reflected in the emphasis on collective interest, professional standards and disciplined project execution.
Transparency — promoted through stakeholder engagement, professional oversight, tendering and monitoring mechanisms.
Accountability — reinforced by linking payments to certified stages of work and subjecting project finances to structured oversight.
FROM A DESTROYED PALACE TO A COMMUNITY LANDMARK
The journey began with a Palace destroyed by fire in 2008.
Three attempts to rebuild it had failed.
Then came the fourth attempt.
Following the challenge from the late Owa Obokun Adimula, Fasuyi mobilised Ijesas at home and in the diaspora, engaging traditional rulers, chiefs, professionals, artisans, market women, students and other stakeholders.
A total of 102 Ijesas supported the project, while professional expertise was provided to strengthen its execution.
Nine months later, the new Palace was completed and commissioned.
And when the accounts were reconciled, the project had reportedly produced a ₦36 million surplus.
The significance of the Palace milestone therefore lies not only in the structure that was delivered, but in the process behind it: a difficult community challenge was accepted, Ijesas were mobilised, professional standards were applied, resources were managed with oversight, and the completed project generated resources that could be redirected to another community need.
That is what places the Owa’s Palace project among the five major milestones of Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi’s 10-year stewardship of Ijesaland.
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