Indigenes and residents of Ondo Kingdom are set to benefit from comprehensive free surgical procedures as part of events commemorating the 20th coronation anniversary of the paramount ruler, the Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Victor Adesimbo Kiladejo.
The healthcare intervention, tagged ‘Festival of Surgeries’, draws directly from the monarch’s professional background as a medical doctor and headlines a two-month calendar of legacy infrastructural projects, cultural showcases, and academic fixtures packaged by the Ondo Development Committee (ODC).
The commemorative activities, running through December 24, 2026, will culminate in the grand finale of the annual Ekimogun Day Festival on December 26, 2026, anchored on the theme: ’20 Years of Unprecedented Peace and Development in Ondo Kingdom’.
In a major cross-cultural feature of the anniversary, the monarch will confer honorary chieftaincy titles on two prominent Americans: veteran hip-hop broadcaster and media icon Sway Calloway, and American music executive and cultural advocate Leila Steinberg, alongside distinguished Nigerian honourees recognized for outstanding community impact.
The Chairman of the anniversary planning committee, former Vice-Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, and High Chief Lisa-elect of Ondo Kingdom, Professor Femi Mimiko, announced the itinerary in an official statement released on behalf of the committee.
Mimiko explained that the ‘Festival of Surgeries’ was deliberately designed to deliver immediate, life-transforming medical relief to vulnerable citizens, ensuring that the milestone celebration transcends ceremonial pageantry to yield measurable social welfare impact.
“The medical programme is among the practical interventions designed to translate the celebration into tangible benefits for our people, rather than confining it to ceremonial activities,” the planning committee noted.
Other key programmes scheduled across the kingdom include the commissioning of community legacy projects, an art and craft exhibition, a public symposium on the kingdom’s socioeconomic trajectory, an inter-school debate competition among secondary schools, and a commemorative golf tournament.
The ODC, chaired by Chief Oye Akinsulire, noted that the 20-year milestone offers a strategic platform to reinforce the kingdom’s developmental master plan while celebrating two decades of peace and institutional stability under Oba Kiladejo, who ascended the ancient throne in 2006.
The planning committee also includes the Itagbuyi of Ondo Kingdom, Chief Wole Benson Akinkuolie, and Dr. Nelson Osungbemiro of Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo.
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