The Emir of Ilorin and Chairman, Kwara State Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, has called on the people of the Emirate to cultivate sense of unity and work assiduously for the development of the ancient town.

Sulu-Gambari made the call while playing host to the Ilorin Emirate Grand Durbar Committee led by its Chairman, Suleiman Yahaya Alapasanpa who were on a royal homage to his palace.

As a measure to strengthen bond of unity and love, the monarch urged the people of various Compounds in Ilorin to hold regular meetings among themselves.

He observed that frequent meetings of people of the same Compounds would provide an avenue for discussion on issues affecting them and also help curb the rat race for headship of various districts within the Emirate whenever such positions became vacant.

On the durbar, the Emir said Ilorin Emirate can't afford to jettison the event owing to the numerous advantages it has brought to the Emirate and applauded the committee for projecting the image of Ilorin in good light.

Sulu-Gambari expressed confidence in the leadership and membership of Durbar Committee, describing them as people of undoubted integrity.

He therefore tasked the committee to further network and synergize with government establishments and corporate bodies to make this year's grand durbar a huge success.

The Chairman of the Ilorin Grand Durbar Committee, Engineer Alapasanpa, said his team was at the palace to intimate the Emir that arrangements were in full force to improve on the past performances of the event.

Alapasanpa, who told the monarch that committee members have shown commitment and dedication, disclosed that the committee had met with international agencies such as UNESCO, and also explored other areas to showcase durbar event on a global map.

Speaking on the sidelines of the visit, he said, “The essence of today's meeting with the Emir of Ilorin was to give him the report of the activities of last year, and to brief him about the implementation of the plans on ground (for this year). We were at the palace to ask for the Emir's blessings as usual, which he actually did. He was happy and asked us to continue. He prayed to Almighty God to give us all the wherewithal to be able to have a better outing this year.

“Our plan is to have a very good procession this year so that we will be able to showcase the seniority of our District Heads, the Baloguns and so on. Not only that, we have been holding meetings with the international agencies including UNESCO. We are exploring other avenues that can show that a programme like this is here. They promised to be here. We have also reached out to a lot of multinational companies; they promised to contribute and make it great.

“At the same time, I want to use this opportunity to call on our people, both indigenes and friends of Ilorin and those in the Diaspora to participate fully and cooperate with us.

“On the security, we have worked on that and we are working with every facet of security, who are with us. They promised to do their best. We thank God, Ilorin and its environs are peaceful. We believe that we will continue to live peacefully”, Alapansanpa said.

This year's Ilorin grand durbar is scheduled to hold on the second day of Eid-el-Kabir at the forecourt of the palace of the Emir of Ilorin.