The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land who is also the National Cordinator of Ooda Peoples Congress, (OPC), Iba Gani Adams on Monday called on Yoruba leaders to join hands to restore the lost glory of Yoruba land, noting that Yoruba race has moved backward from its position and this has affected their culture and heritage.
He made this call in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, while delivering his speech at the 2019 edition of Oke’badan Festival held at the Cultural Center, Mokola Hill, Ibadan.
He posited that there is need for Yoruba leaders to join hands to restore the lost glory of Yoruba race because the culture and heritage of the Yorubas are gradually becoming the hub of hatred, pretence, resentment, rancorous acrimony and lost love, stressing that the leaders must re-invent themselves to avoid the negative judgement of history.
According to him, “the present situation is gradually bringing the Yorubas’ rich culture to become cultural nuisance and political apogee, and it has now turned to a culture of all comers where the sacred and ancient scrutiny of the chosen one is no more a norm.
“Yoruba ancestors and progenitors are turning uncomfortably in their graves as the new situation unfolds before our very eyes, history may not smile with our complacency and delibrate ignorance.”
He reiterated further that this is a clarion call on Yoruba leaders to fashion out their best option to reclaim the lost glory and value of Yorubaland, adding that Yorubas have the richest culture in Nigeria.
“There is need to showcase our rich cultural heritage. We should not politicise our culture because the diversity of unity in any nation is to showcase the individual cultural value and of each geopolitical zone.”
While speaking on Oke’badan festival, the OPC National Cordinator pointed out that the festival has always been the special treasure and heritage of the Ibadan people and Yoruba in particular, adding that Ibadan has always been a place of abode, protection, and security.
“Ibadan remains the most prominent town in Yoruba history. It is a center to the development of the entire southwest, it is the second largest city in Africa after Cairo in Egypt.”
“It is my duty to always promote Yoruba culture, if there had been unity among Yoruba leaders and all our traditional rulers, this land would have developed and grown more than this”.
Also speaking at the event was a lecturer from the department of Public Administration, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Wahab Yusuf who was the guest lecturer, he noted that “we are now having a cultural paradox because Yoruba culture is now in trouble.
“Yoruba had a fantastic and reserved culture before the advent of the British, but the problem the Western education has caused to our culture and tradition is enormous.”
He, however, urged all Yorubas to join hands to promote the cultural heritage of their tribe.
Dignitraries at the event included Akogun Gani Kayode Balogun, Chief Akerele Babatunde, Chief Muraina Olalere, Ahj Rasheed Adigun, Alhaji Ganiyu Akinkunmi, Chief Ayoade Jagunade, OPC cordinator in Oyo State, Mr Rotimi Oluomo among others.
Packaged by Ojo Peter
