10th January, 2016
Eromosele Ebhomele
The Ooni of Ile-Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has restated that his reign will be dedicated to cultural renaissance and development of Yorubaland.
He gave the assurance when a delegation of the pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG, paid him a courtesy visit over the weekend.
A press statement signed by Kunle Famoriyo, Afenifere’s publicity secretary, quoted the Ooni as saying the time had come for Yoruba people to unite and deploy their God-given potentials for the benefit of mankind.
The monarch advocated peaceful coexistence and a return to Yoruba cultural values.
The Ooni, who later had a close-door meeting with the group, said: “Yorubaland is abundantly blessed particularly with human resources. The problem is that abundance of wisdom may sometimes precipitate power tussle, and even that can be healthy.
“But we must realise that power belongs to God and it is He that gives it. There will be no need for superiority contentions once we realise and accept that though, all fingers are not equal; they are all important and dependent on one another.
“God’s endowment for Ijebu is different from that of Ekiti; Oyo’s is different from that of Ibadan. The lesson here is that we have common ancestry and we must deploy all our collective strengths to combat our collective weaknesses.
“Peaceful coexistence and brotherhood must be our pursuit.
“Our history has proved that once we have peace and unity of purpose, development is easy. This is my watchword and I will keep saying it. The process has started already in Ile-Ife and it will spread across Yorubaland.”
He enjoined everyone across all social cadres to work for common purpose while commending ARG’s love for Yorubaland as evidenced in its commitment to developmental issues.
He also promised to work with the group.
Speaking earlier, Olawale Oshun, ARG National Chairman, said the group embarked on the visit to congratulate the new monarch, present a proposal for his consideration on cultural renaissance and developmental template for Yorubaland and with a promise that the group will mobilise support for his laudable vision for Yorubaland.