Confab: Nigeria’s Ifa devotees want 3 seats

Adherents of African indigenous religions in Nigeria on Sunday protested over their exclusion from the proposed national conference scheduled to kick off in Abuja in March 2014.

Guidelines released last month by Pius Anyim, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation indicated that Muslim and Christian leaders have been granted the opportunity of nominating six representatives each to the 492 delegates national conference.

But in a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday, Professor Idowu Odeyemi, President, International Council for IFA Religion, representing the voice of African Traditional Religion in Nigeria lamented the exclusion of the indigenous religious practitioners from nominations to the conference.

He therefore demanded that the practitioners of the indigenous religion should be given at least three slots among the delegates.

Professor Odeyemi who is Dean, School of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Federal University of Technology, Akure, said the exclusion is against the provision of the Nigeria Constitution which recognizes the existence of three major religions in Nigeria.

“The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is currently in use recognizes the existence of three major religions in Nigeria, (African Traditional Religion, Islam and Christianity) the composition of participants at the proposed National Conference, consciously and studiously seeks to ignore the pivotal provisions of that constitution. This is UNACCEPTABLE,” said Odeyemi.

He added that his group is already making representations to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation over the issue.

The demand of the group is also being supported by the Odua People Congress, OPC.

Odeyemi noted that traditional rulers who were in pre-colonial days the true representatives and protectors of African Traditional Religion cannot represent the indigenous faith at the Conference because most of the traditional rulers have abandoned African Traditional Religions in favour of Muslim and Christian Religions.

“Our religion is therefore not ready to accept that we should be represented by Traditional Rulers. In any case, Traditional Rulers have been SEPARATELY allocated slots as a stakeholder group at the conference.

“All practitioners of African Traditional Religion in Nigeria demand and should be given THREE (3) slots on the National conference to represent and articulate the interests of African Religion and Spirituality,” said the Professor.