The
ooni of Ife has cautioned people to stop misrepresenting the importance
of festivals and deities celebrated in the ancient city of Ile-Ife and
all parts of Africa.
The Ooni of Ife
While speaking at the 2016 celebration of ORANFE, the god of fire
in Ile-Ife, Osun, on Wednesday, the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja
II, has cautioned people to stop misrepresenting the importance of
festivals and deities celebrated in the ancient city of Ile-Ife and all
parts of Africa.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the influential
yoruba monarch expressed regrets that many people failed to promote the
positive aspects of the Yoruba and African festivals due to slavish
mentality and over-westernization, and that no one was immune from
worshipping nature, adding that no human being could survive without
what the deities represented.
“Our people really need to be enlightened, a lot of these
festivals have been misconstrued, misrepresented and demonised as if we
are idol worshippers. We are not idol worshippers. We are rather
believers in nature.
“I am not saying the commandments of God should not be adhered
to, but we must know that all these deities are messengers of God.
“They represent nature. Nothing can be done without nature
regardless of our religion be it Islam or Christianity or even
traditional.
“We only honour nature because we are all integral part of it
and do not worship idols. Some of the deities we worship have roots in
the holy books.
“We are also following the instructions of God needed for the
sustenance of mankind as everybody, including powerful leaders rely on
nature to survive,” the royal father said.
The Ooni, however faulted the ‘westernisation’ of the
cultural belief of Africans in all part of the world, which he said, was
a major factor responsible for the increasing poverty facing the
immeasurably blessed continent.
“Those who keep sensitising people against us that we are
worshipping idols are not kind to history. I am proud to be associated
with nature. Ife has 201 out the 401 deities and they are all relevant.
“These deities are divine messengers of God sent for different
purposes. One of them is ORANFE, the god of fire being celebrated here
today.
“It is a pity that all powers in the possession of black men
are being used for battles and power tussles. It is from this unique
powers that the west sourced technology and development from, and they
are now using it against us.
“We will continue to experience poverty all over the place if we don’t celebrate the good side of our culture.
“Some of these deities also show the mysteries of God, God
wouldn’t have made mistake in the creation of the deities, they are
representatives of sciences being taught in schools.
“It is very sad that the western world has messed up our psyche
and inflicted slavish mentality on us making us to believe we are idol
worshippers as our pitiable neglect of our own culture and traditions.
“This is a major factor responsible for the poverty in the
land. We left the positive sides and allow the west to implant the
negative side in our brain.”
Oranfe, the god of fire, is believed to be one of Yoruba’s 401
deities sent by God to establish the first world’s community called Ife
Oodaye, and as one of the historical festivals in Ile-Ife, Oranfe is
celebrated annually.
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