Tag: Posterity

Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, has celebrated his first anniversary on the throne. A researcher/author Oluwaseun Okunnuga, has written a compendium on the monarch’s efforts to unite the Yoruba. ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMAILA writes on  what inspired Okunnuga.

A researcher, Oluwaseun Okunnuga, has taken note of the efforts of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II to unite the Yoruba race since the monarch mounted the throne over a year ago.
Okunnuga captured the Ooni’s exploits in the last one year in a compendium entitled: Spiritual king of the source: On a mission beyond mortal dream.
The Oonirisa’s ascension to the throne, Okunnuga said, could not be separated from his modest upbringing.
According to him, the Oonirisa’s in just one year, is rewriting the history of the traditional stool. “His gospel of peace and his resilience to unite the troubled Yoruba race continues to reverberate among his kinsmen at the home front and in the Diaspora. He remains focused to his slogan: ‘One people: One tribe’ which continues to earn him accolades among his kinsmen.”
Okunnuga praised the monarch’s diplomacy, saying he often leaves his spiritual abode in Ile-Ife to honour invitations from other kings, and using same avenue to rub minds with them on issues germane to the progress of the Yoruba race. Barely a year in the saddle, the Oonirisa has continued to extend olive branch to even older monarchs, especially across the Southwest region.
According to him, “Yeye, as he was fondly referred to in his boyhood, was a ‘corporate’ cobbler at 14 years. Four years later, he hawked beans and soft drinks on the streets of Ibadan Oyo State. This, he did, to support his struggling parents who were fending for his four other siblings. In his 20S, he struggled to attain the status of a daring entrepreneur. Before hitting 30 however, he already had an agenda with fate which had catapulted him among a handful of successful realtors in Nigeria.
Speaking with The Nation, the author, Okunnuga said the yet-to-be-released compendium contains articles, pictorials, monographs and speeches of Oonirisa from when he was enthroned.
The book, according to Okunnuga, not only highlights Ooni’s quest for unity among the Yoruba, but also his numerous efforts towards reawakening the consciousness of Ile-Ife as the cradle of Yoruba race.
The author said: “It chronicles the distinct, pacifist, and ethereally, yet mystifying actions of the monarch, along with his commendable representations on behalf of the Yoruba empire, the cultural renaissance through various strategic acculturation and social and economic development of Ile-Ife, his mindful efforts that has continued to raise people’s consciousness about the ‘source of civilisation’.”
Okunnuga said the 10-chapter book espouses Oonirisa as both physical and spiritual idol, budding entrepreneur, a personality with humility and candour and an emblem of hope for the black continent. It also beams a searchlight on Ooni’s virtues and various escapades in realising his mission.
Going down memory lane, Okunnuga said owing to illiteracy, many of African oral literature could not be properly documented for posterity. He lamented that worse still, the authenticity of some of those already in print are either being distorted, or contested simply because they were not captured at the time of existence. This, Okunnuga observed, is what his book hopes to correct.”Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of memory, and to operate as guides to the future. I, therefore, owe it to myself and posterity to ensure that these facts are permanently placed on record; bringing together a compendium of scattered articles, monographs and sophisticated intellectual document, which, if not done now, could have been lost to the dustbin of history,” he said
The author noted that despite the enormity of his power, Oonirisa has remained largely lowly, balancing his authority with social reality and spreading his arms to all regardless of individuals’ social, economic and religious affiliations. Okunnuga praised Oonirisa’s unparalleled generosity is fast reversing the age-long tradition where a king is expected to receive and receive while giving little or nothing back to his subjects.
“He said: “Indeed, within a limited time, he has touched base with his people given his humanitarian activities which have transformed lives within and outside Ile-Ife. The Oonirisa has opened a new vista for unison of his countrymen and by extension the diaspora; but more important than this fact, he has continued to fortify the position of ‘Arole Oodua’ on the tablets of contemporary history as the preeminent keeper of  ‘seal’ of Yoruba nation.
“It is instructive that God, in His infinite grace, got him out of his Lagos abode, crowning and instructing him to promptly reunite the Yoruba race; a mandate to spread Yoruba custom, cultures and their very way of life beneath the blue sky. Inevitably the celestial has further thrust tasks at him, and which he must accomplish. Even now, the cultural renaissance through various strategic acculturation and social economic development in Ile-Ife is unprecedented. His efforts towards building a thriving economy around ‘our enterprising culture’ and monuments has continued to raise people’s consciousness about Ile-Ife, the foremost cultural centre of the world.”
The book, he said, will be ideal to students of History, African Studies and young and old seeking inspiration from individuals who rose to become role models.