If you are a king and requested for the head of one of the populace to worship idol, whose head are you offering? Definitely your child`s head. What a barbaric reasoning!
The removal of more than 800years old Ogun (god of iron) from my palace in November 2016 was a testimony of the spirituality divinely reserved for a pure monarch. There was uproar after the removal of the Ogun. Even, before the heat among her worshippers, there were numbers of threats to dissuade me from evacuating it. The excuse of the antagonists was that, Ogun will fight back. Who knows may be ogun is still preparing to fight me? Oluwo asked. I’m a commander over deities. I regard deities for their respective innovation and courage but I’m still over them. If they were alive, they would bow for me in my palace. I reiterated it that those shaking a tree are inconveniencing themselves unless I associate partner with God since my enthronement as the Oluwo of Iwoland. Yoruba would say “Eni min Kukute, Ara re Lomi”.
The natural spirituality of Obas is yet to be discovered by many rulers. It is disheartening to see that most of the occupiers of the stool who are automatic carriers of divined spiritual asset given to monarchs by The Creator are ignorant of their divine belongings. Crowns and stools are fortified objects and positions respectively. The gods are heroes, defied for their specific unprecedented marks in their respective prowess. They must be celebrated, not only as a mark of their heroic records but also to motivate the aspiring amazon of the surviving generation. gods should be widely celebrate with clean decoration devoid of fetish attachment to attract people of all faith. Specifically, our culture can be attractive to people of all faiths. Our deities scare people mostly the children. How will a child be attracted to a culture characterized with fetish objects? Monarchs are the heads, should we preach an intimidating tradition to our children, and Yoruba as a language may be drown in the pool of extinction. Our gods should be institutionalized by the government to a tourist Centre devoid of fetish objects. Annual celebration should be changed to carnival for the interest of our children. It is then it can be attractive to the Muslims and Christians that constitute higher percent of our population.
The orientation has commenced in Iwo. The promulgation was launched last year (2017) during my debut at annual Egungun festival. The acrid odour of most masquerades was discouraging and demotivating. No enlightened soul will be attractive to a smelling masquerade in the 21st century. Not many souls will be attracted to such stench garments.
In one week time, 2018 Iwo Egungun festival will hold. No smelling masquerade gain access to my palace. I’ve told all of them. No children will be enticed to a smelling masquerade.
No culture can meet international acceptance without updating and upgrade. Doing things same way will give same result.
I modernized ofi to correct the stereotype of fetish garment attached to it and make it attractive to our children. Today, because of the upgrade, many children are wearing Ofi because of the standard I brought in.
OLUWO OF IWOLAND, HIM OBA (DR.) ABDULROSHEED ADEWALE AKANBI, TELU I
