Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife, has emphasised the significance of Yoruba land’s traditional rulers continuing to wield supernatural power to protect their domains and themselves against bandit invasions.
This message was revealed at the first-ever Yoruba Security Summit, which was called in reaction to the growing levels of insecurity in the Southwest, especially the concerning cases of royal fathers being targeted in the states of Ekiti and Kwara.
The monarch strongly warned established monarchs who do not support the use of supernatural force, telling them to abdicate their thrones in the event that they would not accept these safeguards.
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“Any Oba who is disinterested in Yoruba culture and custom should abdicate his throne for anyone who is deeply versed and interested in Yoruba traditions,” he said.
The Ooni of Ife, along with other notable leaders like Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade, the Deji of Akure, Oba Joseph Adewole, the Owa-Ajero of Ijero Ekiti, and Oba Babatunde Adewale Ajayi, the Akarigbo of Remo, issued and endorsed a communiqué after the summit.
The communique said: “Yoruba people should take full control of their forests, homelands and farmlands.
“Amotekun Corps should be strengthened in terms of motivation, finances, training and retraining of personnel and that those who are familiar with nooks and crannies of our forests should be recruited into the Amotekun Corps.
“The Yoruba, especially traditional rulers, should make recourse to their natural resources, including natural powers, to combat banditry and kidnapping; that Yoruba Obas should not jettison traditional values.
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“The entire Obas in Yorubaland should work in unison to ward off the evils of banditry and kidnappings, as each of the states can only succeed in chasing the marauders to another state.
“Southwest governors should organize Regional Security Summit at the earliest practicable time, including all stakeholders to chart the way forward and give teeth to all the concerns raised at this summit.
“The security summit calls for strong support for the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the larger interest of Yoruba race.
“The security summit calls on Yoruba traditional rulers to return to the pristine Yoruba traditional, spiritual and cultural values.
“At all times, the traditional rulers should recognize that, in spite of whatever nature of religion they practice, they must recognize that the stool they preside over is traditional.
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“The summit calls on local, state and federal governments to employ use of drones and other appropriate technology for the effective surveillance of Yoruba forests and roads.
“The summit agrees that the Yoruba security summit should be held on a quarterly basis so as to capture intervening and supervising variables in our polity.”
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