Academia in Nigerian universities has been urged by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, to properly document the history of the Yoruba race rather than relying on jaundiced history
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has challenged academia in Nigerian universities to document the history of the Yoruba race properly rather than relying on jaundiced history, saying proper documentation will not only foster unity but reveal the ties across ethnic groups, adding that evidence showed have that the Igbo race migrated from Ile-Ife.
The monarch, while addressing the newsmen ahead of an International Conference on ‘Ile-Ife and Yoruba Civilization: Nexus between Tradition and Modernity’ at his palace in Ife, put the challenge before the academia, saying Yoruba race has about a quarter of its history documented, hence, the reason he is collaborating with select universities on the need to properly document the history of the race to enhance cohesion among the people globally.
Ooni said, “We have good evidence to believe that the Igbo race has its roots here in Ile-Ife. There is Ile-Igbo here in the palace, which was not a recent creation but has been existing here for decades. For this and many other reasons, I believe we need proper documentation of our history.”
“We are not involving government in this project so that we can just place all the facts together; we must write our history properly and put things the right for the coming generations”.
Also speaking, a renowned professor of history, Siyan Oyeweso, said the conference aims to bring scholars together to discuss how to properly document the history of Yoruba, focusing on Ile-Ife as the source of the race.