Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife, has issued a call to Nigerian universities, urging them to meticulously record the history of the Yoruba people. He emphasizes the need to move away from biased historical accounts.
According to him, comprehensive documentation serves a dual purpose. Not only does it promote unity, but it also unveils the interconnections among various ethnic groups.
Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi presents evidence suggesting that the Igbo people have historical ties to Ile-Ife, signifying a migration from this region.
The monarch put the challenge before the academia while addressing journalists ahead of an International Conference on ‘Ile-Ife and Yoruba Civilization: Nexus between Tradition and Modernity’, at his palace in Ife.
He said 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 with a view to enhancing cohesion among the people globally.
“We have good evidence to believe that 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,” the Ooni said.
“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 renown professor of history, Siyan Oyeweso, said the conference aims at bringing scholars together to discuss how to properly document the history of Yoruba, with focus on Ile-Ife as the source of the race.
