Ooni: Those opposed to idolatry are not kind to history

Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, the ooni of Ife, has cautioned people to stop misrepresenting the importance of festivals and deities celebrated in the ancient city of Ile-Ife and all parts of Africa.

Ooni said this when he spoke at the 2016 celebration of ORANFE, the god of fire in Ile-Ife.

He expressed regrets that many people failed to promote the positive aspects of the Yoruba and African festivals due to slavish mentality and over-westernization.

The royal father said no one was immune from worshipping the nature, adding that no human being could survive without what the deities represented.‎

“Those who keep sensitising people against us that we are worshipping idols are not kind to history. I am proud to be associated with nature. Ife has 201 out the 401 deities and they are all relevant,” he said.‎

“These deities are divine messengers of God sent for different purposes. One of them is ORANFE, the god of fire being celebrated here today.

“It is a pity that all powers in the possession of black men are being used for battles and power tussles. It is from these unique powers that the west sourced technology and development from, and they are now using it against us.

‎“We will continue to experience poverty all over the place if we don’t celebrate the good side of our culture.

“Some of these deities also show the mysteries of God, God wouldn’t have made mistake in the creation of the deities, they are representatives of sciences being taught in schools.

“It is very sad that the western world has messed up our psyche and inflicted slavish mentality on us making us to believe we are idol worshippers as our pitiable neglect of our own culture and traditions.

“This is a major factor responsible for the poverty in the land. We left the positive sides and allow the west to implant the negative side in our brain.”