Sultan to deliver public lecture in Akure

Sa’ad Abubakar, sultan of Sokoto, will deliver the 2019 annual Ulefunta public lecture in Akure, Ondo state capital, on Monday.

According to Adebisi Adeniyi, chairman of the organising committee, the lecture will hold at the main auditorium of the Federal University of Technology (FUTA) by 10am.

The committee chairman said the sultan will use the opportunity to proffer the way forward to Nigeria at a period of its historical development when divisive narratives are gaining currency more than ever before in the polity.

“It will also, among other things, discuss the way to peace and a united Nigeria,” he said.

“The Ulefunta Festival is the brainchild of the Akure monarch, the Deji of Akure Kingdom, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi who began a process of bringing Akure’s culture into modern remembrance, one of which is the traditional period of leave of the Akure king called Ulefunta which is now celebrated to impart its lessons on the modern world.

“The Lecture, which will be chaired by the renowned entrepreneur, Chief Michael Ade Ojo, will also have the governor of Ondo State, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, as the Special Guest of Honour and will be attended by prominent traditional rulers, religious leaders, opinion leaders, community leaders, youths and students.”

According to the programme, the sultan will also hold an inter-religious council meeting with all religious leaders in the state on Sunday, with the aim of “getting them to keep peace and Nigerian unity, in spite of the differences of religion.”

The interdenominational meeting is scheduled to take place at the St. David’s Cathedral Hall, Oke-Ijebu, Akure by 4pm.