THE new Ooni of Ife, 40 years old Oba Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja 11, is a monarch after my own heart, if that statement would not be disrespectful of the Ife traditional institution. A young, highly successful entrepreneur-turned monarch, it was obvious at his inauguration that the loss to the business world would be Ife’s gain. Few months after his ascension to the throne of his fore fathers, he has not disappointed. Indeed, the way the monarch is going, age apart, he would soon be a fulcrum for traditional institutions in Nigeria. Surprisingly, his entrepreneurship skill and experience are being deployed to serve his people in Ife and also the Yorubaland. He has announced plans to make Ife a centre of tourism in the Southwest. To this end, he plans to build a N7.6billion Grand Resort in Ife. In realization of this, he has appointed Otunba Wanle Akinboboye as Chief Tourism Adviser and Consultant. Akinboboye is not strange to this environment. As founder of La Campaigne Tropicana and Motherland beckons, his resorts are world class and quite popular among the tourism crowd and those desirous of vacation without necessarily traveling out of the country. I know this because I have spent time in La Campaigne Tropicana. The Ooni is equally not strange to the hospitality and tourism resorts, having founded the Inagbe resort, though yet to visit this resort, I learnt it has first class facilities in a serene environment.
But the beauty in all these is the icing on the cake of this project- employment of about 20, 000 widows. Apart from empowering these people, the economic fortunes of Ife and environ would also change. There would be more wealth created, produce sellers would thrive, artisans would make money. The society would definitely be better for it.
Beyond that are the primordial barriers he is equally breaking. Shortly after his inauguration, he paid a surprise, uninvited visit to the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 11 who was celebrating his 45th year on the throne.
It was a significant visit especially considering the supremacy battle that had existed between his predecessor, Ooni Okunade Sijuwade and the Alaafin. The last time an Ooni visited Oyo was in 1937. The Alaafin had this to say of the visit.
“This special visit was done last in March 1937, that was the first time the kings in Yorubaland met in Oyo town and today history was made with the visit of Arole Oodua Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II and I feel delighted to host you and to reassure you that I will be ready to work with you. I have a tight relationship with Ooni Adesoji Aderemi and I did not want to relent my bound with any Ooni of Ife that assumed the post but everybody has his own little differences”.
The visit, from all indications and the eventual fall out clearly shows the path that the Ooni would tow- that of rapprochement, unity and peaceful coexistence with other monarchs. By the time this article is being read, he would also have made another historical visit to another first class Yoruba monarch, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona.
Last sunday, he was in Ejigbo, an ancient town in Osun state to felicitate with the monarch, the Ogiyan, Oba Omowonuola Oyesosin who celebrated his 80th birthday. Indeed, his visit to the Alaafin spurred the Ekiti state People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governor, Ayodele Fayose to visit the rival All Progressives Congress (APC) Governor Rauf Aregbesola in Osun state, according to the governor. The signal this is sending is that barriers of rivalry, enmity, which has created schism among the various people in the South west is gradually being brought down. The signal being sent out is that there should be unity among the Yoruba irrespective of which side of the divide they belong.
The Ooni actually summed up the motive of his visits in his statement in Oyo town when he said,“It is a new dawn for all Yoruba sons and daughters around the globe… I am here today though not invited but as the Arole Oduduwa, the onus is on me to felicitate with all sons and daughters wherever they are and to show my solidarity for any of them.
“I am ready to damn any consequences or insinuations from anywhere; my mission here is to preach peace among nations of Yoruba both home and abroad and I am ready to work with Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Olayiwola Adeyemi to project the unity and love which we believe is existing in days of our forefathers.”
That the Ooni holds firmly to his message of peace, harmony and unity was further lent credence with another surprise and historical visit to Modakeke. For most Yoruba and followers of happenings in the zone, there had always been an age-long rivalry between the people of Ife and Modakeke which had always resulted in fratricidal warfare, leading to deaths and extreme carnage.
The enmity had been in existence since the past 200 years within which period no Ooni had ever set foot on Modakeke soil. It was during that visit that he announced the employment of about 20000 of the 40000 widows of the war between the two towns with further promise to absorb the rest as the project got underway. With the above, one can only wish the Ooni, a long reign while wishing that some of the older generation take a cue from this and ensure unity, not only among their immediate ethnic groups but across the various ethnic divides in the country.
Indeed, the entire country has something to learn from this, that it takes little to ensure peaceful co-existence, all that is required is the willingness as displayed by the Ooni.