Don charges Afenifere on promotion of Yoruba research, cultural diversity

 

A Professor of History and Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, Olukoya Ogen, has charged Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, to set machinery in motion for the floating of a Yoruba Historical Research Foundation that will generously fund Yoruba history fellowships, research grants and prizes. 

He gave the charge while delivering the 21st Inaugural Lecture of Osun State University in Osogbo. 

The cultural enthusiast hailed Afenifere for prioritising the socio-economic and political development of Yorubaland. 

The lecture titled ‘Reconstructing a Silenced Past: Echoes of Revisionism and Counter Hegemonic History’, advocated for the production of alternative, non-statist, counter-hegemonic history that could recover suppressed and historically marginalised voices. 

The well-attended lecture brought together an assemblage of renowned academicians, the pool of former and serving Vice Chancellors and Provosts, a column of eggheads from the nation’s ivory towers, an array of distinguished royal fathers, the leadership of Afenifere, top government functionaries and captains of industry, as well as journalists, colleagues, friends and family of the Inaugural Lecturer. 

Also, Ogen has made an authoritative pronouncement on the lingering controversies surrounding the historical dynamics of Ife-Benin-Ugbo intergroup relations in the course of the lecture. 

The Inaugural Lecturer based his findings on an extensive collection and comparison of Ife, Benin and Ugbo cultural artefacts, in-depth ethnographic survey of the study areas,  evidence from dialectology and anthropology, copious scrutiny of relevant ancient and extant literature, navigational maps of coastal Yorubaland dating back to the 15th century and Portuguese and Dutch travel records from the 16th to the 18th centuries. 

He categorically affirmed that the Ugbo headed by the Olugbo of Ugbo were the original inhabitants of pre-Oduduwa Ife and that this fact was also confirmed by the 46th Ooni of Ife, Oba Adelekan, Olubuse l, who reigned from 1894-1910 in an interview the Ooni granted the then Assistant District Officer, John Wyndham, which was later published in London in 1921.