The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has stressed the importance of traditional rulers in Yoruba land maintaining the use of supernatural power to defend themselves and their territories against bandit attacks.
This message came to light during the inaugural Yoruba Security Summit convened in response to the escalating insecurity in the Southwest, particularly the alarming incidents of royal fathers being targeted in Ekiti and Kwara states.
The monarch sternly cautioned traditional rulers who are indifferent to the application of supernatural power, advising them to step down from their thrones if they are unwilling to embrace these protective measures.
“Any Oba who is disinterested in Yoruba culture and custom should abdicate his throne for anyone who is deeply versed and interested in Yoruba traditions,” he said.
Following the summit’s conclusion, a communique was issued and endorsed by the Ooni of Ife, along with fellow monarchs such as the Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade; the Owa-Ajero of Ijero Ekiti, Oba Joseph Adewole; the Akarigbo of Remo, Oba Babatunde Adewale Ajayi, among other distinguished leaders.
The communique said: “Yoruba people should take full control of their forests, homelands and farmlands.
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“Amotekun Corps should be strengthened in terms of motivation, finances, training and retraining of personnel and that those who are familiar with nooks and crannies of our forests should be recruited into the Amotekun Corps.
“The Yoruba, especially traditional rulers, should make recourse to their natural resources, including natural powers, to combat banditry and kidnapping; that Yoruba Obas should not jettison traditional values.
“The entire Obas in Yorubaland should work in unison to ward off the evils of banditry and kidnappings, as each of the states can only succeed in chasing the marauders to another state.
“Southwest governors should organize Regional Security Summit at the earliest practicable time, including all stakeholders to chart the way forward and give teeth to all the concerns raised at this summit.
“The security summit calls for strong support for the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the larger interest of Yoruba race.
“The security summit calls on Yoruba traditional rulers to return to the pristine Yoruba traditional, spiritual and cultural values.
“At all times, the traditional rulers should recognize that, in spite of whatever nature of religion they practice, they must recognize that the stool they preside over is traditional.
“The summit calls on local, state and federal governments to employ use of drones and other appropriate technology for the effective surveillance of Yoruba forests and roads.
“The summit agrees that the Yoruba security summit should be held on a quarterly basis so as to capture intervening and supervising variables in our polity.”
