Ile Ife has
continued to attract interest across the globe with high profile
personalities visiting and holding court with the newly installed Ooni
of Ife, Oba Adeleye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja 11, whose towering influence
and impressed performance since claiming the throne especially his
passionate drive for the unity of the Yoruba race and promotion of
cultural tourism with Ife as the new destination.
This time around,
the Ooni played host to one of his own, the Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria,
Carlos E.Troja Sosa, 'Omowale,' who himself has a history of long
association with the palace dating back to the era of the late Oba
Sijwuade. He was accompanied on the visit by his wife, Trejo Sosa
(Oshunyinka) the deputy envoy, Ms Miriam Morales Palmero (Yemoja)
following a royal summon by the Ooni.
The visit spanned
two days with the first day witnessing a grand reception for the
visiting envoy and his team at the Enu Owa palace where he was treated
to musical and cultural entertainment with Osirgi dance group, Abubu Ola
and the Elewo Agogo Group and the duo of Olo Midan Bata and Anu, the
lady Ekwe from the stable of Atunda Entertainment as well as Sango Oba
Koso, which is known in the Caribbean as Shango.
This was later
followed in the evening by a private dinner hosted for the visitors by
the Ooni, who is also the grand patron of Motherland Beckons, an
organsiation founded by Otunba Wanle Akinboboye, who is the president of
La Campagne and also the consultant and adviser on tourism to the Ooni,
who has on assumption of the throne declared his intention of turning
Ife into a tourism destination.
The night ended
with tour of Omi Yeye Moolu, a mysterious river within the inner
recesses of the palace while on the second day of the visitor, the team
was at the Ile - Ife Grand Resort and Leisure site, a 156 hectare of
land, which on completion is to house a N7.6 billion resort. A baby of
the Ooni, which is envisaged to provide employment for hundreds of the
people and opened up the tourism economy of Ile - Ife.
Thereafter, the
team visited Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) where the Cuban envoy held
court with the students at the amphitheatre. He also visited the
Natural History of Museum and the Institute of Cultural Studies.
The two days visit
was most instructive as it afforded the Ooni and his guests the
opportunity to exchange ideas and pledge cooperation in the area of the
promotion of cultural tourism given that Cuba and Nigeria has a long
history and that majority of its population, as disclosed by the envoy
as of Yoruba descend with many as devotees of Ifa.
Ambassador Sosa was
impressed by the tourism dream of the Ooni especially the Ile - Ife
Grand Resort and also the planned declaration of Ife as a tourism zone.
According to the envoy, these are laudable projects, which he is happy
to be associated with and run his weight behind even as he promised the
Ooni and the people of the unalloyed support of his office and that of
his country.
Oba Ojaja 11 also
took time to educate and expose his visitors to the rich history and
tradition of his people and the supremacy of Ile - Ife. He debunked the
migratory theory about Ile - Ife and declared that Ile - Ife is indeed
the cradle of mankind and not only that of the Yorubas alone.
He further delved
into mystic and esoteric belief that Olodumare, the creator of the
universe, controls the world from Ile - Ife, as evidenced by the
mysterious Igi Nla, White Forest, Ark of Noah and Tower of Babel, all
domiciled in Ile-Ife. He elaborated on the significance of the 201
deities created by Olodumare and their relationship with mankind, right
from the Adam and Eve days of old.
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