By Lukman Olabiyi
Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams has said that state of insecurity ravaging the country began with religious fanatism, which government fail to tame.
He said insecurity which is now at it peak in some states, began like child play with religion coloration, which be could term as fanatism but government fail to tame or check its spread from the source.
Adams bemoaned negative influence of foreign on Africa while speaking on the occasion of Elegbara Festival 2021, which took place at Shasha, in Egbeda area of Lagos State.
He said many challenges currently being faced by Nigerian, could be trace to consequence of abandoning the culture, tradition and art of their forefathers.
Precisely, Adams decried neglection of Yoruba culture and tradition, said it was cause of relegation of the offspring of tribe to second class citizens in their country.
He reiterated the need for Yorubas to go back to their root, saying there was need for them to face the reality by identifying with their culture, tradition and heritage in order for the country to attain rapid development like the developed nations of the world.
“Someday ago, I came back to Nigeria after a two – week official trip to Europe.
“Like every other trips, my recent trip to Germany, Italy and Poland, among others was an eye-opener.
“For instance, in Poland, the Polish infrastructure was even worse than that of Nigeria in 1981. That was about 40 years ago.
“But the story of their infrastructural deficit now changed tremendously because of their determination to
respect and embrace their culture and tradition.
“Today, Poland can easily be compared with other developed countries in Europe and the entire world because of their tremendous transformation.
” The polish identified the missing links in their culture, tradition and heritage. They went back to their root and embrace what is truly important to them as a people,.
“We, therefore, need to go back to our root. We need to face the reality by identifying with our culture, tradition and heritage,” he declared.
Adams tasked all the leaders of Yoruba and government to find the missing links by facing the challenges that had been threatening the tribe capacity for growth and advancement across Yoruba land.
On Elegbara Festival, Adams noted that one of the reasons for celebrating it was to promote Yoruba culture, tradition and heritage and also to regain the lost glory of the race, among others, just as he described Elegbara, otherwise known as Legba in Togo, Cameroun and other African countries, as a deity of great quality.
Besides, he said the deity, “from time immemorial, is specially created by the most high God as a very important deity in both the spiritual and physical realms, and further described it as a divine messenger who often played different roles.
He particularly noted that the Shasha and its environs had benefitted from Elegbara Festival both physically and spiritually, since Olokun Festival Foundation (OFF) started celebrating festival, saying the testimonies were there for everyone to see.