A special publication designed to capture the historical perspectives of the royal ascension of the current Ooni of Ife, Oba (Dr.) Adeyeye Babatunde Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II and associated history of Obaship in the Yoruba land is scheduled for launch in Lagos on Tuesday August 8, 2017 at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to the spokesman for the Launch Committee, Babajide Macauley, “This book will surely put issues in proper perspective and remove every iota of doubt on the importance and supremacy of the Ooni of Ife as the Progenitor and bastion of Yoruba emancipation and youth development.”
This historical documentation, an initiative of Printmarks International, an indigenous research and documentation outfit which in February 2016, with the authority and mandate of the revered monarch, set out to document in book form, the pre-coronation, coronation and post-coronation events of the current 51st Ooni. This is the firm’s way of capturing issues, events and perspectives around the landmark coronation.
According to the publishing firm, the process of selection and coronation of Yoruba monarchs has never been documented in a form that would be of value and pride to future generations of the Yorubas. This has created a vacuum in the traditional setting that should have been sources of reference for the future.
Several powerful and notable Obas in major towns and cities in Yorubaland have emerged and still emerging without any written documents heralding their emergence and reign in their respective domain.
The book is adjudged an archival reference material that sets out to put in proper perspective the Yoruba cultural values and tradition. The book encompasses the profile of the monarch, details all former Oonis from the first to the current, reels out the names of all Ife honourary Chiefs, dead and alive, reveals the administrative and political structure of Ile-Ife and captures in colours Ife monuments, its historic sites and tourist potentials.
For credibility and authenticity, the contributions of some of the Ife honourary Chiefs to the success and acceptability of the project were vividly captured in this masterpiece.
Led by the legendary Balogun of Ile-Ife, Chief Bisi Omidiora who painstakingly edited the bookwork, the preface was written by Chief Alex Duduyemi, OFR, The Asiwaju of Ile-Ife, the Foreword was written by Ambassador Gunju Adesakin, The Otun Balogun of the Source while the Epilogue was written by Sen. Chief Segun Bamigbetan Baju, The Soludero of Ife and Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Cuba.
With the authority and mandate of Ooni of Ife, a Launch Committee comprising of the representatives of the Royal Palace, Printmarks International and the active participation and collaboration of representatives of the Council of Ife Honourary Chiefs has been set up to organize a befitting launch ceremony for the book.
The epoch making event is expected to attract the presence of Nigerian top government functionaries particularly The Aare Adimula of The Source and Former Vice-President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, GCON, as Chairman, state governors of the South Western States, Senators and members of House of Representatives, traditional rulers from and outside Yorubaland, presidents of Liberia, Cuba, Brazil and ambassadors of foreign nations in Nigeria.
Printmarks International believes that the need to fill the historic vacuum of proper documentation of issues and perspectives around our revered Royal Fathers and for future reference had informed the historic compilations.
