Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said although he is Christian, he has respect for yoruba culture, especially the Ifa, which he described as authentic.
Obasanjo who advocated for the preservation of Yoruba rich cultural heritage, said he would consider as a big fool if anybody who says Ifa is nothing.
The elder statesman noted that before the advent of Christianity and Islam, the Yoruba of people Southwest Nigeria already had Ifa Orunmila they identified with.
The Ifa divination system, which makes use of an extensive corpus of texts and mathematical formulas to peer into the past, the present and the future to ferret out deep and hidden message on any issues of interest for the information and benefits of man and society .
It is practised among traditional worshippers in Yoruba communities and by some other communities outside yorubaland.
Ifa refers to the mystical figure perceived as the deity of wisdom that helps to decipher mysteries and aide intellectual development.
Obasanjo who spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Sunday while hosting a renowned female talking drummer, Olamuyiwa Aralola, popularly known as Ara, on her 50th Birthday at the Green Legacy Hotel and Resort, within the sprawling Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), said the Yoruba culture should not be allowed to die.
He reckoned that hosting Ara for birthday celebration was a deliberate action, to appreciate her efforts in preserving the Yoruba cultural heritage with specialty in talking drum, believed to be exclusive vocation for the men.
He said, “For whatever reason, we must preserve our culture, Ara is a woman of culture, she is our cultural ambassador, she has lifted our culture and had broken the taboo on what was formerly believed to be exclusively for male gender. She had not only excelled in this, but was already building young ones to preserve her legacy.
“When I was growing up, there are two things that you don’t imagine a woman should do. You cannot see a woman climbing a palm tree. Secondly, you cannot see a woman playing talking drum, Ara had broken the taboo and she had done it very well.”
The former president said the lesson in what Ara had done is that one must do whatever he or she is doing very well.
“Before now, parents don’t allow their son to play football but today, parents are now begging that their children should be allowed to play football.
“For me if you are dancer, dance well and if you invite me for celebration, I will come. If you are a footballer and you invite me for celebration, I will come. Whatever you find your hands in doing, do it well.
“We must not joke with our culture. We are being relegated to the background, our language is being relegated, our food, our dress and others. We must not allow it. They are things that are authentic. Yoruba is not vernacular.”
Obasanjo maintained that despite being a Christian, he hasn’t forgotten his culture.
“I am a Christian, I had attended two churches today and that does not mean that I should forget my culture. Whoever says Ifa is nothing, I will say that person is a big fool.
“Before Christianity and Islam, we have Ifa Orunmila meaning Olorun lo mo eni to ma la “It is Heaven that knows who will be saved,” he said.
Ara thanked Obasanjo, for the honour done to her.
Ara, who said she started playing talking drum at age 10 in her father’s palace in Ondo, said parents should do everything possible to preserve the culture.
