At Ogun Festival, Gani Adams restates importance of culture

Chief promoter of Yoruba culture and founder of olokun Festival Foundation, (OFF) Otunba Gani Adams has enjoined the Federal Government to reintroduce the study of history in the academic curriculum to prevent our culture from going into extinction.

Gani Adams, who is also the National Coordinator of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), made this known during the Ogun Festival, which held at Ikorodu Town Hall, Lagos State, recently.

“This trend portends a grave danger to our future and sanctity as a cultured people, because history is part of us, while we are also part of the emerging history. History remains the bedrock of development for every nation and no na- tion can make any meaningful progress without a good knowledge of history.”

Emphasising the essence of Ogun Festival, Gani Adams said: “Ogun is a divine being with divine character- istics; he is a warrior and the god of iron and technology celebrated across the world. His relevance is also no- ticeable in Ire, a popular town in Ekiti State and he is also the deity mostly respected among his faithful as the god of iron.”

The exploits of Ogun, he said, was evidence in it being the primordial de- ity documented in Yoruba history and mythology, for when the deities were coming from heaven to earth, Ogun, he informed, played an important role in ensuring their successful journey to the world.

“He created the pathway that linked the luminous world of gods to the physical place of human. That’s why it is very difficult for man to live comfortably in the world without us- ing the world’s technology. Believers of Ogun across the world have their shrines across the world and they usu- ally consult his oracle for divinations,

 especially, when things go wrong. They have to appease the god of iron and seek his face even before embark- ing on a journey,” he noted.

Gani Adams, who said his foundation had kept the hope of the Yoruba race alive by celebrating our progenitors

and ancestors, even as it continually promote the Yoruba culture, tradition and heritage, echoed, “For me, this is the greatest legacy that OFF under my leadership will bequeath to the coming generations of the Yoruba race. More important, we have also shown to the rest of the world, our commitment to ensure that all these festivals become annual ceremonies is real.”

Dignitaries who graced the occa- sion included Oba Kabiru Adewale Sotobi (KAS 1), Adegorunshen Vof Ikorodu; Oba Taiwo Adebunmi Bamgbose, the Olu of Imushin; and Kamorudeen Lamina, Chairman, Omo Lamina Global Ventures. Others were Dauda Asikolaye, Ramoni Ad- ekanbi, Saliu Mukaila Kayode, Oyer- inde Otepola, Bamidele Adamolekun, Abiodun Akerejola, among others.

The Lagos State chapter of TAM- PAM performed a play entitled Orun Mole ma Gba, while Oodua Cultural Troupe entertained guests with dance.