Oyo State Secretary of Traditional Religion Worshippers Association (TRWA), Dr Fayemi Fatunde Fakayode, has expressed reservation against Africans bearing foreign names, saying the names have no correlation to the circumstances of their births and how they will succeed in life.
He claimed that the best names that bring fortunes to a child are his or her ancestral names, as it is easy to seek the right path to successful life when divination (Ifa) is consulted.
The Ifa priest said this on Sunday evening during the installation ceremony of Iyanifa Fajemirola Ifetayo Fakayode, an African-American formerly known as Mrs Dawn Millings-Obidiebube as Yeye Gbawoniyi of Ijo Imole Olodumare Agbaye, at the Olodumare’s Temple of Light International, Old Oyo Road, Alade Town, Ibadan.
The Ifa priest emphasised the need to consult divination and make appeasement to individual’s spiritual identity (Ori), which is made possible with unique Yoruba names given to the concerned person after birth.
He claimed that the people seeking wealth and healthy living from other means than their unique spiritual being (Ori) are doing so in vain until they make appeasement to their own spirit.
“African names, especially Yoruba names have uniqueness and very significant to how we live our lives, they are like the purveyors of good or bad to the bearers, which is why Yorubas check the divine path of each newborn baby in connection with his or her name.
“This name is the way by which divination is sought whenever the individual is having any problem in life and it is the essence of why Yoruba people overcome their travails by appeasing their ‘Ori’, which is their unique spiritual identity.
“So many problems that Africans or Nigerians have are not suppose to be problems for them if they identify themselves with their names and uniqueness to their existence in life, it is also necessary in picking leaders for a people, their names tend to reflect in their performances,” Fakayode stated.
He enjoined parents to pick Yoruba names that have significance on the birth of their children and easy to relate with as the children grow in life, saying foreign names contribute towards misfortunes to most African people.
Speaking on the installation of the African-American, Iyanifa Fajemirola Ifetayo, formerly Dawn Milling as Yeye Gbawoniyi of Ijo Imole Eledumare Agbaye, Dr. Fakayode said he was happy that most Africans whose forbearers were taken to America and Europe during slave trade have been tracing their ways back to Africa and their traditional religion.
He reiterated the need for Yoruba people to look inward for solutions to social, economic, and leadership crises that have been bedeviling their land.
He also called for visa-free policy for Africans in the diaspora, as according to him, the connection of birth and blood will make them make Africa their home and invest their wealth at home.
Iyanifa Fajemirola Ifetayo Fakayode is a lover of African culture and had her Ifa initiation in 2012 in Ibadan and has always shown interest in African traditions and festivals.
She established the Ifa/Orisa Collective Inc., an organisation that provides educational experiences for Americans interested in learning about Ifa divinity.
In her words, Iyanifa Fajemirola Ifetayo Fakayode called on Africans to appreciate their own tradition and culture against those of foreigners, as according to her, Yoruba tradition has been established to be the best among others in the world.
“Is it the unique Yoruba language, the culture or tradition that you want to put beside those of Europeans and Americans? It is not possible, you can see that Yoruba is the best in all ways of life,” she eulogised.
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