As Yoruba traditionalists across the South West states celebrate World Isese Day, adherents from Ondo have called on the state government to set aside August 20 of every year as a holiday to mark the festival like other states in South West.
This is just as the adherents in the state advocated for traditionally taking oaths by political office holders on assumption of office, saying this will check corruption and arbitrary use of power.
Speaking at the Adegbemile Cultural Center, Akure, the state capital, where they converged to celebrate the day, the Araba Isese of Ondo state, Araba Folorunsho Adetunji, said traditionalists have made several pleas to the state government on the need to declare holiday for the World Isese Day celebration in the state.
He said the holiday would allow the Isese adherents to come together as an avenue to get closer to their creator and pray for humanity, Nigeria, Ondo, and their different households to prosper.
He said “Isese day is the celebration of origin and showcasing the doings of our ancestors in the early period, our culture, custom are all summed up under Isese celebration”
He said traditionalists should be accorded same respect as other religions, saying the traditional worshippers also have a critical role to play in the development of the state and country.
He said apart from this, he said Isese day should be seen as a day to celebrate Yoruba traditions, culture, customs, and spirituality saying the celebration also includes, parades, lectures, and the display of other traditional apparel to attract tourists from other parts of the world.
Adetunji said “Isese day celebratation cuts across all traditional lines. The practice of Isese involves communication with ancestors and other spirits through prayer, offerings, and divination to help proffer solutions to the challenges confronting the country.
We want to plead with the government of Ondo state to grant the Ondo state traditionalists a public holiday and to give the traditionalists a sense of belonging, saying “This is to show us that we are not sidelined and communicate to us that the government is fair
Also speaking, Araba Awo of Okeagbe, Ayobami Ogedengbe, stressed that political officeholders traditionally taking oaths will go a long way to add another dimension to the country’s political space.
Ogedengbe said this would help restore sanity in the system, an average Nigerian or Yoruba man understand the implications and consequences of what will follow
“The system that we currently use has loopholes for one who is challenged as far as integrity is concerned. Our people know and understand that the gods uphold integrity and no Yoruba person will go against his or her oath before the gods.
This will restore sanity to our system because an average African, average Yoruba man is scared of the consequences that will follow if you swear with Ogun or any of the traditional means.
They dare not swear to what they don’t believe in and swearing using the traditional means adds to the potency of African traditional religion and some of the mechanisms used as vehicle for the practice.
“The usual means of oath-taking with Bible in the Christian way and Quran in the Islamic way had failed to bring the best out of our leaders.
We don’t have any business with poverty, insecurity, or political division, in this country as we are abundantly blessed but the challenges the nation was facing were due to bad leadership without fear of God.
The hardship in the country is a result of a lack of truth and this is no way to curb this, and if we don’t treat dishonesty, there is no way for the country to move forward because our leaders are not truthful, there can’t be meaningful progress.
“If there’s a system in place to punish dishonesty, we believe whether you like it or not our leaders will want to be upright in their dealing and do what is right”
The adherents in possession across the state capital, Akure, prayed for the people of Yoruba descendants all over the world and those in leadership positions to take the country to the promised land.
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