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A non-profit organisation, Think Yoruba First Ogo Adulawo Socio-Cultural Association (TYF Worldwide), has said that accurate representation of the Yoruba cultural heritage and the rejection of falsified narratives was critical to protecting Yoruba heritage as part of Nigeria’s national identity.
Think Yoruba First Ogo Adulawo Socio-Cultural Association (TYF Worldwide) has emphasised the need for government, academic, cultural and media institutions to protect Yoruba heritage and reject falsified narratives of its cultural identity.
Mr Oluwatobi Sanwo Esq., Lead Legal Consultant, TYF worldwide, made the call during a news conference convened by the association on Wednesday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the association is a pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation dedicated to protecting, preserving and promoting Yoruba history, identity, and intellectual integrity globally.
Sanwo noted that the conference was to draw national and international attention to a grave matter of cultural defamation and historical distortion against the entire Yoruba people contained in the recently published book.
He said the book was titled: “The Igbo People, History and Worldview”, authored by Dons Eze and Chinedu Ochinanwata and published by Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd.
According to the legal practitioner, the book, currently widely circulated in academic and public spaces, contained false, libelous, and culturally offensive claims about Yoruba origins and the sacred city of Ile-Ife.
“Among its most offensive assertions are firstly that the Igbo were the original inhabitants of Ile-Ife, and that the Yoruba are immigrants who usurped control.
“Secondly, that a supposed conflict in Ile-Ife led to an Igbo eastward migration, with the Onitsha people as the last to leave.
“Also, the fabrication of an “Ado-na-Idu Empire” as a precursor to Ile-Ife history -a claim unsupported by the Ifa Corpus (Odu Ifa), authentic Yoruba oral traditions, or credible historical scholarship.
“And lastly was a deliberate attempt to dilute and distort the originality of Ile-Ife as the ancestral and spiritual cradle of Yoruba civilisation,” he said.
Sanwo stated that the falsehoods were not mere academic errors.
He said they amounted to cultural defamation, historical distortion, intellectual dishonesty and potential ethnic provocation.
He stressed that Ile-Ife was not simply a location on a map but was the very cradle of Yoruba civilisation, recognised by Ifa, preserved in oral traditions, and affirmed by scholars worldwide.
Sanwo asserted that to distort Ile-Ife was to attack the very soul of the Yoruba, noting that to address the development, the association had submitted petitions to relevant Nigeria and international bodies and was currently raising public awareness on the matter among other efforts.
He called on Yoruba sons and daughters across the world to stand united in defense of Ile-Ife and Yoruba civilisation.
He also urged the press to responsibly report and amplify the truth, ensuring that deliberate distortions do not gain legitimacy.
“We call on our Yoruba Traditional Ruler to pursue peace and dialogue and join hands with TYF as the organisation ordained by both Eledumare and men, to take Yorubaland to the next level of socio-political consciousness.
“We also call on academic institutions and media organisations to reject falsified accounts or narratives and promote authentic Yoruba scholarship.
“We reiterate again that TYF does not hate any ethnicity, more particularly the Igbo people.
“As we take this stand today, we send a clear message: “Yoruba history is sacred. Ile-Ife is non-negotiable. Our identity cannot be distorted,” he said.
