We Will Retrieve All Our Stolen Artifacts, Says Ooni

By Ayobami Agboola, Osogbo

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi has said that efforts were being intensified to retrieve all the Yorùbá artifacts taken away by the foreigners.

Ooni Ogunwusi made this known during the official unveiling of the “Igbo Olokun Heritage Site at Ile-Ife in Osun State

He said the community is making history in the world through culture and Anthropological Art work showcasing cultural heritage. 

According to the monarch Arts and culture is significant to every black man living on the surface of the earth because it has now been proven globally that civilization indeed started from the black. 

According to him, the cradle of civilization has come to stay  in Ife  as the  young generation will come to learn from the history of their forefathers through exhibition of Art work. 

His words young people go to institutions to learn about Physics, Chemistry,  other Sciences others but  the main practical sciences have been well established here in Ife over 4,000 years ago and our ancestors have actually come up with initiatives of material science. So basically, we can call them material scientist.

It has now been established that  technology is  behind the  glass. We can see today now that we can’t even do without glass technology.”he stated 

” The way we drive our cars, that’s the windscreen that is making us to have visualization but they would probably think that the technology didn’t start from us(we the black people). It has now been proven that we are the first to do it in the world, so, it is celebration not only for Ife but also for the entire black race because truly speaking this is the cradle of civilization and the western world have been trying to dig deep to find out how this whole thing started.

They came and told us that they were the ones that discovered River Niger in the early i6th century, the Portuguese. River Niger has been there for many centuries, thanks to our ancestors. But during the research, they went to a market in Kartungua of the old Oyo empire and they saw some very special objects in the early 18th century, specifically, Richard Ladnah put it in his journal which is all over the museums globally now that I saw something in Katangua, old Oyo empire and every body said that you can only find it where all of us came from which is the city of Ife.

He traced it back here in 1830 and was marvelled to see a very broad based industry rolling out glass technology in millions and it is being spread across the world. 

“They started doing that research further. Another set came in, Germans came in the early 19th century, Leo Fibohnior came in 1910 and they kept digging and that was when they saw the symbol of Yoruba people which is the Ori Olokun. Some first sets were taken from Wumonije compound all the way to British museum but this was freshly discovered here and it is actually linked to bronze technology, Iron technology which is the Iron and Bronze age all the way to using Aluminum as a technology, using Copper, using Gold. 

The Malian empire, the Songai empire headed by Mansa Munsa, we have all seen the traced of them coming here to see the way and manner our ancestors were material scientists. So, it called for celebration for the entire continent of Africa. 

They will tell us that they are the ones that discovered Chemistry, Physics but all that is not true because there is evident here now. So, we in Ife on behalf of the entire Yourba people and on behalf of the entire black people, it has actually been established  today and nobody can prove it otherwise that we were the first material scientists as far as Physics and Chemistry is concerned but they are telling young people that the western world started that theory and technology.

“We  have seen glass crucibles here dated over 4,000 years and our ancestors were passing it down from generation to generation and we can see it evidently. What we are using as a symbol for the Yoruba people was first of all dug here.