The Arole Oduduwa & Ooni of Ife, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, on Sunday moved into ILE MOLE, Iremo quarters, Ile-Ife for a 7-day seclusion as the annual Olojo festival kicked off in the ancient city universally believed to be the source and natural headquarters of the Oduduwa Race.

Ooni Ogunwusi who appeared in his usual white traditional attire laced with colorful ancient beads, told newsmen on his way out of the Ile Oodua Palace of Ife that he will use the highly spiritual moment of seclusion as a point of contact to God Almighty towards the total eradication of the coronavirus as well as for peace and stability in the country.

Ooni Adeyeye who is the Co-chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria(NCTRN) explained that Olojo is a festival that connotes a strong indication of God's creation and the day of the first dawn on earth.

"I am going into seclusion, I am going into fasting and prayers in the ways of our ancestors. Like you know that we're gradually winning the war against coronavirus and we must indeed be thankful because we are not superior to those countries being crippled by this pandemic.

"After the 7-day seclusion, there follows the other activities one of which is the procession of the sacred Aare crown with which we will pray for the entire nation and humanity.

"Every move of the Aare procession is highly significant, including the some strategic junctions of spiritual and historical significance like ITA ORANFE & ITA AGBANSALA and OKEMOGUN where I would make supplications and prayers to our ancestors.

"The first junction indicates where the first dawn came and that is where must stop, followed by where the pathfinder diety which we call Ogun sighted the first dawn and that is Oke-Mogun.

"And when I come down from the hill, there was turmoil among the dieties because Aare is the first monarchical crown and at some point they all converged at Ita Oranfe where they all agreed that kingship and organization should commence and that is where the modern day democracy and other forms of government emanated from." Ooni Ogunwusi noted.

During the seclusion rites, Ooni Ogunwusi would be incommunicado and not grant audience to anybody.

Signed;
Director, Media & Public Affairs,
Ooni's Palace,
Ile-Ife.