The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi has called on political office holders to uphold the country’s cultural heritage at all times as they lead the nation.
Oba Ogunwusi said this during a courtesy visit to the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki at the Government House in Benin City on Monday.
According to him, the traditional institutions in the country would be willing to lend a helping hand to the government when called upon.
“We traditional rulers will continue to work with constituted authorities [and] you are one of them. And I can assure you that I am speaking on behalf of all our traditional members, we are not fighting with any constituted authority,” he said.
“We are not fighting and we will continue to work with you to make sure that things are right. What is key for us is for you, our political leaders, to uphold our heritage.
“I believe strongly that you stand for that too; that you will continue to uphold our heritage because you believe in the traditional institution of this country.”
On his part, Governor Obaseki reiterated the importance of traditional institutions, saying the country’s security challenges can be tackled effectively if the government carries traditional rulers along in their programmes.
“One of the biggest challenges that we have today is security. These challenges occur in specific domains. As they say, these bandits, criminals are not spirits,” he said.
“When people are kidnapped, they are taken to specific locations. Our people know them, they pass on the information to the authorities that is closest to them – traditional authorities.
“If we are going to tackle the security challenges that we have, the government must now work very closely with the traditional authorities. We are already doing that in Edo State and I can confirm that the results are bountiful.”
Channelstv.com
