By RhemDy News
The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade, on Saturday, adorned the Sango outfit during his ongoing visit to Brazil.
RhemDy News reports that Alaafin Owoade is on a visit to Brazil where he has been interacting with Nigerians of Yoruba extraction and Brazilians who traced their roots to Oyo.
Oba Owoade led a delegation comprising traditional rulers and eminent personalities to Brazil for a proposed designation of Oyo as the International Heritage Site for Yoruba Exceptional Value by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisations (UNESCO).
The proposed proclamation seeks to appreciate the importance of the Oyo Yoruba culture and traditions as well as sensitise world leaders on the urgent for conservation of the culture.
A statement on Tuesday by the spokesman of the Alaafin, Bode Durojaiye, said the monarch made this known at the international conference in Brazil.
Speaking on the essence of the designation, Durojaiye noted that Oyo Empire was in possession of all the land as Oyo was very fast in expansion and became one of the earliest states with a central authority system.
He said this makes Oyo, probably the greatest of the forest states in West Africa.
"At the height of its existence, having fully developed a sophisticated internal system of government, Oyo dominated all other Yoruba kingdoms namely; Ife, Ekiti, Ijesa, Egba, Ijebu, Ondo, Sabe and Owu. It stretched into Dahomey, Togo and parts of the Ashanti in Ghana.
"This achievement marked a new phase in the history of the Yoruba; for it witnessed the effective transfer of power from Ile-Ife to Oyo which became the Centre of a new powerful empire with far flung cultural, political and linguistic influences. Oyo soon became the seat of government of the Yoruba people.
"Interestingly, the new identity of Oyo was diffused to all parts of Yoruba land with overwhelming adoption," he said.
Durojaiye maintained that the Alaafin is today duty-bound to stand for, and in defence of every Sango-Oyo soul either on the continent of Africa or in the Diaspora.
Photos: Ikanni Ogbon
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