DON’T USE RELIGION TO DAMAGE OUR CULTURE, FALOLA TELLS IBADAN INDEGENES
His words ‘our people have abandoned their culture because of strange religion brought to us by the whitemen, before the advent of the British, we have a stable and solid culture in our land, but now, people have allowed their religion to cause a big damage to their custom and tradition ‘
The Professor of History reiterated that people of Ibadan are proud of their nineteenth century warriors and ancestors, they are found of speaking Lagelu, and the mythological founder who created the first Ibadan with its seven powerful blacksmith and sixteen gates
“The first Ibadan was destroyed in a fight, the third Ibadan that survived was created as a product of war, part of the outcome of the fall of the Oyo empire, men such as Bashorun Ogunmola and Are Latosa are very proud of their role and contributions toward uniting and promotion of Ibadan culture’, he noted
He posited that, ‘the institution of old such as kingship, languages and religions must remain strong and they affect the management of contemporary states, it answers to dependency wherever existing ideas, tools and skills are use able or can be modified, there is no need to depend on the external “
Falola noted that an enormous investment must be made in capacity building in order to implement significant cultural and development programs, adding that culture, ideology and the interrogation of the past history are the essential ingredients in the package of solution of the Africa crises of development
He however made some recommendations which include the conversion of the Okebadan festival into an International Carnival to combine older practice with newer one that are capable of bringing tourist from all over the world, erection of more statues of men and women who contributed meaningfully to Ibadan all over the city as part of a memorization efforts , creation of Ibadan museum, documentation of Ibadan history, giving honorary title to some of Ibadan indigenes, and also Ibadan National Anthem should be popularised and used on more occasions and integrated it into school anthem
