tRADITIONAL wORSHIPERS cRY oUT oVER eXCLUSION fROM nATIONAL cONFERENCE

A group, under the auspices of Practitioners of African Traditional Religion in the country have lamented their exclusion by the Federal Government from the proposed national conference.

 

The ATR practitioners said their exclusion from the dialogue would “haunt the country in many years to come.”

President of International Council for Ifa (African) Religion and Dean, School of Earth and Mineral Sciences at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Prof. Idowu Odeyemi, at a press briefing on Sunday in Abuja demanded for at least three slots for the indigenous religion practitioners.


According to him, he had received the consent of a former Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Prof. Wande Abimbola; the National Coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress, Otunba Gani Adams; and “millions of other practitioners” to protest on their behalf and seek reconsideration by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim.

He said, “Most disturbing and perplexing of this arrangement is the representation of other religious groups. In the listing, six “Muslim” leaders and six “Christian” leaders, each representing each of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria, were invited.

“A major flaw in this is that Nigeria, acting in accordance with the dictates of the foreign media, gives the impression that Nigeria is made up of only Christians and Muslims. African religion does not exist in Africa’s largest nation. Both ingested and imbibed impressions are plainly off course, clearly false, patently self-demeaning and self-abnegating. To consciously alienate and ignore this massive African religious class is therefore totally unacceptable.

“Ignoring African Traditional Religion now or ever, will come back to haunt our country Nigeria for several decades to come. According to Edmund Burke (1790), People will never look forward to posterity, those who never look backwards to their ancestors. All practitioners of African Traditional Religion in Nigeria demand and should be given three slots to the national conference to represent and articulate the interests of African religion and spirituality.”

Odeyemi regretted that government accorded respect and recognition to other religions, which came to Nigeria long after the full establishment of traditional religion, inviting them to participate in the conference.

dAILY pOST