…Between February 15 and 21
…Arrest Oloye Lekan Alabi, Tunde Odunlade, Yemisi Shyllon, Jumoke Olowookere, Fatai Adinyeloja, Jare Ajayi Now
By Wale Ojo-Lanre
Where is the governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde?
If I had wanted to be indifferent like others, I should not be the one raising this alarm about the fatal plan of these people against the Ibadan National Museum of Unity, located in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. This is because I am not a native of Ibadan, though I love to protect and promote Ibadan.
Also, I boarded a bus to Ibadan in January 1991 and have been working in Ibadan, championing good things for the rusty, but beautiful city.
But despite all of these, the people of Ibadan have not considered me worthy enough to be made either a Baale of Imalefalafia or Mogaji of the Atounrinwas, despite my efforts on Bowers Tower, Mapo Hall, Irefin Palace, Penkelemensi House, Agodi Gardens, Oke-Ibadan Festival.
And also because Governor Makinde and the people of Ibadan seem not to appreciate the Federal Government for locating not just a museum, but a National Museum of Unity in Ibadan, the political capital of Nigeria.
However, because I am an agrarian cultural buff and a tourism promoter, I cannot keep mum and pretend to be blind while I witnessed some angry arts preservationists and conservationists clandestinely planning to set the only Museum of Unity in the South-West on fire without your knowledge as the first citizen of Oyo State.
It will also be recorded on the debit side of my heavenly cash book if this act came to pass and I failed to create the awareness for the public to know those who planned this, why and how it was planned and the date it is to be executed.
If I can successfully do this and Governor Makinde refused to interfere, I will not be liable either here on earth or there in heaven, if this act of setting the Ibadan Museum of Unity on fire is successfully executed, implemented, and accomplished.
Although someone told me that I am wasting my time, because neither Governor Makinde nor the good people of Ibadan will know the location and be aware of the essence of the Museum of Unity in Ibadan.
And I argued with the man, because I am aware that Governor Makinde knows that the Ibadan Museum of Unity, is located on No 4 Dick Road, Alalubosa, sharing a fence with the DSS Office in, Aleshinloye Area, Ibadan, Oyo State.
But I am unsure whether many people in Ibadan and its environs know what is housed in this museum.
The museum was created to store cultural artefacts from Nigeria. The museum was inaugurated in 2002 under the supervision of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
This Ibadan National Museum of Unity stores that tangible heritage which are testimonials of what lubricates our unity and reminds us of why our co-existence as a nation is essential and desirable. It is a place where this generation and generations yet unborn can gain prosperous insight into the past glory of Nigeria, with abundant incontrovertible solid articles items, and objects.
The Ibadan Museum of National Unity has many things to offer visitors, both young, old, male or female.
The masquerade gallery features exhibits about Egunguns, Mmaawun, Ekpo, Egwu Atta, Dodo, and Ekpe, as well as information about the spirituality of the Yoruba, Igbo, Efik, Ibibio, and Ebira cultures in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region.
The museum also contains musical instruments such as drums, as well as royalties, effigies, and masks from different parts of Nigeria. The museum has an exhibit on pottery that includes bowl-shaped pots called Kula, that is used for preparing food.
It also contains sculptures of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa, and Ladoke Akintola, as well as exhibits about the Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba tribes of Nigeria. The museum contains antiques such as artistic representations of Orisa Oko, Ile Ori, Orisa Ibeji dolls, an Amu clay pot used to store water, traditional lamps known in Yoruba and Hausa languages as Fitila, and wooden xylophones.
The museum also houses gongs and
rattles, as well as a collection of pottery including traditional plates and bowls.
It is also home to a collection of ritual pots used in the Yoruba religion and for deities, including Esu, Ogun, and Osun. The museum houses traditional textiles as well as exhibits explaining the history of Aso-Oke.
The museum is also home to the car of the Premier of the Western Region, Ladoke Akintola; and
cultural artefacts, such as Epa masks and Esie soapstone figures, as well as a collection of traditional African instruments, including Ogboni drums, Agidigbos, and Egun Sato drums.
The museum houses a gallery called “Gallery of Unity,” wherein various musical instruments are exhibited, including the cylindrical drum called “Joko-tofofo,” used to cure impotence.
Additionally, in the pottery gallery, there are pots with perforations used for frying called “Ikoko.”
All these and others are the items of historical legacies of unity in Nigeria available in the ge Ibadan Museum of Unity.
And it will interest you to know that it is in this Ibadan Museum of Unity that you can get to buy the best and most tasteful Isiewu – a special delicacy of the Ibo people at the Museum Kitchen, while the best pounded yam, with fresh palm wine is also available.
The Children’s Court parades exotic amusement facilities, and is located on the left side, after leaving the gate of the museum.
It also has a very large hall which can accommodate over 600 guests while there is also a function hall for seminars, workshops and conferences.
There is also an art and crafts boutique on the right of the gate while bars and restaurants are available for tourists and visitors.
And I don’t blame those who have perfected the plan of setting this museum and all other facilities therein on fire.
They believed that many people are ignorant of what a museum is. They are angry that a lot of people in Ibadan are unaware that there is a solid museum of National Unity in Ibadan, where they can learn history, know the past, preview the future and also wine and dine.
They are furious that the majority of those who know don’t even want to visit because of the erroneous belief that museums are houses where idols and diabolical items are stored.
They are infuriated that many people don’t appreciate the essence of a museum in Ibadan, just because there is no sustainable effort to create awareness about the economic, social, and historical essence of the museum
These and many more have prompted the management of the museum, under the leadership of Mrs Oriyomi Pamela Sossu, in conspiration with one Chief Tunde Odunlade, who has recruited Oloye Lekan Alabi, Tolu Shokunbi, Yemisi Shyllon, Jumoke Olowokere, Fatai Adinyeloja, Jare Ajayi, Wale Ojo-Lanre, and others, to set Ibadan Museum of Unity on Fire.
They have decided to unveil and uncover the glory of the Ibadan Museum of Unity to those who don’t know that such a beautiful centre is in Ibadan. They have set aside between February 15 and 21, 2023 as the days to promote, sell, showcase, and brand the Ibadan National Museum of Unity as a Centre for Culture, Heritage, and Value.
I hope you will join them in stoking the embers of museum awareness creation in Ibadan
Read the flier for detailed information.
Make you no vex.
•Ojo-Lanre, former chairman of the Oyo State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, former Senior Special Assistant, SSA, on Tourism Development to former governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi and international tourism ambassador, writes from Usi-Ekiti and can be reached via: +2348033490986.
