Nigerians have been charged to uphold their cultural values and heritage in order to move forward and attain the greatness recorded by developed countries of the world, including China and others.
The Olori Oluwo of the Reformed Ogboni Fraternity (ROF), Chief Francis Meshioye, gave the charge while speaking with newsmen in Lagos during the flag-off of 2019 Founders’ Day Celebration of body.
Speaking at the conference attended by members of board of ROF including Chief Edward George, Dr Igor Ozagie, Olori Aramide Oniru, Mrs Titilayo Ilelaboye, Chief Sobande, Mr Biodun Sowunmi, among others, Meshioye argued that there was need for Nigerians to uphold their culture as an entity to develop their country and achieve progress more than it had recorded so far.
According to him, a situation where the citizens discard their cultural values and embrace foreign people’s cultures and values would continue to be an albatross to growth and development in Nigeria.
This was as he argued that the Chinese and other developed countries of the world were able to reach the heights based on the fact that they upheld their cultures, ate their food, use materials produced by themselves, among others, saying this was not so with Nigerians.
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Meshioye recalled that there was a time in Nigeria when sellers could display their wares, leave the environment and just put an amount of money beside it to indicate the price each was being sold, with buyers coming there to pick the items and drop the money, without anybody coming to steal anything.
He said such scenario was no longer happening, describing the development as sad, even as he warned that Nigerians must avoid a situation where their cultural values would be taken away from them to the advantage of foreign countries whose citizens “come here to study and to take back to their countries of origin.”
“Look into your culture and uphold it. Don’t run away from the culture. Look at other countries that uphold their culture, and see how great they are. Look at China for instance. It’s part of it, why can’t I be part of it? Only a bastard would use left finger to point to his father’s house,” Meshioye said.
“Don’t let it (culture) be taken away from us,” he warned, adding: “People are taken money to come here and learn from us.”
Speaking further, Meshioye recalled that civilization came from Egypt, but quickly said that “as of today, things had changed as people now looked towards other countries to learn certain knowledge that was considered to be the exclusive preserve of Egypt, such as metaphysics.”
On the public perception that Ogboni is a secret society, Chief Meshioye debunked the public perception that the fraternity was a secret society, saying there was nothing sinister in the activities of the fraternity, which he pointed out was founded in 1914 good of the society.
According to him, “We are far from being a secret society; we are a registered entity that abides with the laws of the land and our objectives are to promote positive values, truth, justice and cultural heritage.”
The ROF leader explained that the fraternity was actually founded in 1914 by a Christian, Deacon Jacobson Ogunbiyi, saying the initial objective was to promote Christian values among the people, adding that the group was later expanded to accommodate people of other faiths, hence the change in name from Ogboni Fraternity to Reformed Ogboni Fraternity.
Meshioye listed some of the founding fathers to include the late Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, late Chief Ladoke Akintola and late Sir Adeyemo Alakija, emphasising that the fraternity was strictly for positive values.
“The Reformed Ogboni Fraternity (ROF) has the ultimate objective of promoting good values, love discipline, not only in Nigeria but in other parts of the world wherever her members find him or herself.
”There is a clear distinction between ROF as a fraternity and any other forms of organisations. Our fraternity compels her members to imbibe the fundamental injunction of ‘do unto others as you wish others to do unto you.
”However, the fraternity had to overcome many challenges that were rooted in misinterpretations of what we stand for,” the ROF leader said.
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