The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, has told President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime and other politicians that the handling of the nation’s precarious security and economic situations needs to be changed to make life bearable for Nigerians before going into seven-day seclusion.

“We cannot continue like this,” said Mr Ogunwusi. “Things need to change, and there cannot be any change without the hands of God, for the prayer of the righteous availeth much.”

He admitted that the worsening economic and security situations needed to change for the better, urging politicians to have a change of heart.

The ruler further stated that he would use the period to pray for God to touch the hearts of Nigerian politicians to stop playing games with people’s lives and be sensitive to their yearnings.

“Our politicians in this country have the same value, same character. But I am going into seclusion to pray for our leaders to have a change of mind so that things could get better,” he noted. “Our leaders should be ready to serve us genuinely, as promised during their campaigns. So, I am going there to pray to my ancestors to touch their hearts, for them to make life more bearable to us.”

On Sunday, the monarch began the seven-day seclusion, which usually precedes the annual Olojo Festival in Osun.

Before entering seclusion, Mr Ogunwusi said he would dedicate the days to pray for a better Nigeria.

The Ooni added that Nigerians had every cause to thank God, given the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the rest of the world.

He pointed out that the seclusion “is so significant” that “I cannot joke with,” explaining that it is a tradition spanning “thousands of years.”

Olojo is regarded as “the day of the first dawn” by the Yorubas.

In the lore of Ile-Ife, the Olojo is an annual cultural festival created to celebrate the day God created the earth.

(NAN)