The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye
Ogunwusi, and the General Overseer, The Redeemed Christian Church of God,
Pastor Enoch Adeboye, on Tuesday met with President Muhammadu Buhari and
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
While the Ooni met with the
President and his deputy separately, Adeboye met with Buhari and Osinbajo in
the President’s office.
Ogunwusi, who arrived at the
Presidential Villa at about 1.10pm with his retinue of aides and met with the
President for about 20 minutes in his office.
He was ushered into the
President’s office by the Vice- President.
After the monarch’s meeting with
Buhari, Osinbajo returned to his office, where he received the Ooni and his
entourage.
At the end of the meeting with
the President, Ogunwusi told State House correspondents that the parley centred
on peace and progress of the nation, which both of them stood for.
He said he also used the
opportunity of the meeting to discuss youth empowerment with the President.
On the campaign of unity he had
embarked on since his installation, Ogunwusi said he would not bother himself
whether he was accepted or not.
The Ooni added, “I have a clear
strategy: if you don’t want to accept me, I will accept you.
“It is very important and I will
be very persistent about it (the unity campaign) because it is a divine
calling.
“It is not by my power or by my
might. It is a calling from the King of kings, who actually appointed me to
this throne.
“So, I will be very persistent
about acceptability. If you do not accept me today, you will accept me
tomorrow. It is a clear mission and I will be persistent about it.”
The monarch said apart from the
mass transit scheme he initiated for his people, he was also working with the
Minister of Agriculture in order to encourage the youth to return to the farm.
He explained that he had
embarked on a programme in which about five acres of land would be made
available to each youth so that they could return to the farm.
Ogunwusi added that over 200,000
youths had been registered for the programme.
He said, “We have been able to
assemble over 200,000 youths within a space of 30 days; it is unbelievable. We
are encouraging them to go back to the farm.
“Something happened in Nigeria
that we did not notice. Last year in October, crude oil price started going
down astronomically but cocoa price went up by over 100 per cent and nobody
noticed it.
“Nigeria in the early 1930s and
1940s was the largest exporter of cocoa in the world and the farmlands are
still there.
“So, what we have been able to do
now is another positive indicator for the nation’s economy.
“We have been able to assemble
youths and we shall give them five acres per youth so that they will go back to
the farm.
“The Federal Government is
supporting us very well. So, it is going to be a model that will be replicated
in all parts of the country.
“As a royal father, I am also
encouraging the youth not to look for fast ways of making money; let us go back
to the basics.”
He said Buhari, being a
progressive President, was happy about his presentation during the meeting.
Adeboye met with Buhari and
Osinbajo behind closed doors.
The cleric arrived at the
forecourt of the President’s office with Osinbajo, inside the Vice-President’s
official car at about 12.30pm.
He arrived shortly after the
visit of the Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The clergyman was led straight
into the President’s office by the Vice-President.
The meeting, which was described
as a private one, lasted about 20 minutes.
Osinbajo also led the clergyman
out of the venue of the meeting into his waiting car.
Adeboye, however, did not speak
with State House correspondents.
When asked for comment on his
meeting with Buhari, he simply said, “God bless you.”
As he was entering his white
unmarked car, Adeboye repeated, “God bless you all”.
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