Unveiling Odùduwà Mobile Museum
The House of Odùduwà wishes to inform the general public, both locally and internationally, that ODÙDUWÀ MOBILE MUSEUM PROJECT will be unveiled. The museum is an initiative which involves the Ọọ̀ni of Ifẹ̀, the governments of Brazil and Cuba and over twenty other countries of the world. The historic event will be flagged-off on 7th September 2019 at the Brazilian Embassy in Lagos. The whole event will last 60 days (two months) during which a number out of over 1000 awesome artefacts of African origin gathered from different parts of the world will be strategically moved from place to place within Lagos and exhibited for all to see. It is a unique event that is scheduled to coincide with the 197th Independence Anniversary of Brazil. Therefore, it will be a befitting celebration of Brazil’s independence of 7th September 1822 on the continent of origin of millions of Brazilians. Being the only country of the world with over 80 million Odùduwà descendants as part of her population, as a country that has adopted Yorùbá as official language (lingua franca), and the first country to collaborate with the House of Odùduwà on the promotion of African Heritage, the crucial place of Brazil in the Odùduwà Mobile Museum project is worthy of note. It is therefore appropriate that the museum project has been designed to have Ilé-Ifẹ̀ and Brazil as its bifurcated base.
As part of the unveiling ceremony, there will be a-four day exhibition of antiquities, art recreations of divinities, and treasures of ancestors of the Odùduwà people. The cultural items slated for the exhibition recall the earliest and superb civilization of the Odùduwà people spread across the world and the place of preeminence of the Odùduwà people in the history of humankind. The cultural items combine to reinforce the belief that, indeed, humanity originated from Ilé-Ifẹ̀, the acclaimed origin of the Odùduwà people located in the South Western part of Nigeria.
It may be recalled that science, through the MTDNA examination of blood of Odùduwà human, has revealed 120,000 years of existence of the Odùduwà specie of humanity. The House of Odùduwà also wishes to reiterate that researches have shown that the Odùduwà people started the tradition of arts in casting, sculpturing, carving, and molding. Remains of ancestors of the Odùduwà race dating back to well over thirteen thousand years ago have also been discovered inside Ihò Eléérú (ashes cave) at Ìsàrun near Ìgbàrà-Òkè in Ondó State, Nigeria through valid academic research. Valid academic investigations have also shown fossil of ancestors of the Odùduwà people dating back to thousands of years ago. Somewhere in Ìresi in Ọ̀ṣun State also, tools showing civilization dating back to about 5, 000 years ago have been discovered by certified researchers. All these are in addition to glass beads of different types such as sẹ̀gi, Iyùn, and ṣẹ́ṣẹ́efun discovered to have been in existence for several thousands of years have also been discovered in Ile-Ife. All these are evidence of a great civilization which once existed. The Odùduwà Mobile Museum Project is committed to showcasing all these as part of the necessary reconstruction of the black human person who increasingly is being scientifically proven to be the oldest specie of humanity. All these discoveries are of major interest to the House of Odùduwà because of the credence they combine to lend the age-long belief that Ilé-Ifẹ̀, the spiritual capital of the Odùduwà people located at the center of Africa, is indeed the first city of humanity from where all dispersed to various parts of the world.
Odùduwà Mobile Museum Project is a huge investment in the restoration and promotion of African culture. The project promises lots of economic, political, and socio-cultural benefits as it seeks to draw global attention to the richness of Odùduwà culture and stimulate a well-sustained healthy conversation and international collaborations that will enhance the promotion of the essence, values and beauty of Odùduwà cultural heritage. The Museum project is therefore aimed at attracting and coordinating various interests and interest groups across the globe for sustainable global peace and development initiatives that place emphasis on youth encouragement and development. Specifically, it will serve as the hub for the collection of diverse African cultural productions and knowledge-retrieval, knowledge-renewal and, of course, knowledge-production center for traditional African material and intellectual cultures. Apart from over 1000 artefacts already gathered from different parts of the world, efforts to gathered many more are being made. In recognition of the value of good memories and personalities worthy of emulation, the museum project will equally be committed to honoring and celebrating persons who are of Odùduwà ancestry and who are known to have performed or attained great feats as a way of spurring other Odùduwà descendants to enviable heights.
In the light of the foregoing, Odùduwà Mobile Museum Project – the first of its kind – is set to pursue the following broad objectives:
to recognize the strategic importance of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) acknowledgment of the great benefits in the collaboration between the Municipal Secretariat of Culture of the City of Rio de Janeiro and the Kingdom of Ifẹ̀, Nigeria, for the establishment of a House of Heritage, the Odùduwà Heritage House, in Rio de Janeiro
to work for the reinforcement of “the historic ties of Brazil with Africa” as recognized by the UNESCO
to valorize the “memory and the cultural diversity” of Africa as a way of enlarging the scope of valorizing the memory and the cultural diversity at the Valongo Wharf, as inscribed on the World Heritage List in July, 2017
to serve as the center for the collection, protection, exhibition, and promotion of antiquities, treasures and traditional art forms of Africa
to embark on initiatives that can restore and reinforce the dignity of the African person such as the uprooted in the diaspora
and to work in all possible ways for healthy global cultural interaction which will afford African and Africans the rare privilege of showcasing their cultures and histories
to encourage more collaborations (local and international) between the Ọọ̀ni of Ifẹ̀ and nations/institutions/organizations/individuals that may be interested in the safety and promotion of African heritage
to promote rare positive virtues by which the Odùduwà hero/heroine is traditionally defined through celebration of Odùduwà personalities (past or present) known for such virtues
to do a systematic achieving of material and nonmaterial aspects of the culture of the Odùduwà people
The House of Odùduwà, on behalf of His Imperial Majesty, the Ọọ̀ni, the Brazilian government and other major stakeholders in the Odùduwà Mobile Museum Project invite very important dignitaries from government circles within and outside Nigeria, traditional rulers across regions of Nigeria and the world at large, captains of industries within and outside Nigeria, cultural ambassadors and promoters within and outside Nigeria, academicians, historians of repute, cultural workers, enthusiasts and defenders of Odùduwà culture and history of all shades, among others, to this epoch-making event.
It cannot be any other time apart from now for the world to hear from and through ILÉ-IFẸ̀, WHERE IT ALL STARTED, the narrative of a continuum of the past, the present and the future!