The Emir of Ilorin and Kwara State Council of Chiefs, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari CFR, has ordered indigenes of llorin Emirate to stop further diatribes and close communication in the ongoing controversies generated by the letter written by Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka.
Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, in an open letter last week Thursday criticised the Emir of Ilorin, Sulu Gambari, for reportedly banning a Yoruba cultural event, the Isese festival, from holding in the Kwara State capital.
But the monarch in a statement issued by his spokesman, Mallam Abdulazeez Arowona, noted that peace and tranquility are the major recipes required for the promotion of harmony in the state.
According to Arowona, "His Royal Highness, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari CFR has ordered that nobody should further express their anger on the Isese festival and Prof Wole Soyinka saga under any guise any longer in the interest of peaceful coexistence and harmonious working environment in Nigeria."
He however appealed to the people of Ilorin Emirate and state at large to continue to live together in peace and restrain from any temptations that may arise from the cancellation of the Isese festival in Ilorin.
Alhaji Sulu-Gambari therefore thanked sons and daughters as well as friends of the Ilorin Emirate for the show of love and concern towards the preservation of the rich tradition and culture heritage of the Ilorin Emirate.
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka had flayed the Emir of Ilorin, Sulu Gambari for having the “effrontery to cancel Isese Festival,” saying he committed a crime against cultural heritage.
Soyinka, in the open letter to the Emir said it was sad to see the ancient city of Ilorin, a confluence of faiths and ethnic varieties, reduced to this level of bigotry and intolerance, manifested in the role of a presiding monarch.
The letter reads: “So soon after the Moslem season of spiritual purification, it is sad to see the ancient city of Ilorin, a confluence of faiths and ethnic varieties, reduced to this level of bigotry and intolerance, manifested in the role of a presiding monarch. The truncation of a people’s traditional festival is a crime against the cultural heritage of all humanity.
“Year after year, the Ramadan has been celebrated in this nation as an inclusive gathering of humanity, irrespective of divergences of belief. Not once, in my entire span of existence, have I encountered pronouncements by followers of any faith that the slaughtering of rams on the streets and market places is an offence to their concept of godhead.
“Vegetarians hold their peace. Buddhists walk a different path. Prior to Ramadan, non-Moslems routinely join in observing the preceding season of fasting as a spiritual exercise worthy of emulation.
“Perhaps this is another occasion for self-introduction. I currently teach courses in Abu Dhabi in the Emirates. That is the region of Origin, all others are mere appendages. I was there just before Christmas.
“I passed through again in the countdown to Ramadan. On both occasions, the streets, businesses, hotel lobbies and other public spaces were lit up with the same festive spirit. Only the symbols within the designs were different.
“The mood of celebration was equally pervasive and inclusive. Painfully, my mind could not help but travel back home, and some years past, recalling for instance how a procession of Corpus Christ was once attacked, some killed, by a brood of Moslem fanatics, for daring to process along the streets of that same Ilorin. Needless to say, such abominations have become routine. Community is sacrificed to bigotry."concluded the letter.
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