Upbeat in Ife as Ooni, Olori Wuraola unveil Moremi Ajasoro beauty pageant

Poised to promoting Yoruba culture and womanhood, wife of the Ooni of Ife and Yeyelua of Ile-Ife, Olori Wuraola Ogunwusi, has unveiled the Moremi Ajasoro pageant, as part of activities to mark this year’s EDI/MOREMI Festival.

Speaking while unveiling the pageant, Olori Wuraola, urged women, especially maidens to emulate the bravery act of Moremi, saying that women needed to make themselves available for challenging roles in the modern society.

She explained that Moremi’s personality remained unique in the world and would continue to be an important point of reference. “Moremi is an important figure and a great warrior worthy of emulation. With the pageant, we are trying to globalise and make the world know about a very important person,” she said.

She add, “T‎imes are changing and women are beginning to realise that we need to grow stronger. We need to show strong character in changing the society. I urge them to emulate the great heroine and be saviours to others.”

While extolling virtues of the great African heroine, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, praised God for making one of his greatest dreams come to reality within one-year of acension on the throne. He described Moremi as the real mother of liberty in the world, whose legacy must not be left in the oblivion.

He said, “God Almighty has given me the grace of achieving one of my greatest ambitions within my first year on this sacred throne of Oduduwa. Moremi Ajasoro, an Ife queen, who in her lifetime exhibited an unrivaled heroism of world’s liberty dedicated her life to the liberation of mankind by sacrificing her only child to free the people of Oodua land from the invasion of some faceless terrorists thousands of years ago.”

“We are already constructing the tallest statue in Nigeria to be known as Moremi liberty statue. This 42ft-statue, which will be the third tallest in Africa is being erected right where Moremi lived before she became a diety thousands of years ago, as a goddess of liberty.

“It is going to be one of the greatest achievements in Nigerian tourism and will be unveiled in two weeks time during this year’s EDI/ MOREMI festival which is just a tip of the iceberg, as many more tourist advancement are coming in the subsequent years,” he added..

Following Ooni Ogunwusi installation as the Ooni of Ife last December 7, a ceremony that was well attended, Ife has been witnessing tremendous development, especially in the area of agriculture, youth development, infrastructure and tourism revolution, leading to the resuscitation of some festivals like Olokun, Osara, Oramfe, and Olojo among others, with the shrines given befitting rehabilitations.