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”. Punch
