The Federal Government has been called upon to give the same recognition accorded Christian and Islamic religions to practitioners of African religion as it compiles names of participants at the upcoming national conference.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, the President of International Council for Ifa Religion, Prof Idowu Odeyemi, who spoke on behalf of traditional religion practitioners, said their exclusion from the conference was unacceptable.
Therefore, the group demands that the traditional religion practitioners should be given three slots in the spirit of fairness.
Some of the key figures of the faith are a former Vice Chancellor, University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Prof. Wande Abimbola and national coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Gani Adams.
Prof Idowu, who is the Dean,School of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Federal University of Technology, Akure, also said ancestors would not be happy with Nigerians should government go ahead with the conference without them being fairly represented.
“One hundred years after the amalgamation of the diverse peoples that make up our country Nigerian, a National conference is being put in place to evaluate the extent to which a true nation has been forged and to propose the way forward. Several stakeholder groups have been slated for this proposed epochal conference including youths, the disabled, Nigerians in the Diaspora, Editors and Religious leaders.
“The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is currently in use recognizes the existence of three major religions in Nigeria, (African Traditional Religion, Islam and Christianity) the composition of participants at the proposed National Conference, consciously and studiously seeks to ignore the pivotal provisions of that constitution. This is UNACCEPTABLE.
“Ignoring African Traditional Religion now or ever, will come back to haunt our country Nigeria for several decades to come.
“All practitioners of African Traditional Religion in Nigeria demand and should be given three (3) slots on the National conference to represent and articulate the interests of African Religion and Spirituality,” Prof Idowu said.
