Ooni of Ife declares that Yoruba's were the first people in the world to develop the art of cloth weaving

OONI of Ife Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi has declared that the progenitor of Yoruba race Oduduwa was the first person on earth to develop the concept of cloth weaving in the whole world.

Speaking while receiving the Aseyin of Iseyin Oba Abdul Ganiyu Salaudeen Ajao Ajinase as part of the preparations for the annual Aso Ofi festival, scheduled to hold in Iseyin, Oba Ogunwusi, said Oduduwa came up with the clothing design known as aso oke. He maintained that Yorubas had always set the pace in virtually all spheres of life, being the descendants of Oduduwa from Ile-Ife, which is the origin of all human migration to the entire surface of the earth.

Oba Ogunwusi said:  “Yoruba is the first race to wear cloth in the whole world as the progenitor of Yoruba race weaved cloths several centuries back. He received the inspiration and concept for weaving through the spider and its craft of the cobweb, which was the origin of weaving cloth in the global community.”

"Through archaeological exploration, we recently exhumed local weaving tools and machines used by our forefathers in Ile-Ife for weaving cloths, most especially aso oke. The tools are over 4,000 years old and we were able to get the age of the local machines through scientific dating.”

While assuring that he would collaborate with the Aseyin and groups of aso oke cloth weavers from Iseyin and Kwara State on the forthcoming Aso Oke festival, the monarch recalled that the founder of Iseyin, identified as Olufi migrated from Ile-Ife where he started cloth weaving business. Oba Ogunwusi said many descendants of Yoruba extraction moved from Ile-Ife to Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt, India, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and other parts of the world, where they excelled in making differences in their resident countries.

Oba Ajinase described the Ooni as rare symbol of humility, who have displayed high degree of intelligence and maturity since he ascended throne about two years ago. He corroborated the Ooni’s historical account of Iseyin saying Olufi and his brother, Ebedi who migrated from their ancestral home in Ile-Ife began the trade of aso oke cloth weaving in the community, stressing that both of them are now mountains worshipped in Iseyin.