Home / Arts & Entertainment / Renowned Prof. and Ifa Priest, Wande Abimbola to grace Yoruba Action Council program in Newark, New Jersey, Saturday
Professor Wande Abimbola

Renowned Prof. and Ifa Priest, Wande Abimbola to grace Yoruba Action Council program in Newark, New Jersey, Saturday

Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Professor Emeritus (Chief) Ogunwande “Wande” Abimbola,  will be the Key Speaker and Special Guest of Honor at the Yoruba Action Council (YAC), North America Event Launching & Fundraising Gala Banquet on Saturday, May 16, 2024.

YAC is a frontline Yoruba ‘Think Tank Group’ and the Saturday program, which has as theme, “Yoruba Renaissance In The Diaspora And Homeland” will hold at the Marriot Int. Hotel Newark, New Jersey from 4:00PM.

Hon (Dr.) Akin Awofolaju is President of YAC NA, while Hon (Prof.) Albert Ayeni is General Secretary and Hon (Engr) Simon Awofesobi is the Treasurer of the Council.

Major contacts for the event include Hon. (Princess) Nubi Olagbegi-Apampa, Hon. (Prince) Debo Akande, Dr. Godwin Omolola and Hon. (Dr.) Adeniyi Ogunkoya.

Professor Abimbola, the Awise Agbaje of Yorubaland Worldwide, who is also President and Founder of Ifa Heritage Institute, was Nigeria’s Senate Majority Leader from 1992 to 1993 and Special Adviser on Cultural Affairs and Traditional Matters to the President of Nigeria from 2003 to 2005.

Born in 1932, Professor Abimbola, who received his first degree in History from the University College, Ibadan when the institution was a College of London University, earned a Master’s Degree in Linguistics from Northwestern University, Illinois, USA in 1966 and a Ph. D in Yoruba Literature in 1970 from the University of Lagos.

Versed in Ifa chants and rituals, Professor Abimbola, who was installed the Awise Awo ni Agbaye (Spokesperson of Ifa in the Whole World) in 1981 by the Ooni of Ife on the recommendation of a conclave of West African Babalawos, became a full Professor of African Languages and Literatures at the University of Ife in 1976.

He lectured at the Universities of Ibadan (1963-65), Lagos (1966-72 and Ife (1972-91), as well as at several universities in the US, among which are Indiana University, Amherst College, Harvard University, Boston University, Colgate University and the University of Louisville.

The highly respected and celebrated scholar, cultural icon and Global Spokesperson for Ifá and Òrìṣà Religion, has several books to his credit, including Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus; Ifa Divination Poetry and Ifa Will Mend Our Broken World.

The Who-is-Who in the Yoruba Diaspora as well as their friends and well wishers from across the world are expected to grace the grand event at the exquisite Marriot International Hotel in Newark on Saturday, to brainstorm and to celebrate.

 

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