The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has said that the Igbo nation is the first in the world to discover, harness and nurture wealth.
He made this disclosure during a courtesy visit by the Igbo community in Osun to his palace yesterday.
His words: ”Truth be told, the race that first discovered prosperity and wealth and they really nurtured it are the Igbo race.
“The Igbos first discovered it through their ancestral background, the linage of Obatala. They discovered the lineage of prosperity and wealth in terms of the divinity world and that is the reason why today, the Igbo race have very good expertise when it comes to commerce.
“They are very distinct. There is no place you would go in the world that you would not find an Igbo man.
“And the same goes with the Jews.”
He went further to say that the world was mistaken in the notion that the Igbos came from the Jews.
Ooni’s words: “No! It is the other way round. Truth be told, the first human race that existed was the Igbos before the Jews and we were all living together at the center of tropical rain forest before they started moving towards the Eastern part of the world where they started settling.
“So the race of the Jews and the Igbos are very similar but the Igbos are way older than the Jew.”
Reacting to Ooni’s remarks, Reno Omokri, a former aide to ex-president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, said he received insults from Nigerians the first time he shared the same story.
He further said now that the Ooni has corroborated him, he deserves some apologies from those that insulted him earlier.
He wrote on his Twitter handle, “I was attacked for saying Igbos are the most enterprising ethnicity in Nigeria. The Ooni has now corroborated me.
“I said the Jews came from the Igbos, not vice versa. The Ooni has corroborated me.
“Can those who insulted me now reconsider. See my hashtag #IgboABlessingToNigeria.”
