Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state

Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun on Monday called for the preservation of Yoruba history and culture.

Aregbesola made the call at the presentation of a book on historical towns and events to mark the 27th anniversary of the creation of the state.

The programme was organised by the Department of Social Grassroots Mobilisation and Guidance in the Office of the Governor.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Osun was created on Aug. 27, 1991 from the old Oyo State.

Aregbesola, represented by his Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Adelani Baderinwa, said his administration was committed to providing infrastructure and socio-economic development as well as promoting Yoruba values and culture.

He said the manifestation of this was the documentation of the history of ancient towns and cities in the state.

Aregbesola said that the historical book was a compendium of historical and geographical facts as well as cultural and administrative narratives of ancient and contemporary times

He said the book examined the documented history of some major towns like Ila-Orangun, Erin-Ijesha, Ile-Ife, Iwo, Ilesha, Osogbo, Ikirun, Ejigbo, Ede, Ikire, Orile-Owu, Okuku, Irabiji and Ijebu-Jesa.

“The interesting stories of these towns and cities might have become familiar to us, but the novelty of these stories is most apparent to someone hearing them for the first time.

“The entire story of mankind has come to us from individual voices from the past.

“Because there was no documentation, our history has been distorted, or even erased, and the younger generations have been detached from their history.

” People detached from their history will be completely alienated,’’ the governor said.