Before i jump into the facts it would only be fair for me to first of all tell you a little about the Queen herself, Queen Moremi..
A Brief History of Queen Moremi
According to Ife folklore, in order to liberate the people of Oodua land from the then incessant invasions of faceless raiders, Queen Moremi not only sacrificed her only child to the goddess of Esinmirin river, she also allowed herself to be captured by the raiders, so she could learn their secrets.
History says these raiders usually came covered in palm fronds, to give them an ominous presence and some sense of invincibility. After Moremi learned about this secret in captivity, she escaped and returned to Ile-Ife, where she told her people that fire was the bane of the raiders, hence the peculiar torch-holding in all her statues.
Now you know about Queen Moremi, here are 5 Truly Amazing Facts About Moremi Statue of Liberty: Nigeria’s Tallest Statue.
1. It is the tallest statue in Nigeria
Standing at 42-feet, Moremi Statue of Liberty in Ile-Ife is the tallest statue in Nigeria and is the 4th tallest in Africa.
2. The manificient statue was built indigenously
The statue was indigenously constructed by a team of about 200 Nigerian youths led by the head of Ooni’s palace art gallery victor badejo and the palace engineer, simon adeyinka and all materials used were sourced locally from the 774 local government areas in Nigeria.
3. Location
The Moremi Statue of Liberty is located right inside the very compound where the heroine lived thousands of years ago.
See also: Top 7 tallest statues in Africa
4. It was unveiled by the Ooni himself
The statue was unveiled by the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty Adeyeye Ogunwusi in Ile-Ife on the 22 of November 2016, and was dedicated to the economic liberation of African youths by the Ooni.
5. The unveiling was witnessed by 5000 youths
The historic unveiling of the tallest statue in Nigeria was witnessed by over 5,000 youths from all over the country.
6. The semblance to New york’s statue of liberty is just a coincidence
Moremi’s statue has always been holding a torch, thats what people associate her with. Basically if you should mention a torch in ile ife what comes to people’s mind is Queen Moremi.. If you read the brief history at the beginning of the post you’ll understand why.
See also: 5 most bizarre cultural practices from around Africa
That said, the fact that Moremi’s statue of liberty really does look like the New York’s statue of liberty, can be construed as a coincidence…the design of the statue was in no way influenced by that of New York’s.
