Saturday, 30 April 2022

Where were you in 1987?

~ Professor Yemi Osinbajo was then a Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the Federation.

That was the year Ọba Yésúfù Olóyedé Áṣàńkẹ́, Olúbàdàn of Ìbàdàn made history. Olúbàdàn installed Mọ̀ṣúdì Káṣìmawó Ọláwálé Abíọ́lá as the Baṣọ̀run of Ìbàdàn. It was a prestigious title befitting of a distinguished personality in the mould of MKO Abíọ́lá.

That was the title of  the legendary Baṣọ̀run Olúyọ̀lé who was the paramount chief of Ìbàdàn in 1850. It was also the title of Bashorun Ogúnmọ́lá who reigned between 1865 and 1867. It was therefore historic that exactly 120 years after the death of Ògúnmọ́lá, MKO Abíọ́lá became the fourth person to be conferred with the prestigious title.

It was indeed a befitting honour for someone who had amassed chieftaincy titles from almost every town in Nigeria. As of the time of his installation in 1987, MKO Abiola was reputed to have over 150 chieftaincy titles. He was the B'ọ́bajírò of Odè-Rẹ́mọ. He was the Badà Mùsùlùmí of Gbágurá Ẹ̀gbá.

As he drove out of the palace of Ọba Áṣàńkẹ́ that fateful day with his son by his side, MKO must have thought that he had reached the peak of traditional chieftaincy in Nigeria.

He was just settling down in his Ikeja home when he was informed that he had a call. Who was on the line? He asked before collecting the phone. It was the Aláàfin of Ọ̀yọ́, Ọba Làmídì Ọláyíwọlá Adéyemí III.

MKO snatched the phone. “Ikú Bàbá Yèyé, Igbá-kejì Òrìṣà! Kábíèsí!” The newly installed Baṣọ̀run paid his homage to the foremost traditional ruler. Aláàfin must be calling to congratulate me, MKO thought. Kábíèsí was however not calling to congratulate the business magnate.

“We have decided that you are to be conferred with the title of Ààrẹ Ọ̀nà Kakaǹfò!” Kábíèsí informed him.

The phone nearly dropped from the hand of Baṣọ̀run. Ààrẹ Ọ̀nà Kakaǹfò! The Generalissimo of Yoruba race! The Field Marshall for all descendants of Odùduwà! The portfolio held by Àfọ̀njá, the founder of Ilorin! The title of Ààrẹ Ọbadọ̀kè Látóòṣà of Ìbàdàn – the scourge of Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà! The position held by the last premier of Western Region, Ládòkè Akíntólá of Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́!

For a single person to be Baṣọ̀run and Ààrẹ was unheard of. It was the ultimate! Traditionally, Baṣọ̀run is the Prime Minister. Ààrẹ is the Field Marshall. When Baṣọ̀run Gáà moved against Aláàfin Abíọ́dún around 1770, it was Oyálabí from Àjàṣẹ́ (now Republic of Benin), the Ààrẹ Ọ̀nà Kakaǹfò that came to the powerful monarch’s rescue. Now, Abíọ́lá was going to be both the Prime Minister and the Field Marshall!

Aláàfin had spoken. MKO Abíọ́lá had no choice. The news spread like wildfire. Congratulatory messages poured in from all over the globe. Ààrẹ Ọ̀nà Kakaǹfò was not just another title. It was the Title. It was the father of all traditional titles. Father ke? No, it was the Grandfather of All Titles. If it were to be a national honour, it would be the equivalent of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic!

Everybody in and outside Yorùbáland was ecstatic at the choice of Abíọ́lá as the 14th Ààrẹ Ọ̀nà Kakaǹfò. Well, almost everybody.

It happened that the Aṣípa of Ọ̀yọ́, Chief Ámúdà Ọlọ́runòṣẹbi was not pleased with the choice of Baṣọ̀run MKO Abíọ́lá as the Ààrẹ. Aṣípa was one of the prominent chiefs of Aláàfin. He objected to the choice of the flamboyant publisher, an Ẹ̀gbá man, as Ààrẹ Ọ̀nà Kakaǹfò.  He went to Kábíèsí to protest. Ikú Bàbá Yèyé was adamant that MKO was eminently qualified to be the Ààrẹ Ọ̀nà Kakaǹfò.

The Aṣípa went back to his quarters at Ìsàlẹ̀ Ọ̀yọ́. As MKO Abíọ́lá and the Aláàfin were preparing for the installation of Baṣọ̀run, Chief Ámúdà was consulting with his lawyers. This was however unknown to the Aláàfin. It was assumed that the Aṣípa had been convinced to support Abíọ́lá’s candidacy.

Abíọ́lá was no ordinary person by any standard. He was larger than life. He was flamboyance personified. He was determined to make the chieftaincy installation as grand as possible. He invited all his contacts from all over the world. All the military governors were invited. A special invitation was delivered to the President, Ibrahim Babangida, who was a close friend of the Bashorun. African Heads of States cleared their schedules in order to honour MKO. Nigerian Embassies were issuing visas on daily basis. It was going to be a grand occasion.

Then the unthinkable happened! It started as a rumour. It was days to the installation.

‘Etí Ọba nílé, etí Ọba l’óko, ènìyàn ló ń jẹ́ bẹ́ẹ̀.’ - The ear of a king is everywhere. Ikú Bàbá Yèyé was in his palace when he heard from the grapevine that a case had been filed to stop the occasion! “Èwọ̀! Ṣàngó ò ní jẹ́! Abíọ́dún ò ní jẹ́! Aólẹ̀ ò ní jẹ́!” Kábíèsí went on to invoke the names of his predecessors on the royal throne of Aláàfin!

It was around noon when the phone rang in Ìbàdàn. It was from the Palace, Ọ̀yọ́ Aláàfin. Chief Afẹ́ Babalọlá, the famous legal practitioner, picked the phone. After exchange of homage and royal blessings, Aláàfin informed Afìwàjoyè of Adó Èkìtì that Aṣípa had filed a suit against the installation of MKO Abíọ́lá. Not only that, a motion ex parte for interim injunction had also been filed. It was apparent that Aṣípa was not ready to gamble with his chance.

Though Kábíèsí did not say it, Chief Afẹ́ knew the urgency involved. Installation was on Saturday. The call came in on Tuesday.

Less than thirty minutes after the call, Chief Afẹ́ was almost at Ọ̀yọ́. The legendary lawyer covered the 57 kilometres between Ọ̀yọ́ and Ìbàdàn as if he was on a chariot. He proceeded to court where he met the court registrar. Of course, the registrar knew Chief Babalọlá. It is doubtful if there is anyone in the Judiciary who does not know the Máyégún of Modákẹ́kẹ́. Máyégún paid the requisite fees and conducted a search of the court’s file. It was there! Aláàfin’s information was correct!

Ìdúró kò sí, ìbẹ̀rẹ̀ kò sí fún ẹni tí ó gbé odó mì - A person who swallows a pestle can neither stand nor sit comfortably. Installation was on Saturday. The search was conducted on Tuesday! The motion ex parte was to be heard the following day, Wednesday.

Time was of the essence! Chief Afe turned his car around, off to Emmanuel Chambers, Ìbàdàn. Before the car reached Fìdítì, he had mentally finished composing the processes. He was nodding as the cases and other relevant authorities began to surface in his mind.

By the time he reached his office, the mental process was complete. In a minute the Counter-Affidavit was ready. There was no need for a Written Address. Professor Yemi Osinbajo was then a Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the Federation. It would be years later before he would introduce Written Address as the Lagos State Attorney General. The counter-affidavit was filed and served on counsel to the Aṣípa.

On Wednesday, the court was full. Chief M. L. Lágúnjú, Aṣípa’s counsel was in court. He adjusted his wig and checked his books. He smiled. It was a Motion Exparte. It won’t be contested. He checked his time. Then there was some commotion at the entrance of the court.

Chief Lágúnjú blinked! He blinked again! Walking in majestically was the Afìwàjoyè of Adó-Èkìtì, the Balógun of Mọ̀bàland, the Máyégún of Modákẹ́kẹ́, Chief Afẹ́ Babalọlá in flesh! He was followed by a host of other lawyers, each armed with bags of legal authorities enough to open a law library. Chief Lágúnjú didn’t know when he said: “The game is up!”

On the dot of 9 O’clock, the Court began sitting. The trial judge was a royalty himself. Justice Adérẹ̀mí’s father was the late Ọ̀ọ̀ni of Ifẹ̀, Oba Sir Tadénikáwò Adésọjí Adérẹ̀mí, the first Governor of Western Region. The case was called.

The plaintiff’s counsel sought to move his application. The learned counsel informed the court that it was an ex parte application and therefore the other party had no right of audience.

His Lordship turned to Chief Afẹ́ Babalọlá. The court was as silent as a ghost town. Young lawyers craned their necks to hear what the Legend was going to say. They have been taught in law school that Ex Parte Motion was for only one party. Some of them must have been wondering what magic the Máyégún of Modáẹ́kẹ́ was going to perform.

Chief Afẹ́ Babalọlá brought out the White Book. Oh! Sorry, you don’t know the White Book? The White Book is an important book for lawyers. It contains the sources of law relating to the practice and procedures of the High Court. Ask your lawyer friend to show you a copy. He won’t charge you, unless you open it.

The Legal Colossus was on his feet. He was vibrating like a trumpet, but his voice was as soft as velvet. He began to reel out authorities after authorities to the effect that a defendant who became aware, anyhow, that a party had gone to court and was about to obtain an order ex-parte that would affect him, had a right to appear in court and to insist on being heard.

His Lordship – a brilliant Judge from the Source of Yorùbá Race – was nodding as he scribbled down the authorities being cited by the Legendary Advocate. His Lordship was not the only one writing. Most lawyers in court were writing furiously. One old man turned to his friend and whispered: “I don’t mind selling my house, Mùfù, my son must become a lawyer like this man. Look at the way he is speaking English as if he is chanting oríkì Ṣàngó!”

“There is merit in the case of the Defendants. I agree with Chief Afẹ́ Babalọlá, the Defendants deserve to be given the right to be heard. Case is hereby adjourned to tomorrow for arguments on the Motion on Notice.” His Lordship rose.

It is doubtful if the parties involved in the case slept that night. Whilst the lawyers checked and re-checked the authorities, the litigants were in anxiety mode. Chief MKO Abíọ́lá’s invited guests had started arriving from their various bases. Musicians engaged for entertainment had begun to set up their instruments in Ọ̀yọ́ and Ìkẹjà. Caterers had booked all the cows in Ìlọrin, Ọ̀yọ́ and Ìbàdàn. Local drummers had cancelled all engagements. The royal poet, Ọláńrewájú Adépọ̀jù had finished composing his masterpiece. All roads led to Ọ̀yọ́ Aláàfin.

If the court was filled to the brim on Wednesday, it was spilling over on Thursday. Litigants, journalists, lawyers, in fact everybody was in court that day. Chief Lágúnjú stood up. The learned counsel knew what was at stake. He argued his application expertly. He guessed the likely issues that Chief Afẹ́ would raise. He addressed each comprehensively. It was advocacy at its best.

Then the Balógun of Mọ̀bàland stood up. Like a surgeon, Chief Afẹ́ surgically cut through the issues deftly. He was not going to take any prisoner. After cutting through the issues, the authorities followed. From Halsbury’s Law of England to Commonwealth Law Reports, from decisions of House of Lords to decisions of Court of Appeal, from WACA to White Book, and then finally to the Supreme Court. The authorities were flowing like water from Aṣèjìrẹ́ Dam. There was no stopping the deluge.

“In the light of the copious authorities cited by the learned counsel for the plaintiff and the defendants, the Court will be adjourning to…” There was pin-drop silence in Court. The installation was only two days away.  “... Friday” Ha! Palpable relief went through the court. 

On Friday, Chief Afẹ́ Babalọlá’s phone began to Ọ̀yọ́ from dawn. “Chief, Ẹ má lọ gba ruling yín l’Ọ̀yọ́ lónìí o. Please send your junior o.” Clients, friends and well wishers who witnessed or heard of the tension soaked session in court on Thursday were justifiably apprehensive. But Chief Afẹ́ was not the Balógun of Mọ̀bàland for nothing. A General must not be afraid of the warfront. Off to Ọ̀yọ́. 

Chief Afẹ́ had hardly left Ìbàdàn when he started seeing policemen at strategic junctions on the road to Ọ̀yọ́. As they approached Fìdítì, the number of policemen increased. By the time they got to Jóbèlè, it was as if the Police College had moved its campus there. In the forest, on top of trees, in the bushes, and on top of buildings, the police were everywhere.

The Courtroom itself was no exception. More than fifty police officers joined lawyers and litigants in the courtroom. If you were not wearing a wig and you were not a party to the case, you would have to stay outside.

Court!

Justice Adérẹ̀mí went straight to the business of the day. “RULING” His Lordship began. Time stood still as His Lordship went on to review the facts of the application and the authorities cited by the counsel for the parties. “In the final analysis…” Counsel and cops in the court became tense.

“This application fails and is hereby dismissed.”

As if by telepathy, the crowd outside heard the ruling immediately! Shouts of joy erupted. Drummers who must have been hiding their gángan drums under their agbádá sprang out. Ṣẹ̀kẹ̀rẹ̀ came out. Agogo was not to be left behind. Chief Afẹ́ Babalọlá was pulled out of his car, The Balógun was placed squarely on the roof of the car. Women danced, men jumped. I’m not sure but one of the songs on that day must have been “Ajẹkún ìyà ni ó jẹ”. I have to confirm this from Chief. May God preserve his life.

Aláàfin was waiting in the Palace with his Council Members. For a moment, the Ṣàngó of our time, Ikú Bàbá Yèyé was close to tears. It was an emotional moment. MKO Abíọ́lá was called. The Baṣọ̀rún shouted: “Allahu Akbar! Alhamdulillah.”

On Saturday, January 14, 1988, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III installed Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola as the 14th Aare Ona Kakanfo. The famous Yoruba Poet, Lanrewaju Moshood Adepoju was then called to the podium. In his deep and flawless Yoruba, Adepoju movingly rendered traditional poetry tracing the history of the title and the qualities of the new Aare Ona Kakanfo.

Abiola smiled.

It was indeed a glorious day for the husband of Simbiat Atinuke.

In recognition of his service to the Crown and the Law, Alaafin later conferred Chief Afe Babalola with the prestigious title of Aare Bamofin of Oyo Empire.

Source : Onigegewura

Friday, 29 April 2022

A secret many women need to learn to avoid coming to the social media to make noise

Immediately a man sees you - he has already categorised you. Some women are “For Consumption” - drinking, smoking, partying, lust, sex, etc. Such a lady brings out the Beast in him.

Some other women are “For Building” - family, home, empire, community, faith. Such a lady brings out the Man in him.

Actions make the man. Once you see that he is always talking “fun, games, party” with you, just know that he is talking “family, empire, home” with another lady.

If you start confusing your place - asking for Commitment, Protection, etc when you have been smoking, drinking, partying all along - most men will quietly put you down and disappear because you are trying to change category.

It’s just that most men don’t want to offend or scare women away - by telling them the truth upfront. That’s why as a woman you MUST learn to LEARN a man through his Actions. Actions make the man. If there is anything I want all women to deeply imbibe - it is this.

When dealing with man's word, Multiply his words by zero and take your answer but critically 

Watch His Actions.

What he Does is Who he Is.

What he Does is What he Says.

There is so much misunderstanding because women keep looking in the WRONG place.

A man SHOWS you how little you matter to him. Still you will be asking him “do I mean anything to you”. And because he doesn’t want you to cry or shout or get angry, he will give you the candy laced in his words.

African Countries Creating US Dollar Millionaires At The Fastest Rates

1. Mauritius (74%)

2. Rwanda (60%)

3. Ethiopia (52%)

4. Uganda (50%)

5. Kenya (43%)

6. Ghana (36%)

7. Tanzania (34%)

8. Cote d'Ivoire (25%)

9. Mozambique (20%)

10. Morocco (18%)

Source: 2022 Africa Wealth Report.

THE SECRET WORTH KNOWING

As human beings we are one. We might call ourselves followers of Isese, Ifá, Orisa, Ogboni, Egungun, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Tasawwuf [Sufism], Candomble, Umbanda, Vodun etc. but all of these are superficial designations because our constitutional position in relation to Olódùmarè is identical. Our essential nature is identical, irrespective of our own venerable and peculiar beliefs and religious practices. 

We all spring from the One Singular Supreme Source. If we understood this then all kinds of conflicts, contentions and misunderstandings would cease to be. Ultimately we are all seeking for one thing only: fullness of happiness. There is a right way to seek happiness and there is a wrong way to seek happiness. Be aware that happiness and pleasure are not always the same thing. True happiness is pleasurable. All things pleasurable do not lead to happiness. True happiness uplifts, strengthens and fortifies our lives, intelligence and health. We are all seeking to honestly express ourselves and to realize our humanity.

The path of truth is founded on simplicity, honesty, respect for others and oneself, and personal integrity in ones duties. Good character, good behavior, honest living  and love are not ‘christian’, ‘muslim’, ‘hindu’, ‘traditionalist’, ‘indigenous’, etc. etc. These are essential and permanent qualities of our being no matter what we call ourselves. Our essential nature remains the same just like the air and water that we take in is universal and common to all. There is no such thing as Muslim air, Christian air or Traditionalist air. Air is air, no matter what you call yourself or what you profess. If you breathe it in you live. If you do not then you will die. There is no such thing as Muslim water, Christian water or Traditionalist water. Water is water, no matter what you call yourself or what you profess. If you drink it you will be refreshed and you will live. If you do not then you will die of thirst and dehydration. True religion and divine spirituality like air and water is universal and common to all. 

With determination and practice we can know and understand what is unknown to the majority. We do not need external ostentation to please Edumare. The Divine Secret is not in the pocket of others for us to be running after people trying to foolishly get from them what is already hidden within ourselves. The secret, treasure, sacred-power, mystic-knowledge and mystery you seek is buried beneath your feet in your own home! No need to go searching and excavating elsewhere! There is no need to complicate ourselves or others. The divine way is direct, simple and unencumbered by difficulties. To the courageous, sincere and honest the true path for oneself is not difficult to find.  We can worship Olódùmarè directly through any of his manifestations that are agreeable to our need, affinity, spiritual taste, capacity and sensitivity. When we worship our chosen Orisa we are worshiping Olódùmarè. Olódùmarè manifests in diversity to meet our needs, affinity, temperament, inclinations, capacities, longings and inner predilection. The One Olódùmarè is the one who manifests in limitless beauty, variety, forms and glorious personalities and characters. Olódùmarè is limitless and his potencies are inconceivable.

It is only reasonable and logical that Olódùmarè would manifest himself in countless ways to reach us and to inspire confidence and love in us. No matter if we worship the Divine as Obatala, or Òrúnmìlà, or Oshun, Osoosi, Orisa Oko, Sango, Yemoja, Ela, or Ogun etc. etc. what is important is that this particular manifestation is the one that inspires us, comforts us, empowers us and brings out the best in us. What is important is that this manifestation is meeting our need and is fulfilling our legitimate aspirations! What is important is that this manifestation is making us better people, more peaceful, assured and happy. The Orisa are expressions, manifestations and channels of the One Supreme Force.

There is no reason or need for us to be alike, the same or identical. We are different as human beings from one another, so should it surprise us that we are different in how we comprehend, perceive, experience and respond to the divine? We have different spiritual needs, perspectives, understandings and affinities. What Olódùmarè is hungry for is the feeling of devotion, love, reverence and gratitude in your soul! So to inspire you and bring this out he manifests and reaches out to as [and thru] Obatala, Ogun, Onile Ogboduora, Oshun, Òrúnmìlà, Elegbara, Ela etc. etc. He speaks to you in the unique language of your heart, level, need, mind, capacity, affinity, temperament and peculiar need. According to what Olódùmarè knows you are receptive, sensitive and responsive to, in like manner Olódùmarè appears and manifests to you in friendship, love, power and wonder! According to your devotional need, temperament, affinity, personality and spiritual tastes so does Eledumare reveal and manifest to you so as to draw you closer to himself, to nurture and develop you; and to reveal your true inner-splendor. 

Respect Eledumare’s manifestation to others, but follow, love and serve your own! Eledumare only desires the flowering of your heart. By worshiping Olódùmarè in the beautiful, inspiring and peculiar form that is appealing and attractive to YOU, you will awaken the divinity within yourself and experience true happiness, peace and satisfaction. Do not compare your unique faith to that of another. Do not imitate the faith of others. Follow what really inspires you, empowers you and is truly meaningful to you. The other persons way is not better than yours, neither is your way better than another’s. Your unique faith is simply right, adequate and perfect for you. That is all! This is how we must see and understand things. 

Empowered, motivated and enthused by your worship, peculiar spiritual interests, spiritual practices and devotion, you will be in an ideal state to work for the greater good of all. Allow your inner-realizations, grace, knowledge and power to manifest in your behavior, speech, demeanor and conduct. If you talk to much, arrogantly or needlessly about your inner-experiences and knowledge, then your built up and accumulated powers will become dissipated and lost, but if we express them through the quality and manner of our lives it will grow and grow, bringing blessing to all and transforming the lives of others. 

It is only by contact with this divine energy in our own unique and personal way that we develop supernatural [divine] character, supernatural [divine] intelligence and supernatural [divine] powers. Never express anything without a specific purpose and thereby conserve your spiritual powers and energies. Always meet with your Divine Friend and worship according to your sincere, noble and honest natural affinity, taste, vision and inclination, and you will grow and develop smoothly yet at an astounding rate. Do not imitate others. Follow your own authentic and original path. Do not allow others to make you doubt what is truly benefiting and upholding you. Be strong and do not allow others to drown out your own genuine spiritual convictions. If you follow the above instructions you will never have to receive another instruction in your life. By practicing the above words of guidance everything you really need and want will gravitate to you and find you, or you will gravitate to it and find it.

Read, meditate upon and apply these thoughts often because they are coming to you from the Source Supreme. This is the reason why you feel great peace, energy, power, joy, assurance, uplift, security and serenity when you read them. These teachings and the divine energy which revealed them will purify, empower and uplift your life.

Èlà-Òrúnmìlà mo yin aboru.

Èlà-Òrúnmìlà mo yin aboye.

Èlà-Òrúnmìlà mo yin abosise....

Your friend and well-wisher Awo Òrúnmìlà Mark Casillas.

Africa's Best Universities (2022)

#1. University of Cape Town 🇿🇦

#2. Stellenbosch University 🇿🇦

#3. University of the Witwatersrand 🇿🇦

#4. University of Cape Coast 🇬🇭

#5. University of KwaZulu-Natal 🇿🇦

#6. Addis Ababa University 🇪🇹

#7. Aswan University 🇪🇬 

#8. Durban University of Technology 🇿🇦

#9. University of Ibadan 🇳🇬

#10. Ferhat Abbas Sétif University 🇩🇿

#11. Kafrelsheikh University 🇪🇬

#12. University of Lagos 🇳🇬

#13. Mansoura University 🇪🇬

#14. University of Nairobi 🇰🇪

#15. North-West University 🇿🇦

Source: 2022 World University Rankings

SELF-AWARENESS IN IFÁ

There is no one who knows you more than you know yourself. The real self awareness is not read in a book, you experience it as you journey through life. 

In Yoruba cosmology and spiritual life, Ìtẹfá is an initiation into the self-awareness experience.

Ìtẹfá reveals the information that formed you before time based on the purpose for which you were formed thereby arming you with the information that reveals to you the reasons for your character traits and the management of same for optimum performance during your time in Ìkọ̀lé Ayé - material universe.

Odù Ifá Èjì Ogbè, the first and the king of the 256 Ifá chapters makes us understand that it is not appropriate to wake up each day without knowing one's Odù Ifá.

Jíjí ni mo jí ni mo ko ire, 

Ọ̀nà ni mo rìn ni mo ko ìfà,

A kìí jí ni kùtùkùtù òwúrọ̀ ká má mọ Ifá tó bíni;

A dífá fún Olúìpó Ẹ̀là-elú

Èyí tí ó fi ìlànà bàbá rẹ̀ sílẹ̀

Tí ó lọ ń tọ ìlànà bàbá òní bàbá.

Translation:

I woke up (in the morning) and encounter goodness, 

Walking on my path and I come across freebie,

It's an abberation to wakeup in the morning and not know one's spiritual path;

These were Ifa's declarations for Olúìpó Ẹ̀là-elú who abandoned his ancestral path to thread on another's ancestral path.  

***

Ifá is saying to us in this verse that one's path is originally laced with goodness as Olódùmarè intended for each one of us, but the neglect of our own ancestral path is bound to result into hardships. 

This is the wisdom that the full story in this Ifá is teaching us.

Self-awareness therefore starts from knowing your own Odù Ifá which is your ancestral path; it tells your story from before you were born into the material universe; its corpus - scripture - contains the essence of your creation, the trajectory of your life, your challenges, strengths, weaknesses which together make a divine combination that activates your inherent authority/Àṣẹ. This you'll be helped to attain through the mentorship of your Oluwo (Baba).

In summary, it is impossible to fulfill your own essence without a deliberate navigation through life. A deliberate navigation through life is impossible without a knowledge of your authentic essence. This is what is contained in your Odù Ifá.

Any Questions?

By Ayobami Ogedengbe.

The Fundamental Meaning And Mission In Human Life

Nowhere is the profundity and beauty of African spirituality more apparent than in the Odu Ifa, the sacred text of the spiritual and ethical tradition of Ifa, which is one of the greatest sacred texts of the world, and a classic of African and world literature.

Its central message revolves around the teachings of the Goodness of and in the world; the chosen status of humans in the world; the criteria of a good world; and the requirements for a good world. 

Although these themes are throughout the Odu Ifa, nowhere are they more explicit than in Odu Irosun Iwori.  

The Odu Irosun Iwori begins by declaring “Let’s do things with joy…”  For it is understood that the world was created in goodness and that we are to find good in the world, embrace it, increase it, and not let any good be lost. It is obvious here that all is not well with the world, given the poverty, oppression, exploitation and general suffering of people. But inherent in this firm belief in the good that is found in the Odu Ifa is the faith that in the midst of the worst of situations there are good people, good will and possibilities for creating good, increasing good, and thus constantly expanding the realm of good. 

The chosen status of humans is a second major tenet of Ifa. Irosun Iwori says we should do things with joy “for surely humans have been divinely chosen (yan) to bring good into the world” and that this is the fundamental mission and meaning of human life. And we are chosen not over and against anyone, but chosen with everyone to bring good in the world. Thus, all of us are equally chosen. In fact, the word for human being is eniyan which literally means chosen one, and we are divinely chosen without distinction of nation, race, gender, special religious relationship or promise. 

Surely this poses an ideal many other world religions are still striving to establish as a central moral doctrine.  But even as we’re chosen, we must also choose to be chosen by doing good in the world. Thus, Odu Irosun Iwori also says that no one can reach their highest level of spirituality or rest in heaven until we all achieve the good world “that Olodumare, has ordained for every human being.” This establishes a divinely ordained right to a good life for every human being. But joined to this human right is the obligation of shared responsibility of humans to make the world good so that everyone can enjoy a good life.  

The important contribution this makes here to theological and social ethics is that it teaches that transcendence in the spiritual and social sense can never be individualistic, but must always include the happiness and well-being of others. The Odu Ifa says all deserve a good life and good world; ultimate transcendence is impossible without it, and it is a shared task of all humans to achieve it.

The question is then posed to the sage and master teacher, Orunmila, of what is a good life and the conditions for the good world? 

Orunmila answers by saying that the achieving of a good life or good world is defined by several essential things:  

-full knowledge of things; 

-happiness everywhere; 

-freedom from anxiety 

-and freedom from fear of hostility from others; 

-the end of antagonism with other beings on earth, i.e., animals, reptiles and the like; 

-well-being and the end of forces that threaten it; 

-and finally, freedom from poverty and misery.

Now, it is of great significance that the first criteria for good life and good world is knowledge. In fact, Orunmila also says that knowledge or rather wisdom is the first requirement for achieving the good. This points to knowledge or education as a basic human right, necessary not only for our understanding our humanity in its most expansive forms, but also to realize it in the most meaningful and flourishing ways.  But again the good world will not come into being by itself.

Thus, five requirements are necessary to bring it into being. 

-The first requirement Orunmila lists for achieving a good world, as noted above is wisdom. The text says we must develop “wisdom adequate to govern the world.” This reaffirms human responsibility for the world and the need to obtain adequate wisdom to carry out this responsibility effectively. 

The core wisdom here is of necessity moral and spiritual wisdom which conceives the world in its interrelated wholeness, respects its integrity and works constantly to save, renew and expand the good in it.  

-Orunmila also taught that humans must move beyond moralities of convenience to a morality of sacrifice, i.e., self-giving in a real, meaningful and sustained way. 

The Odu Ogbe’Fun says that “one who makes a small sacrifice will have a small result”. 

The Odu Okanran Owonrin advices us “be able to suffer without surrendering and persevere in what you do”.  

A central moral quest in the Ifa spiritual and ethical tradition is to achieve iwa-pele, a gentle character or iwa-rere, good character which are often interchangeable.  

-Orunmila cites this as the third requirement to achieving a good world.  “It is gentle character which enables the rope of life to remain strong in our hands”  - Odu Idin Irete. Orunmila teaches that another one of the main requirements for achieving the good world is “the love of doing good for all people, especially for those who are in need and those who seek assistance from us.” This requirement seeks to create a moral community based not on cold calculation of rule and duty, but on the love of doing good and the joy and benefit it brings to the doer and the recipient of the good. 

Odu Ofun Irosun says, “Ofun is giving out goodness every-where. But Ofun does not make noise about it.” Indeed, to do things coldly and/or loudly is to diminish the good done.  

-The last requirement Orunmila cites as a requirement for creating a good world returns us to the fundamental meaning and mission in human life. He says what is required is “the eagerness and struggle to increase good in the world and not let any good be lost.” 

Again, Orunmila calls for a profound commitment to the good world, and an ongoing and intense struggle for it until it is achieved. 

The Odu suggests that we must stay ever-ready and engaged, for it says in the pursuit of good, “a constant soldier is never unready even once” 

Odu, Owonrin Otura

Ase wa...

Thursday, 28 April 2022

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐰𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐈𝐬 𝐀 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞

1. The Uwangwe (Uwangue) title commonly claimed to be an Edo, or rather Bini, title is actually not. In fact the phoneme /ng/ does not exist in the Bini language.

2. The Bini themselves claim that although the title belongs to them the word Uwangwe has no literal meaning because it is ancient Bini language and the meaning is lost in time. This of course isn’t true.

3. The Uwangwe title is used in the Warri Kingdom, the Bini kingdom, the Udo Kingdom, and the Owo Kingdom. The Uwangwe is responsible for the king’s attire and wardrobe. In other words, he seasons up the look of the king. It is important to state that Portuguese documents stated that the ancient Great Benin, which was the Udo Kingdom, was a Olukumi (Licomin)-speaking kingdom. Olukumi is an old Yoruba dialect which is still spoking by the Itsekiri, Ilaje, Owo and other Yoruba groups.

4. But does the word Uwangwe (Uwangue) really have no meaning? No, it has a meaning. Uwangwe means salt. The symbolism behind the use of the word salt as a title is that salt is know to make anything good, especially taste-wise, and it is also known as a preserver. Salt adds taste and that is exactly what the Uwangwe does when he dresses the king up in the best and most befitting clothing or attire.

5. Etymological Uwangwe is Yoruboid. Uwangwe can be broken down into two words in the Itsekiri language: Uwan (tongue) and Gwe (wash). This is significant because in ancient times, and even till today in some places, salt with water was used to wash the mouth.

6. In the general Yoruba language, that is standard Yoruba, Uwangwe would be Ahonwe: Ahon (tongue) and We (wash). Uwan/Ahon and Gwe/. We are clear dialectical cognates of one another.

7. Get familiar with the terms “Salt of the name” or the Biblical term “Salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) you will see that the reference to a person as “The salt” is a very old practice that is still in use across the world today.

By Dede Chibu

MENTAL DECOLONIZATION

The British government spends €600 million annually on the BBC World Service (the BBC's international advertising branch).  And every week, this World Service reaches 96 million people in Africa, the channel's largest audience.

Now ask yourself, why would the British government spend 600 million euros EVERY YEAR to inform African people?

As Carter G. Woodson said ′′If you can control a man's thinking, you don't have to worry about his actions.  When you determine what a man should think, you don't have to worry about what he is going to do.  If you make a man feel inferior, you don't have to force him to accept an inferior state, because he will look for you himself.  If you make a man think he is just an outcast, you don't have to send him to the back door.  He will go without being told;  and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one."

Now, here it comes: France.

Every year, France spends 273 million euros on 3 international advertising media: 140 million euros on Radio France Internationale (which reaches 40 million people every week mainly in Africa);  80 million euros in France 24 (the aspiring French CNN, which hit 45 million people a week, mostly in Africa);  and 63 million euros on TV 5, a channel to disseminate the French language and culture of French-speaking countries in the world, which reaches around 55 million people weekly, mostly in Africa.

Again, ask yourself, why would the French government spend €273 million EVERY YEAR to inform the African people.

The answer is simple. There is a war in your mind!

As George Orwell said, ′′The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and destroy their own understanding of their history ", and these means, disguised as informing and amusing the African people, have only one Agenda: to corrupt our understanding  of ourselves, our reality and the world, implanting in the minds of our young people ideas and concepts that ultimately lead us to believe in what will happen in the period of political or economic crisis.

The logic behind the huge media domination in Africa by these Western powers is to prepare Africans for a subservient role in this world. It is a process of dehumanization as Steve Biko put it some time ago.

′′The most powerful weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed ′′ - Steve Biko

From Genghis Khan to Hitler, they know that once we win the propaganda war, it is easier to conquer any nation.

′′The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and their own are the same. "~ Marie-Henri Beyle

The African elite now receives 100% of its information from Europeans.  If something happens in Lagos or Accra, they would receive news from CNN or the BBC.

′′We become slaves the moment we hand over the keys to defining someone else's reality, be it a business, an economic theory, a political party, the White House, Newsworld or CNN."

 ~ B.W.  Powell

African governments must take strong measures to restrict the issuance of foreign propaganda in their territory.

Africa's intellectuals must step out of their comfort zone and join the frontline of offensive intellectual independence.

Any country that does not print its own dictionary is colonized or will be soon!

He who defines, governs.

Words are the building blocks of reality.  The reality belongs to whoever makes the blocks!

As Marimba Ani said ′′Your culture is your immune system", once taken from you, you are helpless, vulnerable. This is why Africa's enemies are investing so much in destroying your immune system.

Deep Africa

Mental Decolonization

THE STORY OF OYOTUNJI: A YORUBA KINGDOM IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Oyotunji African Village is a village located near Sheldon, Beaufort County, South Carolina that was founded by Oba Efuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I in 1970. Oyotunji village is named after the Oyo empire, a pre-colonial Yoruba kingdom lasting from the 1300s until the early 1800s in what is now southwestern Nigeria. The name literally means “O̩yo̩ returns” or “O̩yo̩ rises again” or “O̩yo̩ resurrects” referring to the African Yoruba kingdom of Oyo, now rising in a new form near the South Carolina seashore.

Oyotunji village covers 27 acres (11 ha) and has a Yoruba temple which was moved from Harlem, New York to its present location in 1960. It was originally intended to be located in Savannah, Georgia, but was eventually settled into its current position after disputes with neighbors in Sheldon proper, over drumming and tourists.

HOW OBA EFUNTOLA ADEFUNMI(I) FOUNDED OYOTUNJI KINGDOM.

During the slave trade era, many Africans were taken as slaves abroad. While going, some left with their culture and tradition which they continued within the foreign land where they found themselves. They continued with the culture and tradition of their fathers so as to maintain their identity.

The Yorubas in slavery are among the Africans that maintained their culture in the strange land and it was handed down to their children from generation to generation.

Many of their children, after the abolition of the slave trade, have married children of their former masters thus having children of mixed blood, that notwithstanding, they still carry on with their African culture in the foreign land since most of them cannot trace their root back to Africa.

The Yoruba culture has been one of the prominent and most celebrated one throughout the world till date. In the faraway United States of America, there is a Yoruba community named O̩yo̩tunji African Village. It is located near Sheldon, Beaufort County, South Carolina.

O̩yo̩tunji is regarded as North America’s oldest authentic African village. It was founded in 1970 and is the first intentional community in North America, based on the culture of the Yoruba and Benin tribes of West Africa.

It has survived 51years of sustaining the Yoruba traditional sociology and values in the diaspora. The village is named after the O̩yo̩ Empire, and the name literally means “O̩yo̩ returns” or “O̩yo̩ rises again” or “O̩yo̩ resurrects”. The village occupies 27 acres of land.

O̩yo̩tunji was founded by His Royal Highness O̩ba (King) Waja, O̩funto̩la Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I.

Born Walter Eugene King on October 5, 1928, Oba O̩funto̩la Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I, a Detroit native, began studying Afro-Haitian and ancient Egyptian traditions as a teenager. He was further influenced by his contact with the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe in New York City at the age of 20, an African American modern dance troupe that drew from many cultures within the African Diaspora.

August 26, 1959, O̩ba Waja became the first African born in America to become fully initiated into the Oris̩a-Vodoo African priesthood by African Cubans in Matanzas, Cuba, and became known as Efuntola Osejiman Adefunmi. After his return to the United States, he formed the Yoruba Temple in Harlem in 1960. The temple, committed to preserving African traditions within an American context, was the cultural and religious forerunner of Oyotunji Village.

He later traveled to Haiti where he discovered more about the Yoruba culture. Armed with a new understanding of the African culture, he found the order of Damballah Hwedo, Ancestor Priests in Harlem New York.

This marked the beginning of the spread of the Yoruba religion and culture among African-Americans. He later founded the Sàngó Temple in New York and incorporated the African Theological Arch Ministry in 1960. The Sàngó Temple was relocated and renamed the Yoruba Temple.

With the rise of black nationalism in the 1960s, King began to envision the construction of a separate African American nation that would institutionalize and commemorate ancestral traditions. In June of 1970, he fulfilled this vision with the creation of Oyotunji African Village.

It was during this time that he also established a new lineage of the priesthood, Orisha Vodoo, to emphasize the tradition’s African roots. Today, over 300 priests have been initiated into this lineage and the African Theological Archministry, founded by Oba O̩funto̩la Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I in 1966, now serves as the umbrella organization for the Village.

To further his knowledge of Yoruba culture, he traveled to Abeokuta in Nigeria in 1972 where he was initiated into the Ifa priesthood by the Oluwo of Ije̩un at Abeokuta, Ogun state, in August of 1972. He was later proclaimed Alase̩ (Oba-King) of the Yoruba of North America at O̩yo̩tunji Village in 1972.

In its early years, Oyotunji Village was home to as many as two hundred people. Today, its residential community consists of few African American families, governed by an oba (king) and the community’s appointed council.

Each family is committed to the teachings of the Yoruba tradition, which include a religious understanding of the world as comprised primarily of the “energies” of the Supreme Being Olodumare, the orisha deities, and the ancestral spirits. This religious world is maintained spiritually through rituals, chants, music, sacrifice, and annual ceremonies.

Oba Efuntola Osejiman Adefunmi passed away on Thursday, February 10th, 2005 at O̩yo̩tunji African Village in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Since Adefunmi’s death in 2005, the village has been led by his son, the fourteenth of twenty-two children of Oba Efuntola Osejiman Adefunmi, till date.

The O̩ba title is referred to as “O̩lo̩yotunji” of O̩yo̩tunji.

Many thanks to leader of the Free world,

The Yeye oba of Oyotunji African kingdom

Yeye Fabunmi Adefunmi sands.

Ooduaconnect newsmagazine

Source: Olalekan Owolabi.

Jumping the Broom is celebrated on this date

This is an African American term and custom for marriage.

The significance of the broom to Black heritage and history originates in the West African country of Ghana. During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, most of Ghana in the 18th century was ruled by the Asante or Ashanti Confederacy. The Asante’s urban areas and roads were kept conspicuously clean according to visiting British and Dutch traders with the use of locally made brooms. These same brooms were used by wives or servants to clean the courtyards of palaces or homes. The broom in Asante, Akan cultures also held spiritual value and symbolized sweeping away past wrongs or removing evil spirits.

This is where the broom comes into play regarding marriage. Brooms were (are) waved over the heads of marrying couples to ward off spirits. The couple would often but not always jump over the broom at the end of the ceremony. Jumping over the broom symbolized the wife's commitment or willingness to clean the courtyard of the new home she had joined. Furthermore, it expressed her overall commitment to the house. It also represented the determination of who ran the household. Whoever jumped highest over the broom could be the decision-maker of the household (usually the man). The jumping of the broom does not add up to taking a "leap of faith."

Jumping the broom was not a custom of slavery, but is a part of African culture that survived American slavery like the Voodoo religion of the Fon and Ewe ethnic groups or the ring shout ceremony of the BaKongo and Mbundu ethnic groups.

Some people also believed this was a customer in England and was brought to America through slavery.

OJUELEGBA: A BRIEF HISTORY

Long time ago, before the presence of civilization and the British bombardment of Lagos in 1851, the area known today as Ojuelegba was a forest and the consecrated site for the worship of Ẹ̀shù Elegbua also referred to as Légba among the Fon people of Benin Republic, Exu in Brazil, Echu-Elegua in Cuba, Papa Legba in Haiti and to some African-American as Papa La Bas.

It was right under the present-day Ojuelegba bridge that the Aworis who were said to be the first inhabitant of this area used to worship láàlu ogiri òkò - the deity in charge of orderliness and the divine enforcer of natural and divine laws. The stone which was of lateritic earth with cowrie shells marking the eyes and mouth of Eshu which worshippers poured daily offerings to appease the god has now paved way for urbanization, the shrine has been moved several times before it was finally settled at its current location, a few steps (to the South) away from the present Ojuelegba roundabout. It has on it the inscription '‘Ojú-Ìbọ Elégba'' from whence the town's name was coined Ojú-elégba (meaning eyes of Elegba or the Shrine of Elegba).

In the 1970's, Ojuelegba became known for its boisterous night life, partly due to Fela's shrine which was first located at empire and also due to the fact that it is a vital connection point for travellers within the mainland connecting surrounding districts of Surulere, Yaba and Mushin. It also serves as the connecting link between the ever busy Apapa-Wharf shipping yard and Ikorodu and Agege motor road such that it became famous for its everyday gridlock due to the absence of traffic lights and traffic warden. It was the subject of Fela's song - "confusion" in 1975:

"For Ojuelegba, for Ojuelagba

Moto dey come from south

Moto dey come from north

Moto dey come east

Moto dey come from West

And policeman no dey for center

Na confusion be dat oo

Na confusion be dat oo".

Wednesday, 27 April 2022

The Liberation Of Little Blue Birth By Musk

Twitter is the most difficult social media platform in the main league. I am on the 3rd trial before I gave up. First, this product does not allow you to build your points due to limited space. And when you try to break them, you create a mini thesis for the readers. Then, the worst part: inability to edit posts.

But Twitter has been getting away with those issues because it is the best ecosystem to break news. Unfortunately, many of us are not in the business of breaking news; we prefer to analyze broken ones! But help seems to be on the horizon. The little blue bird is flying to the generation’s finest innovator. People, this is the age of Mustter, a great fusion of Musk and Twitter. It promises to be amazing for the bird because Elon Musk wants to bring a liberation of “free speech”.

People, Musk is peerless but any promise of a censor-less digital ecosystem will not work.  It is a big irony: without moderation and censorship, many will lose their “freedom” to tweet. Why? On LinkedIn, if they do not have a blocking feature, I would have left. But with that blocking feature, I have put many people where they belong. They come to cause confusions and bully; we block them to have the “freedom” to discuss. I am not sure how Musk will solve that by taking Twitter private.

Of course, it does not matter when you have $250 billion in the personal balance sheet. At that level, even $44 billion could seem like a good game. 

Legends!

Average Medical Doctor Salaries In Africa

01 South Africa🇿🇦 $3,400

02 Morocco🇲🇦 $3,300

03 Botswana🇧🇼 $3,000

04 Kenya🇰🇪 $3,000

05 Namibia🇳🇦 $2,700

06 Seychelles🇸🇨 $2,600

07 Libya🇱🇾 $2,100 

08 Ghana🇬🇭 $1,600

09 Tanzania🇹🇿 $1,300

10 Uganda🇺🇬 $1,300

🌐Source: Average Salary Survey

YOU WILL NEVER LEARN THIS IN SCHOOL

° Africa area = 30,37 million km2

° China area = 9,6 million km2

° US area = 9,8 million km2

° Europa area = 10,18 million km2

● Africa is bigger than all of Europe, China and the United States of America together.

● But on most world maps, Africa is represented in downsize.

This is deliberately done to create the visual effect of a small Africa to manipulate, brainwash, and deceive Africans wherever they are.

- Africa has 60% arable land.

- Africa owns 90% of raw material reserve.

- Africa owns 40% of the global gold reserve.

- Africa, 33% of diamond reserve.

- Africa has 80% of Coltan's global reserve (mineral for telephone and electronics production), mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

- Africa has 60% of global cobalt reserve (mineral for car battery manufacture).

- Africa is rich in oil and natural gas.

- Africa (Namibia) has the world's richest fish coastline.

- Africa is rich in manganese, iron and wood.

- Africa is three times the area of China, three times the area of Europe, three times the United States of America.

- Africa has thirty-half million km2 (30 875 415 km2).

- Africa has 1,3 billion inhabitants (China has 1,4 billion inhabitants in 9,6 million km2).

Which means Africa is SUBPOPULATED.

- The arable lands of the Democratic Republic of Congo are capable of feeding all of Africa.

And all of Africa's arable land is a cord to feed the whole world.

- The Democratic Republic of Congo has important rivers that can illuminate Africa.

The problem is that the CIA, western companies and some African puppets have destabilized DRC for decades.

- Africa is a culturally diverse continent in terms of dance, music, architecture, sculpture, etc.

- Africa accommodates 30.000 medicinal recipes and herbs that the West modifies in its laboratories.

- Africa has a young global population that should reach 2,5 billion by the year 2050.

● AFRICA IS THE FUTURE🌍

A KÌ FI IFÁ YAN ỌBA ALÁÀFIN Ọ̀YỌ́ ÈWỌ̀ NI

Lójú ọpọ àwọn tí kò mọ ìtàn àti àṣà àti eto orílẹ̀ kárí ilẹ̀ Kú Ootu Ojire èrò wọn ní pe gbogbo ilẹ̀ Yorùbá ni wọn ti mọ fi ifá mú Ọba.

A ki fi ifá yàn ọba Lọyọ kódà ó pẹ́ kí Ọ̀yọ́ to mọ nípa Ifá gan, ìlànà Ọ̀yọ́ nipe Arẹmọ lo gbọdọ jẹ Ọba ti Aláàfin bá gbésẹ̀ tí Ayaba Aláàfin to ba gbésẹ̀ bá wa ninu oyún tí kosi ni ọmọ kùnrin kankan nilẹ Basorun ni a ma ṣe Ìjọba tí a fi bímọ to ba jẹ ọkùnrin Basọrun àti Ìyá Arẹmọ ni wọn jọ ma selu tí ọmọ na a fi dàgbà tó gorí ìtẹ́.

Ṣùgbọ́n tí kò bá bí ọkùnrin àwọn Ọ̀yọ́ Mẹ̀sì a lọ mú nínú àwọn Akẹyọ to ba wu wọn jọba.

Laye Aláàfin Onígbogí ni wọn kọ́kọ́ mú ifá wọ Ọ̀yọ́ láti ìlú Ọta sugbon awon Ọ̀yọ́ Mẹ̀sì kọ láti gba gẹgẹbi ẹṣin Yorùbá Ọ̀yọ́.

Aláàfin Onígbogí ni Aláàfin keje, àmọ́ nigba to di ayé Aláàfin Ofinran to jẹ Aláàfin kẹjọ ni wọn lọ mú Ifá wá láti Ado Odo to wà ní Ìpínlẹ̀ Ògùn dòní.

Èyí koni ń se pelu a jẹ ọba Ọ̀yọ́.

Nigbati Oranmiyan Aláàfin àkọ́kọ́ wàjà Ajaka lo jẹ (ẹ jẹ ká fi ọ̀rọ̀ Sàngó silẹ na nítorí ọmọ rẹ kò jẹ Aláàfin lehin tó kúrò láyé ) lehin Ajaka Arẹmọ Ajaka to ń jẹ Aganju lo jẹ Aláàfin, nigbati Aláàfin Aganju wàjà Basọrun Ẹrankogbina lọ ṣe akoso ìlú títí Iyayun ayaba Aganju fi bímọ ọkùnrin Kọri ni orúkọ Arẹmọ na to jẹ Aláàfin lehin baba rẹ Aganju.

Lẹhin Aláàfin Kọri Arẹmọ Oluaso lo jẹ ti Aláàfin Onígbogí to jẹ tẹ́lẹ̀ na si jẹ Arẹmọ Oluaso, Aláàfin Ofinran jẹ Arẹmọ Onígbogí, Eguguoju to jẹ lẹhin Aláàfin Ofinran jẹ Arẹmọ fun.

Ṣùgbọ́n lẹhin Eguguoju koni ọmọkunrin nitorina àbúrò rẹ Akẹyọ Ọrọmpọtọ (ọkùnrin ní kiise obirin) lo jẹ Ọba láti orí Aláàfin Ọrọmpọtọ  àwọn ọmọ rẹ lọ tún jẹ́ lọ Baba sì Arẹmọ, Aláàfin Ajiboyede Aláàfin Abipa Ọba Mọ́rọ̀ Aláàfin Aláàfin Agana Erin Obalokun Aláàfin Ajagbo Aláàfin Odarawu na jẹ Aremo Ajagbo, Aláàfin Karan na jẹ Arẹmọ Odarawu Arẹmọ Karan to ń ṣe Arẹmọ Jayin lo tún jọba.

Nigbati Jayin wàjà Arẹmọ rẹ Olusi ti kú lójú ayé rẹ ọmọ ọmọ Jayin tí ń ṣe ọmọ Olusi tó ń jẹ Ayibi lọ jẹ Aláàfin lẹhin ti Aláàfin Ayibi wàjà Arẹmọ rẹ Osinyago lọ jẹ Aláàfin orí rẹ sini àṣà tí parẹ òun sini Aláàfin kokandinlogun (19 kings)

Ìyẹn nipe Alaafin mẹ́jọ to jẹ ṣáájú kí ifá to wọ Ọ̀yọ́ a kò fi ifá yàn wọn pẹlu Aláàfin mọ́kànlá to jẹ lẹhin ti ifá wo Ọ̀yọ́ a kò fi Ifá yàn wọn.

Aláàfin Ojigi to jẹ lẹhin Aláàfin Osinyago àwọn Ọ̀yọ́ Mẹ̀sì lọ yàn kiise Ifá bayi wọn sì ṣe fún Aláàfin mẹdogun to jẹ lẹhin Aláàfin Ojigi to fi kan Aláàfin Atiba lẹhin Aláàfin Atiba Arẹmọ rẹ Adelu lo tún jẹ Aláàfin òun sini Aláàfin kerindinlogoji (36 kings) lehin ti Adelu gbesẹ aburo rẹ Adeyemi lo jẹ Alafin nigbati Aláàfin Adeyemi àkọ́kọ́ wàjà Aremo Aláàfin Adelu ìyẹn Aremo Lawani Agogoja ni àwọn Oyomesi yàn ni Aláàfin kẹrin ni Ọ̀yọ́ Atiba toni. 

Pelu alaye yi ìlànà jíjẹ Ọba Aláàfin a ti ye yin pé ifá  kí yàn Ọba Lọyọ.

Ọ̀yọ́ Mẹ̀sì ni afọbajẹ

Aare Laji Abbas

The Aare Opitan Of Ibadanland

Tuesday, 26 April 2022

There are powerful women who control the Oyo kingdom, namely

1. Iyamode: She is the only person in the entire world the Aláàfin is permitted to kneel before. Iyamode occupies a role deeply respected that the king calls her ‘Baba’.

Whenever the Aláàfin goes on his knees before this powerful woman, she also returns the salutation by going down on her knees but never recline on her elbows while doing so as this is the custom of women in saluting their superiors.

She resides outside of the palace and she is the superior of the celibates living in Bara (the royal mausoleum). Once a woman becomes Iyamode, she becomes celibate and stays away from sex for life. She is one of the most senior priestess inside the Alaafin’s royal court.

2. Obagunte: She represents the Aláàfin in the Ogboni fraternity and enter Ogboni chamber on all occasion and at will.

3. Eni Oja: She is the head of all the Eshu worshippers in Oyo and she is in charge of the king’s market.

4. Iya Naso: The Aláàfin of Oyo is worshipped as the living incarnation of the Sango, the god of thunder. Inside the palace, the Aláàfin has a private place where he worships Sango. Iya Naso’s is in charge of this spiritual room. She has to do with Sango Worship generally and she’s the one responsible for everything linked to it. The worship and rituals.

5. Iya Kere: Iya Kere is the person who places the crown on the head of the king at the coronation. She is the only one in charge of the treasures and paraphernalia Of the Oyo kingdom including the crowns. She is the mother of all illari who are kept in the palace with half their heads shaved off. She exercises full power over the feudal heads like Aseyin, Oluwo and Soun of Ogbomoso. Once she assumes the office, she remains a celibate for life.

6. Iya Oba: She is the official mother of the king. After the demise of the Queen mother, any other lady of the palace is then made the Iya Oba and she is one who plays the role of a biological mother to him. She is the third person in the room when the Alaafin and Bashorun worship the Orun in the month of September every year. Iya Oba is the fedual head of the Bashorun.

7. Iya Monari: it is the role of Iya Monari to execute by strangling any Sango worshipper who has been condemned to death. Sango worshippers condemned to capital punishment cannot be killed by the sword. She is also the second-in-command and assistant to Iya Naso.

8. Iya-Fin-Iku: She is Alaafins devotee to the Sango mysteries. It’s the normal practice for all Sango worshippers to devote one of their children to the worship of Sango and that is the role Iya-Fin-Iku fulfills for the Aláàfin. She is also in charge of the Sango ram which is allowed to go everywhere and around the market without anyone molesting it and the ram can also eat with impunity anything it so desire from traders.

9. Iya Lagbo: She is the mother of the crown prince (Aremo) in a case where the mother of the crown prince (Aremo) is deceased, then another woman is promoted to that office and she becomes the mother of the crown prince (Aremo). Iyalagbon enjoys massive Influence and privileges and controls a portion of the kingdom. The Alaafin’s agunmu (medicinal powders) and agbo (concoctions) are placed in the care of Iya lagbo, the king’s private attendant who is in charge of his private pharmacy.

10. Aare Oriite: She is the Aláàfin’s personal attendant. It the Aare-Oriite who sees to it that the royal meals and royal bed is properly made. She also makes sure that the royal chambers are neatly arranged when an Aláàfin is enthroned is the Aare-Oriite who places the umbrella over his head as a canopy and she is constantly by the side of the Aláàfin to see to his needs.

These influential and powerful women communicate with the spiritual realm and guide every single step of the Aláàfin and they encourage and support him during periods of challenges and defend him from all forms of evil both physical and spiritual. They educate him on what he can eat and what is forbidden for him to touch. They are the ubiquitous brains behind the kingdom.

As only a mother can give birth to a son, only the great mothers can make a king.

Oriki awon Iya:

Iba eyin iya awirere aboju sinsin,

Mo se iba Akoda Aye,

Mo se iba Olodumare,

Mo se iba eyin Iya mi Olokiki Oru anomo lai fowo kan,

Mo se iba ba yin o.

Iba eyin iya.

Monday, 25 April 2022

Alaafin: I’ve prepared my burial

How was I to know that that meeting I had with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, on March 2, 2022, was the last between a father and his son? In the last couple of hours of hearing of his passing, I have scrutinized, without success, memories of anything unusual in the sky on that day that probably spoke of the looming calamity that would befall the Oyo palace. The sky was the usual grey, without a foreboding countenance; the palace courtiers were the usual ensemble, spraying entrants with deodorant courtesies. The palace bard perhaps gave inkling of the queer day. His effusion of praise songs for me on this day was unusual: “Adedayo, mo wole, awo Alowolodu…” he chanted his welcome endlessly in a poetic cadence that is the stuff of Yoruba palaces. Aside this, there were no tell-tale signs for me to ferret any inkling that this was the last time I would be seeing Oba Adeyemi alive, in a palace I had visited for over two decades.

The Alaafin sat in his regal best on this day. A highly sartorially conscious monarch, each time you saw the Alaafin, he mirrored class and the panache of culture in his dressing. He was dressed in a blue Ankara, done in agbada, with an abetiaja cap to match and a slip-on pair of shoes as a fitting accoutrement. With me was ace broadcaster, Yemi Sonde, ex-Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) broadcaster, Bunmi Labiyi and another female guest. We had gone to invite the foremost monarch to the official commissioning of Sonde’s new radio station in Ibadan, Oyo State. As usual, as the glass door was pulled aside for us to enter Kabiyesi’s inner sacristy, the men went on all fours and the female, on their knees. As it’s the tradition in the palace, we had peeled our feet of our shoes at the main entrance.

From the blues, Kabiyesi veered into the conversation of death. His grouse was with the recently promulgated Ogun State Traditional Rulers (Installation and Burial Rites) Act which had by then just scaled second reading in the State House of Assembly. In the Act, which claimed to be bothered about the need for respect for human dignity and promotion of modernity in the installation and burial of traditional rulers, lawmakers proposed a legal framework that was to curb idolatry practices in installation, as well as burial of traditional rulers. The purport of the Act was to guide jealously the religious beliefs of a deceased monarch in Ogun State, by according them burial rites contiguous with their belief and religion.

In Yorubaland, though an issue that was a taboo scarcely discussed, it is a notorious fact that upon the demise of a deceased Oba, traditional worshippers hijack Obas’ corpses from their families, superintending solely on the burial rites which included gouging out their hearts, which were preserved to be fed to their successor.

Oba Adeyemi told me he had conveyed his disagreement to the law to his colleague Oba, the Awujale of Ijebu land, Oba Sikiru Adetona, the monarch he had tremendous reverence for. The law didn’t make any sense, he said.

“Why would a state government be bothered about the burial rites of a king?” he asked, incredulous. “When the man dies, he doesn’t know what is done after his departure. He is gone; whether they remove his body parts or not. In my own case, I have picked the place where I will be buried in the palace. At my age, I am already at the departure lounge. The plane is on the ground and I am just waiting for the boarding pass. The Oyomesi know what to do with my corpse and they will do it.”

Alaafin was however not happy with how the corpse of the immediate past Olubadan of Ibadan was on display on social media and commended the example of the Soun of Ogbomoso’s burial which was made a strictly palace affair. I don’t know how Baba would feel yesterday seeing his priced remains floating on social media in the hands of clerics.

Alaafin was a federalist to the core. He canvassed Nigeria’s practice of federalism till his last day on earth. He was also one of those who believed that the 1914 Lugardian amalgamation was a disaster to the wellbeing of Nigeria. His forebear, Oba Ladigbolu 1, he said, told the colonialists to their face that, by soldering unlike people together to form a single whole, what Britain was doing was analogous to fostering the lion, impala and other preys together in a common zoo. Which is a reflection of the Yoruba people’s travails in the Nigerian pseudo federalism.

Veteran journalist and ex-Tribune’s Political Editor, Baba Agboola Sanni, took me to the Alaafin in 1998 or thereabout and since then, our relationship was akin to father and son’s. To example the level of the relationship, in 2020, Oba Adeyemi had invited late rights activist, Yinka Odumakin and me to his palace. It was when we got to the palace that we realized that we had been individually invited for the meeting. It was a Sunday. Hyper-passionate about the fate and lot of the Yoruba people, Alaafin called us to discuss nagging Yoruba national issues, chief of which was the invasion of Fulani herders of the Southwest and the kidnapping and killings that had become commonplace. After the meeting, in his usual sotto voce, Alaafin faced Odumakin and said, “In this palace, Festus and I have fought several battles. We never lost one.” Odumakin looked at me. I looked away. He apparently could not match what he just heard with the person sitting beside him. When ace Tribune columnist, Dr. Lasisi Olagunju, eventually met him in the palace, pointing at me, he repeated the same line.

In the passing of the Alaafin, I wish the Yoruba knew the calamity that had just befallen them. Yoruba are naked, more than ever before, to their bare skins, in the hands of forest demons and reptiles who bay for blood. I have had opportunities of meeting monarchs in my few years on earth and interrogating their commitments and dedication to the land, but none – apologies to no one – answered to the tripartite calling of kingship – armour-bearer of their people, cultural icon and language encyclopedia – that Alaafin personified. Majority of them are scammers in search of green grass to pillage and who are bereft of the avant-garde role the ancestors have in store for them. Alaafin loved Yoruba to the level of incurable obsession and lamented the regression of the people’s fate in the hands of Nigeria and her slavish rulers. Unbeknown to many, Alaafin, to my knowledge, invested millions of his personal funds in fighting the enemies of Yorubaland, at the risk of his person and office. He made files of these interventions, copies of which he handed over to me, apparently mindful of a today.

For reason(s) that I still find difficult to decode, which perhaps I will have insight into at a later tete-a-tete with him in the hereafter, Alaafin confided topnotch secrets in me and believed in the ability of a resolution to any difficult impasse once he and I gave it a mental interrogation. He would call me early in the morning to ask for my convenience and would set out from the ancient town of Oyo and drive to Ibadan. His Idi-Ishin, Jericho Quarters apartment offered a convenient ground for granular chewing of challenges that he might need resolution to. Once we were done, he would head back to his palace, telling me that it was the only reason why he had come.

Alaafin got attracted to cerebral people like bees do hives. He worshipped Professor Wole Soyinka like a god and venerated Prof Adebayo Williams. Along the line, Kabiyesi got inebriated with the intellectual depth of Dr. Olagunju too and asked that he be brought to the palace. Since then, Alaafin never hid his fascination with Olagunju’s weekly mental contributions. “Whenever I go to functions, I would deploy a medley of Olagunju, Adebayo Williams and Adedayo’s works and pontificate with them in the public,” he said in a rare humility from a foremost monarch with a first class brain. He also said that now that he had the Eripa-born media intellectual, Olagunju, his artillery had increased. When Olagunju and I went to the palace to invite him to the launch of his book, Cowries of Blood and he knelt to hand Alaafin a letter of invitation, the monarch prayed so intently for him that you would think it was a father’s last minute prayers for his son.

Alaafin was in the know of every of Sunday Igboho’s movements and war against haters of the Yoruba people and provided pieces of advice to him on how to fight his traducers. He called him many times in my presence. He never hid his resolve to protect Yoruba people and cleanse their forests of invaders, particularly Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa land of Oyo State.

Alaafin had challenges with Governors Lam Adesina, Rasidi Ladoja and Adebayo Alao-Akala. He gave me the most granular information of the roles he performed in the tiffs with these governors. By 2015, especially the moment leading to the general elections, Alaafin and Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s relationship had gone sour. Goodluck Jonathan had begun to make overtures to traditional rulers. Ajimobi had gone to the UK when Alaafin called me, demanding that we had a mutual resolve on where he was heading politically. I called Governor Ajimobi to intimate him of Alaafin’s quest, careful to beat the possibility of tale-bearers parroting my “clandestine” visit to the palace to him. Ajimobi gave me the go-ahead to meet the monarch.

At the meeting in the palace, Alaafin articulated his coterie of grouses against Ajimobi to me. He told me that, in company with his late friend, Azeez Arisekola-Alao, he launched one of the most penetrating artilleries against Alao-Akala, even selling his house in the UK in the process. Ajimobi, he alleged, took all these for granted and never reciprocated the gesture.

When it was time to address him, I prostrated. I told him that my loyalty was to him, as it was to Ajimobi, but I owed him the need to tell the absolute truth. I told Alaafin that Ajimobi had the greatest regard for him. I proceeded further to tell the king that the governor, at many fora, told me that, but for Alaafin, he wouldn’t probably have emerged governor in 2011. Alaafin went beyond the ken of his traditional role in his support for Ajimobi in 2011, so much that if Alao-Akala had won that election, he would have deposed him, so said Ajimobi to me which he expressed as, “Alaafin taa tan ni!” I reminded Alaafin that I was privy to conversations between the king and his aides – Late Prince Fehintola and Hon Kamil – during the 2011 elections when, at the thick of the announcement of the gubernatorial results and he wasn’t sure where the pendulum was swinging, he asked his aides to tell him the truth, giving them indications that he could commit suicide if Alao-Akala won.

“Kabiyesi, you are the king of the Yoruba people, you cannot work against your people, both at the state and national level” I concluded. That settled the matter between Alaafin and Ajimobi. From that moment on, they became the best of friends.

Alaafin, despite his average schooling, was a profound intellectual. He could flawlessly recite by rote speeches read by foremost politicians of the First Republic, especially S. L. Akintola’s. During our last meeting in the palace where he articulated some legal permutations, I reminded him of how I always called him the SAN that we never had. Perhaps due to the several litigations he was involved in and his quest to apprise himself with details of judicial decisions, Alaafin gobbled up knowledge of law that was non-pareil. He was a restless fighter who sought for war in a time of peace. Once, Professor Wale Adebanwi had taken University of Cambridge’s Africanist scholar, Prof D. Y. Peel, to the palace. At discussion, Alaafin arrested Peel with his flawless rendition of British history, so much that Peel shouted, “Kabiyesi, you are telling me my history!”

In 2019 again, it was time to pitch his tent with a gubernatorial candidate in Oyo State. Alaafin invited me from Lagos where I was a student of the Nigerian Law School. He then took me to a section of the palace that I had never been to before. Donning his pyjamas that morning, he confided in me that he had made his personal investigations and concluded that Seyi Makinde would win the election and he was ready to support him. I was shocked to learn thereafter that some persons persuaded him otherwise. It affected his relationship with the governor, which he lamented, till his death.

In my over two decades of relationship with the Alaafin, the testimonial that I always wear on my lapel was given me by his first son, Aremo, about five years ago. It was a Sunday as well. Alaafin had asked me to meet him in the palace. On getting there, I called him on phone that I was waiting in the waiting hall. A few minutes after, palace courtiers asked me to advance to Kabiyesi’s sitting room. There, I met the Alaafin, his first son called Aremo in Yorubaland and the Aremo’s wife, then a Magistrate in an Oyo court, sitting in wait. As I sat, the Aremo pointed at me and said:

“Whatever you do for my father that earns you the kind of respect and midas touch you have on him, please keep it up. I lived here in the palace as a young boy and I understand the tone and tenor of every of Kabiyesi’s answers to his being told of the presence of his guests. ‘Aa ri, mo nbo, o da’ were suggestive of several of his dispositions and palace courtiers understood what each of them meant. This evening, immediately he learnt of your presence, he said, ‘let us leave immediately; I cannot keep Festus waiting!’ That, to me, means a lot,” the Aremo told me. From where I sat, I looked into Kabiyesi’s face. What I beheld, for the very first time, was a coy-looking Kabiyesi, a childlike smile glued to his face, looking at his tangled fingers. His son had apparently shot at his Achilles heels.

The tragedy of Alaafin’s passing for the Yoruba is immense. Of all their Obas, none had Kabiyesi’s stubbornness, mental alacrity, patriotism, panache and native intelligence to fight the battle of the people’s appropriate positioning in the national scheme of things. He often joked of how Kabiyesi Olubuse, the late Ooni of Ife, would tell people that he could not withstand Alaafin’s stubbornness. While others go cap in hand to pick crumbs from Yoruba enemies, Alaafin was too proud of the numero uno Yoruba stool he sat on to subject it to the whims of Yoruba suppressors. No Yoruba Oba living possessed Alaafin’s brilliance, commitment and love for the Yoruba people; perhaps next to him is the Orangun of Oke-Ila’s, Oba Dokun Abolarin.

Alaafin never suffered fools gladly and would stand by his Yoruba people, no matter the persuasions to do otherwise. In our last meeting at the Jericho Quarters, we both agreed that he should embark on a diplomatic shuttle among his colleague Obas on who the Yoruba should support for the 2023 presidential election. He was to embark on this shuttle, first to the palace of the Awujale, and then to others’. I told the Alaafin who I felt Yoruba should not support, neglecting to suggest who the Yoruba should queue behind. He seemed to agree with me. Though he never told me in unmistakable language, I could hazard a guess the Yoruba man he would have supported.

Alaafin was one of the most brilliant men I knew. Imbued with native intelligence and articulation that was borne of his inebriation of self in reading and gathering of knowledge, while men slept, Alaafin was in his library. He was a step ahead of his traducers mentally, steeping himself in intellectual exercises at every opportunity. One day, at about 8am on a Sunday, I told some friends that Alaafin must have read the day’s dailies but they disputed my claim. When I called him and put the phone on speaker, he analyzed what I wrote in the day’s newspaper and all the issues on display in the public sphere. Alaafin was also very principled and followed all the laid-down ancient precepts of the traditional Yoruba monarchy. He would never eat in public and abhorred alcohol. His meal was amala, eko and other foods he inherited from his forebears. He frowned at the emerging crop of Obas who were bereft of the mental and physical insignia of a king and who got themselves polluted with modern fripperies.

As I write this, I confess that the full implication of Alaafin’s death hasn’t dawned on me. I am yet to internalize the eternal truth that I will never see my father, the Alaafin of Oyo, again. An apt analogy that can explain Oba Adeyemi’s passing is a huge library burnt down. Another is a fitting analogy that Ayinla Omowura gave in description of the sudden passing of his brother, composer and friend, Akanni Fatai, also known as Bolodeoku, which he labeled, agboju’gbanu. Alaafin’s passing is an agboju’gbanu, a jolting news heard that provokes the sudden fall of the calabash held in one’s hand.

By Festus Adedayo 

Source: The Cable Newspaper

ISHAGE ROCK IN OYO STATE

Whenever there is severe drought in the land, the chief priest of the mountain will visit the mountain and wrap a white cloth around the "waist" of the ISHAGE ROCK; an action which will make rain fall heavily upon the land that night and the ISHAGE ROCK will drop off the white cloth after the downpour.

The ISHAGE ROCK is on the Ado Awaye Mountain in Iseyin Oyo State, Nigeria.

Source: African History Archive

EVERY EVENT HAS A WITNESS; SO DID THE 1946 BRITISH SCHEME THAT SHAPED THE FUTURE OF NIGERIA

In the year 2013, our older sister Teju Alakija, the Oni Aderemi’s oldest daughter was in Philadelphia where I was living and invited me to do the naming ceremony for her grandchild. 

And when we were having dinner, Mama said, Banji, there is a story that I have needed to tell somebody since my youth that I have never told anybody but I must tell you now. She was already very old. She couldn't walk anymore.

Here is the story she told me. The war came to an end in 1945 September. In January 1946 I was offered admission into a girl’s college in London. My father was able to pay the fees, but there was no way for me to get to London. In those days there were no aero planes yet. Every journey to London had to go by boat. But all the boats leaving Nigeria and Ghana, the British colonies were filled with British officials who had been stranded in Nigeria since the beginning of the war in 1939, and who are now returning home with their wives and their children. So, there was no place for anybody at all on any on any ship. And as I sat home weeping, my father decided to go and ask for the help of the Governor General. So, he went to Lagos appealed to the Governor General on behalf of his little daughter who was crying at home. And the Governor General said “okay, I will see how I can help.

A few days later the Governor General called for her father and told him your daughter has a place on a boat now to go to London. And so, she found herself on a boat going to London. She said the entire ship was filled with white people, British civil servants who are returning home with families. There was no room for any other person but she then discovered after a few days that there was some other Nigerians on the boat! Five of them!!!!! And that all of them were Northerners. Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Tafawa Balewa, Alhaji Ribadu, Alhaji Inua Wada and Dipcha Rima.

And so, she became curious. And so, she began to find out what are they going to do in London that other people from other parts of Nigeria are not entitled to go.

And she found that those people were being taken to London, where they were going to be briefed and educated and mentored about how to rule Nigeria, how to hold Nigeria in their hands after independence. So that's our story. The story of a country that was started deliberately with the intention of enthroning some people on it and it was the least educated the least capable to run the affairs of a modern country that the British chose. And They chose them because they were the easiest to manipulate.

Then came the events of the 1950s and the British became more and more convinced when they saw the stunning achievements of Chief Awolowo in the West Region. That they will never let this man and his people rule Nigeria. Whatever has to be done will be done to prevent them from ever tasting power in Nigeria.  

That in the future of the of the country called Nigeria, it was determined that a people called the Fulani will rule Nigeria, that a people call the Yoruba would never taste power in Nigeria because they were too well educated.

By Professor Banji Akintoye

Requiem for Aláàfin Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi

Monday Lines

Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi spent his last three months winding down in a spectacular way. He made some moves and held some meetings which, in retrospect, showed that there was some urgency in his strides. On February 8, 2022, he was at the University of Ibadan as chairman of my book launch. His speech at that event was short and straight: Federalism for Nigeria or we forget it. He got back to the palace in Oyo that evening and started working on a document that expanded those views he espoused in Ibadan. The document was ready and he signed it the following day, February 9, 2022. On March 30, 2022, he signed out letters to key Yorùbá intellectuals and professionals calling their attention to his document and demanding that they got back to him "in due course." One of them is Siyan Oyeweso, professor of history. On Friday, 22 April, 2022, he sent his personal assistant to an oba in Osun State to hand-deliver those documents to him. By the evening of that day, it was that emissary who called Oba Adedokun Abolarin, the Orangun of Oke Ila (who got the documents hours earlier) that the ceiling had caved in in Oyo, Baba was gone.

The Aláàfin who just left was pretty inside and outside. He had brain and beauty in superlative measures. Oyo's king was not 'Alaafin' at the very beginning. He was first Oranyan, an intrepid prince who followed fate, fought his way and became Ọlọ́yọ̀ọ́ (Owner of Ọ̀yọ́). A string of unusually progressive occupiers of that stool followed Oranyan. They built so vast an empire no one had ever built. They created for that realm a capital in the savannah and a golden palace in the city and the king's description changed. The king remained not just the owner of Ọ̀yọ́, but from then on, he became the 'Aláàfin', the only king who owned what could be called an Aafin - or if you like, say it in the white man's language - a palace. Two pioneering Englishmen in 1828 entered Ọ̀yọ́ Ilé and marveled at the magnificence of the city, its palace and its market square. Read Captain Hugh Clapperton and Richard Lander and feel how effusive they were in their praise of what they saw on that explorative visit. The Ààfin was the physical representation of the awesomeness of Oyo's success as a nation-state. That was the burden of heritage which 31-year-old Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi got on his shoulders on November 18, 1970. He discharged the burden (or was discharged of it) successfully on Friday, 22 April, 2022. He was 83 years old.

Two years ago, Ọba Adeyemi summoned me to his presence. And I wrote then that it was not the first time I would be inside that palace; but it was the first time I was Alaafin’s guest. "Bàbá said I should bring you tomorrow,” Festus Adedayo, the message carrier, told me. I kept the date while wondering why my lord summoned me. I got there and was told by the king that it was to commend me for what I wrote weekly. The palace is ancient and vast with courtyards as many as the stars in the sky. Was this the Aafin that gave Alaafin his title? No and Yes. I wrote two years ago that I got to the palace and I looked around. I saw in humans and in architecture a fine mix of the modern and the ancient. I saw resilience of culture; I saw the agelessness of an aged heritage, the palace. I saw the present holding the future in the cusp of values. I remembered history and the ups and downs that defined the fortunes of that kingdom and its chequered existence. About 190 years before that date, there was no Oyo where I was, so there was no palace. What was here was an Àgọ́ (a hamlet) called Àgọ́ Ọ̀jà. The ancestral Ọ̀yọ́ was 130 kilometers north of here but because wherever the Alaafin chose as his abode was Ọ̀yọ́ , that Àgọ́ became the city that we all throng today. That change happened in about 1838 when treachery and the enemy prevailed and the city of grandeur was abandoned forever. The golden city became Old Ọ̀yọ́, a relic of the glory of the past.

The first king of Ọ̀yọ́ was Oranyan; the one that left the stool for Ọba Adeyemi III was Bello Gbadegesin Ladigbolu II. Between the first and the last were about six hundred and seventy years of 43 kings of various moral textures and temperament. The Aláàfin that answered the call of his ancestors on Friday was a reincarnation of the best of all his forebears. He was adventurous like Ọranyan who birthed the kingdom. He was gentle and not gentle like Àjàká and Sàngó, the one who gave justice with lightning and thunder. He was a progressive in the mould of Abiodun during whose time the city people wore the best of dresses. He was a city builder like Atiba, the Alaafin who turned Àgọ́ to Ọ̀yọ́. If you found Olayiwola Adeyemi with a hundred wives, know that he had a father called Aláàfin Olúaṣọ (1457-1500). With wives in every room, Olúaṣọ filled the palace in Ọ̀yọ́ Ilé with 1,460 children. Read the history and the story of his fathers and their kingdom. They tell why Adeyemi III was the stellar king that he was.

I went to Ọba Adeyemi a couple of times in the years of our closeness. Our last two sittings  were very instructive in the depth and breadth of the discussions. I was in the palace in December 2021 to invite him to my book launch slated for February 8, 2022. He got the letter and told me "Àá wàá (we will come)." Then he saw my knees on the ground and released a torrent of deep prayers for me. I wondered what informed the prayers as I said Amin to each of the royal points of invocation. Then he brought up matters, regional and national. With Festus Adedayo beside me, we discussed issues not persons. We analysed Nigeria and interrogated why its crooked walls must be brought down and rebuilt if it won't fall on all of us. We discussed rights and freedom, Abuja and the impunity of its arbitrariness. No one should be too big for reprimand, I said and looked into the oba's eyes. A hundred or two hundred years ago, if I uttered that statement in the palace and, even, far from the palace, whisperers would point at the king as the object of my shot. But I said this in the very presence of Ọba Adeyemi and nothing happened. No. Something happened. He offered to tell the story of a certain ancient drummer who was reported to the king as using his drum to incite the people against the palace. He was brought before the oba. "What did I do wrong that informed your negative drumbeats?" the king asked the drummer. The man chose to answer the king with his drum releasing the same offensive notes. The king listened carefully to every stroke of the drummer's stick. What was he saying? "Kòtò kan ń bẹ ní'ta ọba, Ọlọ́un ó mu kò ì yá ni (There is a pit in front of the king's house. God will catch him, but it is not yet time)." Only the king and his agents knew the meaning of the drummer's words. Ọba Adeyemi explained to us that in front of that king's house was indeed a pit where he regularly secretly dumped the heads of his critics. The ọba got the message and quickly discharged the drummer - to the shock of hardliners who thought he should be executed for treason. "Nothing must happen to him otherwise we will all be in trouble," the king told his audience as he discreetly closed the pit of death forever. That drummer was you people who write every day, Ọba Adeyemi told me and my friend. He asked us never to stop.

It is awesome to have the Alaafin as one's cheerleader. I had Ọba Adeyemi as a fan and he was very loud about it. "I have a file on you..." he told me on the day of our first meeting. He was sartorial in taste; he loved beauty and excellence and allowed their pursuit to dictate how he chose his friends. The king that was buried on Saturday was at the launch of my book, 'Cowries of Blood: Essays on Herdsmen, Banditry and Nigeria's Endgame Politics', on February 8 this year. Without telling him ahead of the day, he was made the chairman of the event and he took charge. He sat through the event and gave me a cheque of six heavy figures. He delivered a speech which was an urgent call to duty. He said his father, Ladigbolu the First, warned the British in 1914 that the amalgamation document they made him to sign marked the creation of a union of preys and predators which would not bring peace. "No one listened," Ọba Adeyemi said and added what he always shouted: Federalism is the only way to go if Nigeria's disparate peoples would ever live in peace and harmony. We heard the Alaafin but I am not sure we listened to him.

Ọba Adeyemi was valourised as the Lion of Akesan hill (Kìnnìún Òkè Akèsán). He was also the Òrìsà Ọ̀yọ́, the fearsome one that rumbles the shrine. He was a modern king who operated within the leash imposed by his culture and tradition. He never strayed away from his covenant with the beginning. He flaunted the richness of his heritage and danced with gusto to the applause of his ancestors. His brain was his greatest asset. He was a library of prodigious richness. Ọba Adeyemi was loud without being lousy about his royalty. As I once wrote, his royalty proclaimed his excellence. Kola nut is the prized snack of elders. They break it for peace and friendship and worship. That is why it is always well preserved from the ravages of weevils. The nut sometimes strolls into dirges as a metaphor for the best of men. And because every creation must go back to dust, kola nut finds its own death, its nemesis, in pests which assail its lobes of value. When it happens, the Yoruba say kòkòrò (weevil) has denied them the sweetness of obì t'ó gbó (good kola nut). They utter that lamentation and quickly add that death has denied them the warmth of their personal person. That was the case with the hundreds who wailed at the Ààfin in Ọ̀yọ́ on Saturday. It was the same with millions of us, Ọba Adeyemi's persons outside Ọ̀yọ́ . He was an Ọba who clothed all of us, his people, with the velvet of respect and respectability. He was a father and an inspiration to many in many ways.

I listened to the maidens of the palace on Saturday after the burial. They sat forlorn and elegiac, ending their every verse with the teary refrain: "Awó sí / Awó lọ/ Atanda r'elé e rẹ̀ /Ó tán nù u(Awó moved/ Awó left/ Atanda has gone to his home/ It is finished)." Ọba Adeyemi Atanda worked very hard but the labourer's task will always be over one day. It was over for him on Friday. The voyager has, at last, landed upon the farther shore. Those lines paraphrased the solemn words of John Ellerton. Ọba Adeyemi's bones now rest with his ancestors' in the vaults of Ilé Alowolodu at Bara, one and a half kilometers south south-west of the expansive Ààfin, from whence they came. A very successful Kabiyesi's toils were over four days ago; we wait to see who comes next.

By Lasisi Olagunju

Source: The Nigerian Tribune

Africa's Highest Literacy Rates

1. Seychelles (95.9%)

2. Equatorial Guinea (95.2%)

3. South Africa (95.02%)

4. Sao Tome and Principe (92.82%)

5. Namibia (91.53%)

6. Libya (91.39%)

7. Mauritius (91.33%)

8. Cote d'Ivoire (89.9%)

9. Eswatini (88.4%)

10. Botswana (88.22%)

Sources: Knoema, World Bank, Trading Economics.

BEHOLD: BABA KEKERE OF OYO KINGDOM

Baba Kekere has served 3 Alaafins. His duty is to run errands for the king. He served :

1. Oba Adeniran Adeyemi II, Lamidi's father between 1945 & 1956.

2. Oba Gbadegesin Ladigbolu II between 1956 & 1968 &

3. Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, between 1970 & 2022.

He walks briskly in and around the Alaafin of Oyo palace. He is very popular not only because of his diminutive figure but because of his humility and he does not get angry. Some call him a man with repository of knowledge of the Palace for he has the history off hand and some people call him the Palace library or an archive. 

He is called Baba Kekere possibly because of his height. His age is unknown because his birth was not recorded but it is assumed that he should be over 100 years now . His real name is Morenikeji Lasisi. 

MAKOKO

Makoko in Lagos State, Nigeria was founded by Egun immigrants, a subgroup of Yoruba from Benin Republic in the 19th century.

The floating village has six communities: Oko Agbon, Adogbo, Migbewhe, Yanshiwhe, Sogunro and Apollo. 

Yoruba (Egun), English and French are spoken there.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...