Who is Yoruba between Itsekiri & Bini in Edo state, Nigeria?

There has been mixed up as to know which tribe is Yoruba between Itsekiri and Bini. If it's about language, itsekiri language is a mix of Ìjẹ̀bú /Ilaje/Ikale (Yoruba). If it's by origin, Itsekiris came from ilé ìfẹ́ like other Yoruba people.

If it's by monarchy. The title of itsekiri monarch is OLÚ (of Warri) like many other Yoruba tribes. So by all criteria itsekiri are Yorùbá.

One of the most popular Itsekiri born-pastor and a former CAN president AYO ORITSEJAFOR said in 2018 that Itsekiri migrated from Ile-Ife and are yoruba after confirming so many reports.

Also in 2014 National Confab, the Itsekiri leaders make it known to the public that should Nigeria breakup, itsekiri must be merged to Yoruba which is their source. Till today, we have OPC in all itsekiri domain in warri, delta state. Anywhere you see OPC is a sign that it is a Yoruba Territory.

How About the Bini?

If it's by language, the bini spoke a different language that no yoruba could speak or even understands. Yoruba dont speak or understand anything about bini language. If you travelled from Nigeria to Togo, Benin Republic, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast where we have yoruba people, they hear themselves and understand. No matter how the dialect could be, a Yoruba man from any of these countries will hear or understand what the person is saying, but the bini city in Nigeria is different. They speak a different language from Yoruba. Bini in Edo state Nigeria and Yoruba has a different lifestyles and actually different views about life.

The only connection between the Bini and Yoruba is their palace. The royal palace is the only connection between the Bini and Yoruba where we have Yoruba Descendants controlling bini palace. The history of Oba rulership in bini was established by a Yoruba prince from Ile-Ife.

Therefore, binis are not yoruba, but their royal house is Yoruba.. Also, there are some yoruba people in bini who are Descendants of the palace and those who lives in boundary side and those who bears yoruba names like Akoko-Edo, these are the Yorubas. But the bini itself are not Yoruba, their title is Ogiso/Ogiamen, but Yoruba title is Oba.

Apart from this, the itsekiri has never for once denied the fact that they are yorubas or migrated from Ile-Ife, but the bini has contrary opinion even among their kinsmen in Edo state so much that they dragged themselves to court.

In view of the above, itsekiri are yoruba while bini are not yoruba but bini palace is yoruba. Because of this, there are OPC in Edo state!  Dont forget that anywhere you see OPC shows that's yoruba Territory. The bini palace and Yoruba Descendants in bini are yoruba..

This is so clear so much that the itsekiri Territory is listed among the Oduduwa Republic agitators Map. The map of Oduduwa Republic shows itsekiri, but bini was clean off, as some yoruba agrees that they will follow the wish of Oba of bini if its Territory should be included in Oduduwa map or not.

Meanwhile some yoruba disagree, but the said bini has been clean off on Oduduwa map. Any Oduduwa map showing bini on its list is a fake Oduduwa map. Only Oba of bini will decide if its Territory should be included or not.

Note that Yoruba is an Ethnic (Nation) not a tribe.. Yoruba is an Ethnic that compries of many tribes.. Itsekiri, Okun, igbomina, ilaje, Awori, ijebu, oyo, ife, ekiti, ondo, ijesha, egba, Owu, offa, Ibadan etc are all tribes under Yoruba Ethnic. YORUBA IS A NATION!

By Oritsegbemi Akinola

Warri, Delta State, Nigeria.

Yoruba Indigenous People of Togo

The Yoruba Territory in Togo is called Atakpame. These are the ones whose ancestors migrated to the West African country when tribal wars raged in the 17th century.

"The majority of these Ife settlers migrated from Ija-Oku in former Dahomey into the Togolese territory and subsequently founded the city of Atapkame all of who migrated from Ile-Ife.

The Battle of Atakpamé was an armed confrontation between the Ashanti Empire and neighboring Akan Allies under the leadership of the Kingdom of Akyem who joined up with the Oyo Empire and the Kingdom of Dahomey in and around Atakpamé in Togo in 1764 which was a sever defeat on the Ashanti.

The indigenous yoruba language in Atakpame is Ewe or Ife. Ewe is an indigenous yoruba dialect that Is also spoken in neighbouring Ghana. Ife another indigenous and independent Yoruba dialect spoken by the majority of Atakpame indigenes, who trace their origins to Ile-ife.

In terms of landmark, Atakpame shares some similarities with Ibadan and Abeokuta. While the capital cities of Oyo and Ogun States flaunt the Olumo Rock and Oke Ibadan as their ancestral symbols.

Respectively, Atakpame, a settlement town that is about 160 kilometres away from Lome, the Togolese capital, defines its origin by seven mountains that surround it.

Just like many other towns in Yorubaland, where myths are explored to trace the people’s roots, Atakpame’s history is not complete without reference to the mountains. According to some elders of the town, the rocks played supernatural roles when the natives were engaged in battles with other ethnic groups.

This is how Atakpame also shares topographical and historical similarities with Idanre, Ondo State, a town famed for the huge and acrobatic mountains that surround it.

Ife Togo is widely used in Atakpame because the people, who trace their descent to ile-Ife, are the dominant group there.

As a result of the entrenched cross-fertilisation that Ife Togo has had with French, Ewe, et cetera, it is easier for the Yoruba in Lome, Cotonou and Ajase, among others, to understand one another than for the immigrant Yorubas in Lome to understand Ife Togo speakers in Atakpame – and vice versa.

A Yoruba scholar, Dr. Felix Fabunmi, notes that a language that is spoken by many people, such as Yoruba, usually has dialects that may differ from one another. Denisef Fantchede call the attention of Yoruba Worldwide to continue speaking yoruba language because our language represent us.

One of the Popular Yoruba Actress from Togo is Liz Da Sliva, and also one of the popular Yoruba Fothballer from Togo is Emmanuel Seyi Adebayor (Baba Tunde).

By Denisef Fantchede

A Native of Atakpame, Lome Togo, interviewed by Lasisi Akeem(Nigeria)

Punch Newspapers 2015

A Vision of the Human Future in Space

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

By Carl Sagan

Tags: earth, perspective, space

Source: www.goodreads.com

MANY CALENDARS, ONE EARTH

The Earth

1. Yorùbá calendar

2. Igbo calendar

3. Gregorian Calendar

4. Pawukon Calendar (Bali, Indonesia)

5. Ethiopian Calendar

5. Jewish Calendar

6. Chinese Calendar

7. Hijirah Calendar

8. Persian Calendar

9. Japanese Calendar

10. Julian Calendar

11. Buddhist Calendar

12. Hindu Calendar (Vikram Samvat, Shaka Samvat, and Kali Yuga) 

13. Mayan Calendar

14. Egyptian Calendar

15. French Revolutionary Calendar

16. Sumerian Calendar

17. Zoroastrian Calendar

18. Celtic Calendar

19. Cappadocian Calendar

20. Achaemenid Calendar

21. Attic Calendar

22. Ancient Greek Calendars.

Up there👆👆👆👆 you have over 20 different calendars in use or once in use in the world. I decided to dig into this to let you know that the Gregorian Calendar in use in most part of the world, Nigeria inclusive, is not the only regulator of man and his activities on earth. In other words, while we're in a mad rush to make it before December 31st, 2020, some persons in another part of the world are less concerned about our death-race hustling. This is because these Calendars do not begin and end the same time.

I want you to take it easy with yourself. Man invented calendar and over the years adjusted it, abandoned it or reinvented it to suit his purpose. You must know January 1st is not the beginning of the year for everyone on earth. Likewise, December 31st isn't the end of the year for everybody on earth. Instead of killing yourself for not achieving your goals for the year, try to draw up a broad plan for yourself and pursue it throughout the days of your sojourn on earth.

You're created for great things. Pursue these things!

Season's Greetings to all and sundry!!!

The leopoldic descendants: Exterminating Sankara and anathematizing Arikana for a recolonized Africa

The subjugation of the black race, the source of life to mankind, remains a hard pill to swallow; it is inexplicably bitter and too harsh to comfortably go down the throat. It was the desecration of the people we were, the rape of our mothers and motherland, the molestation and dehumanization of our ancestral heritage, the mesmerization of our spirituality, the contamination of our serene environment and shameless attempts to excommunicate us from the class of higher animals.

Today as always, men fall into two groups: slaves and free men. Those who will not reason are bigots, those who cannot are fools and those who dare not are slaves.

The Caucasian blood have succeeded in breeding these three categories of humans, to a very large extent in Africa, to keep us as perpetual slaves even to their generations to come.

But for the fact that a very few of us, Africans, have escaped from the dungeon of these three categories, we will push and push till we make a headway in resetting the minds of our brothers and sisters already lost in a world that has never been ours.

The subjugation of the black race, the source of life to mankind, remains a hard pill to swallow; it is inexplicably bitter and too harsh to comfortably go down the throat. It was the desecration of the people we were, the rape of our mothers and motherland, the molestation and dehumanization of our ancestral heritage, the mesmerization of our spirituality, the contamination of our serene environment and shameless attempts to excommunicate us from the class of higher animals.

In their bid to make us non-persons; members of a race of nobodies, they continuously engage in frantic efforts to prove that we have never had significant histories as a people. A generation of mental dwarfs blackmailing the great generation of the people of the Nubia, Kemete , Kerma, Kush, Blemmyes, Numidia, Nekor, Alodia, Makuria, and Ife, to mention but a few. What an irony of life; the world isn’t truly balanced and a fair place!

However, having stepped out free from a brainwashed mechanism, we have come to identify our land as the cradle of life to mankind, and will not trade away the truth for whatever value or worth.

The ancient Africa setting, before the Atlantic slave trade, was characterized by well organised societies around the family unit, and the strength of every society was determined by the amount of gold held. Leadership and followership were premised on mutual understanding and love.

The ancient Africa traded in tobacco, gold, copper, spices, ebony, ivory and skins. So, trade was and has been an integral part of the people from time immemorial. Religion was integrated into all aspects of life. The supernatural was involved in virtually everything, and the efficacy of the deities kept crime rate under check while peace reigned supreme. Crimes were punished to serve as deterrent to potential culprits of one crime or another.

Hospitality was embedded in the blood of our ancestors to accommodate others. They opened a trade path to the Caucasians believing they were a people of good intentions. Alas, the opposite was the case! They came in and destabilized our societal structure through their infiltration from the West African coastline.

They drew people from the center of the continent and sold them into slavery. We were a people; content with life and opened to humanity. We were happy and wanted the same for others. It is, however, quite unfortunate that our ancestors were short of the knowledge that the “devil could come in white colour.”

The slave trade was brutal and horrific, and the enslavement of Africans was cruel, exploitative and dehumanizing. Nothing less than 11 million Africans were bought as slaves by Europeans between 1450 and 1870. The estimates for the total number of Africans lost to the slave trade ranges from 25m to 50m.

In the middle of this evil to humanity and the land of the cradle of life stood “Leopold the 2nd of Belgium.” He made the entire world believe that he was going to help Congo. But under his watch, over 500,000 died of diseases and many died of starvation as well. He murdered over 10m Congolese and earned himself a title of one of the most wicked souls that ever lived.

“So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the slave trade’s wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition. Let the consequences be what they would: “I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition” —William Wilberforce.

So much was the evil of slave trade that William Wilberforce, one of the main actors and beneficiaries of slave trade, became tired and haunted by the inhumane displays of man to humanity. The guilt was so heavy on his mind that he fervently fought for the abolition of slave trade.

Although slave trade was abolished, slavery was never abolished. The black race was immediately recolonized under “the mechanism of mental slavery” as noted by Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Mental slavery is the worst form of slavery. It gives you the illusion of freedom, makes you trust, love and defend your oppressors while making an enemy of those who are trying to free you or open your mind and eyes.

The death sentence melted out to our ancestors, by the slave masters, for kicking against being enslaved has not stopped. This time, it is technically done using the black men with low mentality.

The elimination of Martin Luther King Junior, Malcolm X, Harry and Harriette Moore, Fred Hampton, Medgar Evers , George W. Lee, Leon Jordan, Sammy Younge Jr., James E. Chaney , Vernon Dahmer, all black activists to mention a few, were carried out by white supremacists and mentally enslaved black men and backed by racist authorities and the police.

Imperialism as a system of exploitation occurs not only in brutal forms of those who come with guns to conquer territory. Imperialism often occurs in more subtle forms; a loan, food , aid and blackmail. We are fighting this system that allows a handful of men on earth to rule all of humanity”—these were the very words of Thomas Isidore Noel Sankara. He talked-the-talk and did the deed to liberate his people and set Africa on the path of total freedom and greatness.

A Marxist-Leninist and pan-Africanist to the core appointed as the Prime Minister of the Upper Volta in 1983. He was incarcerated for having disputes with the sitting government. While under house arrest, a group of revolutionaries hijacked power on his behalf to become the President in a popularly—supported coup later that year.

He launched programmes for social, ecological and economic change and renamed the country from the French colonial name “Upper Volta” to “Burkina Faso (land of incorruptible People)” his foreign policies were centred on anti-imperialism, with his government boycotting all foreign aids, pushing for debt reduction, nationalizing all land and mineral wealth and averting the power and influence of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (IBRD) for he believed that “he who feeds you controls you.”

His domestic policies were focused on preventing famine with agrarian self-sufficiency and land reform, prioritizing education with a nation wide literacy campaign and promoting public health by vaccinating 2.5m children against measles, yellow-fever and meningitis.

The policies of Sankara alienated and antagonised several groups, which included the small but powerful Burkinabe middle class; the tribal leaders who were stripped of their long-held traditional privileges of forced labour and tribute payments, and the governments of France and its ally, the Ivory Coast, though Isidore was setting Africa on a path of total liberation and greatness.

On 15 October, 1987, our very own Noel- the voice of the voiceless Africans, was brutally murdered by an armed group with twelve other officials in a coup d’ etat organised by his former colleague, Blaise Compaore ( a man with a low mentality and a puppet in the hands of the French government). In his narratives for the reasons for his action.

Judas Compaore alleged that Sankara jeopardized foreign relations with former colonial power France (the descendants of Leopold) and neighbouring Ivory Coast (France’s puppet) and an unproven allegation of Isidore wanting to eliminate his opponents.

Having taken our hero ‘SANKARA’ out. Africa was reset to a backward mode of the 18th century of the “scramble for Africa.” Today, the continent of Africa remains at the mercy of the world power and even China; a bridge we would have crossed if our Wakanda Prince ‘Thomas Isidore Noel Sankara’ had lived longer..

From time to time, our ancestors reincarnate in the chosen ones among us to see to our total liberation from foreign shackles, in Dr Arikana Chihombori—Quao I see one of the recent reincarnations of our ancestors. Dr Arikana, a doctor, activist, public speaker, educator, diplomat, entrepreneur and founder of medical clinics, was appointed the AU Permanent Representative to the US in December, 2016.

Just like our darling and daring son “Isidore” she fearlessly hit hard on the French government for their atrocious neo-colonial exploitation nearly 50years after the Francophone countries under them were granted independence.

She revealed that the French government forced 14 Francophone countries to sign a pact for the continuation of colonization. These countries were to keep 85% of their bank reserve with French Central Bank under the watch of the French Finance Minister.

These countries are allowed to borrow up to 20% of their 85% reserve kept in the previous year as a loan with interest.” Over $500b goes out of Africa every year to France, yet France had the guts to call Africans poor” were her fervent submission. In her very words: “We are the original people and we have every reason to stand up on the tallest mountains to proclaim who we are……. we are beautiful, intelligent, sophisticated, highly adaptable and totally indestructible-the Africans.”

“Any other race that would have gone through what we have been subjected to would have been extinct and that’s the truth.”

“Consequences…… for Africa to take its rightful place on the world stage, the gutter of mind we have lived in for centuries must be cleared out.” Now or never.

"EVERYBODY IS TALKING ABOUT THE MONKEYS AND SQUIRRELS IN THE ROOM (AFRICANS), BUT NO ONE WANTS TO TOUCH THE 10000-POUND GORILLA IN THE ROOM (THE LEOPOLDIC DESCENDANTS), AND THAT IS OUR THINKING OF THE AFRICAN PEOPLE.”

Our Wakanda queen was too tough for them, she made the stage uncomfortable and unbearable for them. Her voice subdued that of hundreds of the slave masters.

She couldn’t be handled directly; and as usual, another African with a low mentality-the AU Commission Chairman for 2019, the Chad President Moussa Faki Mahama, was used to relieve Dr Arikana of her position through baseless allegations.

A great Wakanda Prince and Warrior-John Jerry RAWLINGS (MAY HIS SOUL CONTINUE TO REST IN POWER), tagged the action shameful.

It is time to emancipate ourselves from “mental slavery.” There is no “Wilberforce” to lead on our behalf for none but ourselves can free our minds!

FIGHT ON DR ARIKANA, OUR DISTINGUISHED WAKANDA QUEEN!

HAPPY POSTHUMOUS BIRTHDAY, OUR KEMETIC KING, THOMAS ISIDORE NOEL SANKARA!!

THE WAKANDA PRINCE! WE WILL FOREVER LOVE YOU; CONTINUE TO REST IN POWER!!!

By Richard Odusanya

Source: www.standarddailytimes.com

The Relevance of Humanities/Social Sciences in National Development

The debate about the relevance of History and other courses in social sciences and humanities is not new. But Buhari's address to the rescued Kankara Boys where he said that students should read science related courses and ignore others in humanities like History and English, has elicited a lot of reactions from professionals in those disciplines and scholars in the natural sciences who thought that the President didn't get his thoughts right.

Recently, for cultural reason, I developed interest in the history of modern information and communication technology in Nigeria. My friend teaching in a Computer Science Dept. and I began talking, reading and even writing about it. In the course of our research, I observed that the influence of modern ICT on our culture was immense.

This led me to learn that, ICT and its development has cultural content embedded in it, depending on the culture that first develops it. Whichever culture creates a technology, you find its values, environment, and idea of development(of that particular area) being incorporated. Look at how Africans invented their technology, like hoe, for example. They did it having in mind Africa's idea of cultivation, of the type of soil they have, and available raw materials. So, if another culture is to use it even after modifying it, is to see that culture relatively resembling African culture in some ways, at least in cultivation. This means that the technological development was first imagined, before it was developed.

The same thing applies to modern technology. You look at Facebook and other social media platforms created from the West, and despite development of global culture, you can see western liberal ideas of community formation, of freedom of thought, of materialism, among other western isms, incorporated. This is so because of where they were created, and the problem they intend to solve.

Therefore, when Hausa people are to use any of the platforms to achieve an end for example, they will be subconsciously adapting to some of the above mentioned ideas which are "inherently" western. That's why a young man on the platform can insult an elderly person without feeling any remorse, but can't dare do same in real life. Technology is created for a particular purpose, and it will have to achieve that end. If the end is to better the life of the human race, history and other courses will forever remain relevant because development is first imagined, as shown above, and when actualized, it affects humanity.

Fast forward, while we hail the material developments, on the other hand, clamour for climate discipline, data privacy, proliferation of arms in the hands of non-state actors is also high, and the corporate organisations responsible for those anomalies spend huge amounts of money to contain the mess they created. Within this range, the relevance of SS and arts becomes more apparent.

When you review the development of modern technology in our region, you will see it making us behave half way western without realising it in the first place. Review the gaye culture in the North. Or football culture. Or hip-hop culture. Or improvising of india-hausa soyayya variant. All these have social implications and they are the same implications that even our religious scholars complain about regularly. The reason why we see that, is because the technologies have cultural contents or serve as agency for cultural transmission. If you want to understand the problem in the changing behaviour of the people as a result of using the technology, you don't first and foremost create another technology. Your duty now is to understand the problem and then imagine a solution. This is what social sciences and humanities do, social engineering.

Coming back to the main point. The problems that limit Nigeria's progress and which if tackled, we all agree, can get the country to begin marching towards the promised land, are corruption, broken economy, high rate of voilent crimes, leadership failure, depreciating national values, among others. These problems are not only social in outlook, but have deep roots in history and sociology. To fix them therefore, we need to acquire, understand, and apply knowledges in humanities and social sciences in the first place. I will, at this point, request you to study the concept of social capital and its place in human (economic) progress. Francis Fukuyama has done an excellent job about that. That's if we think social sciences have little to do with human material progress. Rather, they provide the basis.

Come to think of it, if you train these students only to get high paying jobs, or use the skills acquired to invent a fighter jet which security forces can use to kill all the bandits and Boko Haram insurgents for peace to reign in Nigeria, Nigeria will continue to face the problems of unemployment, poverty, violent crimes, hunger, out of school children etc. Because the problems are deeply social and have their own historical contexts, which must be understood.

However, the students may need to study the basics in humanities and SS for their invention to have human face since they are meant for human use. This goes to mean that if they study those courses without basic knowledge in humanities and SS, there will be problem. This is the philosophy behind the introduction of General Study courses such as History and Philosophy of Science, Nigerian Peoples and Culture, English and Communication Skills etc, in tertiary institutions for all students regardless of their course of study.

Besides, we all agree that a graduate doesn't only need to acquire knowledge of science and technology to succeed in the job market or even in entrepreneurship. She/he also needs communication skill, cultural intelligence, social intelligence, a grasp on human behaviour, the nature, patterns and structure of the market, and then study people's reactions to development. This is why you would see world telecom giants' CEOs engaged in reading books on these subjects and consistently engaging scholars in the said fields -- creating platforms where such ideas are discussed. Because they know that, for them to keep floating at the top in the market and maintain world dominance, they need to study those things you think are irrelevant. If you think human agency will no longer be relevant because of rise in Artificial Intelligence and biotech, think again. The issue is, except human race cease to exist on earth, history, languages and others will continue to be relevant.

If an economy is broken as is Nigeria's, these students will not get the high paying jobs as we think. If it's only to train them for the job market as the end in our philosophy of knowledge acquisition, with time, we will produce a number of them that the relevant sectors in the country could not absorb. We will have nurses, pharmacists, engineers struggling to get job or something to do with their skill but with little success. They will join arts and social science graduates in the job market. We can cite the example of Kano which sponsored students to study these courses abroad with some having no job after their return (this doesn't mean the program is bad). We all know that in our towns there are graduates of engineering and science related courses who are jobless years after their NYSC. How many computer science graduates do you know selling fura by the roadside today? But the question is why would they join the redundant job seekers in the labour market despite reading science related courses? The answer is, because the country's economy is broken.

National economy is a philosophy, of History, sociology, anthropology...

With knowledge, STATE, SOCIETY and NATIONAL ECONOMY are fashioned. Nigeria is not lacking IT to begin thinking of development, but application of knowledge derived from all fileds of study.

Baba-Bala Katsina 

Tsangayar Malam Dan Malam

Minister Mourns Death of Veteran Film Producer, Chico Ejiro

Late Chico Ejiro

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has described the shocking death of veteran film producer Chico Ejiro as a huge blow to the nation's Creative Industry in general and to Nollywood in particular.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Saturday, the Minister expressed his condolences to the family and friends of the deceased, and indeed to the entire Creative Industry.

He described the late Ejiro as a prolific movie director and a shining star of Nollywood, which has - through its movies - stamped Nigeria's creative presence all over the world.

Alhaji Mohammed urged Mr. Ejiro's family and friends to take solace in the fact that his legacy will live on through the excellent works of the actors and actresses he helped to nurture over the years, and indeed in the progressive success of Nollywood.

''Thanks to the pace-setting work of Mr. Ejiro and his contemporaries. Nollywood is today one of the biggest movie industries in the world, which is providing employment for many Nigerians and creating wealth for the nation.

''May God grant repose to the soul of the departed and comfort his family and friends,'' he said.

Segun Adeyemi

Special Assistant To The President (Media)

Office of the Minister of Information and Culture

Lagos

26 Dec. 2020

I'M SORRY SIR, I USUALLY DON'T USE APPETITE TO EAT

I turned down the first candlelight Christmas dinner I was invited to.

It was my girlfriend who invited me. Well, I was 9-10 years old, so it is better if I call her just my friend who is a girl. She was about the same age and was my classmate in Primary 4A of Government Primary School, Abakpa, Ogoja.

Why did I refuse Ijeoma's invitation to a candlelight dinner? The answer to this question is embedded in my home training, my ignorance and how I actually met and became friends with Ijeoma and her brother Emeka.

Government Primary School was one of the two ordinary primary schools in an ordinary town, peopled by ordinary men and women. We knew ourselves, we knew our parents; we were poor but we didn't know or we didn't care. We felt no shame for going to school barefooted and with our buttocks peeping from holes in the backside of school shorts.

Most days we ate fufu at night, then we will eat the leftovers in the morning before going to school. We were not ashamed of eating fufu to school every morning until Ijeoma and Emeka came.

The headmaster brought them to our class one cold Thursday morning in early October. They were introduced to our teacher and us. They have just joined the school, they are now in our class, they will be going home today and resuming fully on Monday.

They appeared and left like the apparition of our deepest fantasies. There was something about those two. They were beautiful in a way that made me want to stay far from them. They looked like well iron clothes that I didn't want to rumple, like a dream I didn't want fulfilled just yet.

They resumed on Monday decked in the neatest uniform in the world. They looked like answered prayers and smelt like prosperity. They stayed away from us. They were shy, not proud. On our part, we stayed away because we didn't want to dirty them and get into any problem.

When our teacher stepped in that morning, he began by asking us to "stand up. Sit down. Stand up. Alright, each of you will tell me what you ate this morning." Normal question. Normal answers everywhere.

Fufu and groundnut soup.

Fufu and beeniseed soup.

Fufu and eruru soup.

Yam.

Fufu.

Yam.

Fufu.

Yam and beans.

Alright. Our new student, Ijeoma, what did you eat this morning.

"Noodles and omelette."

Her voice. So fine. Fine English too. Wow.

But wait, what is noodles and omelette?

I thought our teacher will ask her to explain that thing she said she ate. But he didn't. He just said "Alright. Sit down."

We sat.

But what the hell is noodles and omelette?

Well, I don't care anyway. I don't think I can even eat that kind of thing. Noodles and omelette: the way that thing sound eh, e no go ever bellyful me.

Emeka and Ijeoma kept eating very strange and irregular things to school. They kept eating their noodles. We were not answering them. Some days they will drink tea or pap with fried plantain or akara. Like seriously? Nobody prepares that nonsense in our house unless someone is sick.

One day they said they ate scrambled eggs. We were shocked. Scrambled eggs how? Which animal use to lay that one? The one we know is egg o, we don't know any scrambled eggs.

I started noticing something. All of a sudden, my classmates started drinking tea and eating fried plantain. One day two of them even had the guts to eat noodles. Even Odey, my main gee, ate noodles one day. Ah, ah, Odey! When did you know noodles?

It got so bad that by early November, about one month after Ijeoma and Emeka joined us, I was about the only one still eating fufu to school, as far as answering the teacher's question was concerned. What's happening na?

One Monday morning.

"Alright. Ijeoma, what did you eat this morning."

"I didn't have appetite sir. So I couldn't eat."

Emeka too.

Hmmmmm. This girl has brought another one again o. So they use appetite to eat in their house?

The next day, Ijeoma again didn't eat. No appetite. Emeka too. 

I was just thinking: this girl's parents must be very wicked. They should go and buy their children appetite to use and eat na. But what even happened to the one they have been using?

I was dazed when most of my friends said they didn't eat too. They said they didn't have appetite. Wow.

"Isa, what did you eat?"

Yam, sir.

"I guess you had a good appetite?"

The class laughed. I didn't even know why they were laughing. Maybe eating in the morning has become infra dig. To lose appetite is now a status symbol; because the celebrities of the class lost their appetites.

I tried to ignore them as I answered our teacher, "I'm sorry sir, I usually don't use appetite to eat. We don't have it in our house."

I saw a shiver of shock dance on the teacher's face before he roared with laughter.

"Isa", still laughing "appetite is not something like a plate you use to eat. It's a feeling. Like a feeling to eat." 

I was more confused. Feeling? How? As in they use feeling to eat? Me I don't use feeling abeg. If I see food I chop, if I don't see food I leave am. Which one is feeling again?

"I know you must have had this feeling to eat or not to eat before. You must have lost appetite sometime."

Now my eyes were misty, "No sir. I have never lost appetite since I was born sir. Please help me sir, I don't want to die."

"No. You won't die. If you have never lost appetite, that means you are actually very healthy. Ok. Sit down all of you, let's learn about appetite."

That day, I and many others who were claiming they didn't have appetite, learnt about appetite for the first time.

I and Ijeoma became friends after that day too.

However, when she invited me that December for what she called her family Christmas candlelight dinner, I turned it down. I was afraid to go because I didn't know what a candlelight dinner was and I didn't want to find out the way I found out about noodles and appetite.

I stayed home to eat Mama's rice and chicken under the sunlight in the day and moonlight in the night. Contented.

- Written by First Baba Isa (FBI)

YORUBA LESSONS

#repost @yorubalessons @downloader_

The earliest depictions of women (of every culture and race) giving birth depict them in upright positions, not lying down. Women began to lie down because they were, at some point, convinced that doing so supports their back, when in actual fact, it defies gravity and is dangerous for the mother and baby. The only persons that it helps are the helpers - the doctors and nurses - not the baby, and definitely not the mother. Lying down during childbirth was promoted for perversion and control. Babies could be killed or exchanged out of the mother’s view this way. 

___________

The ancestral Yorùbá women’s history in that regard is what I’m being asked to discuss next, and I will, as soon as I am calm and confident enough to tap into that energy. 

___________

I eventually had to be born through Caesarean Section after a long and distressing experience. My left cheek was slit during the CS moment too, so that was even more distressing because the scar is still there. Talking about easing childbirth will be a good thing for those unborn, and a healing experience for me.

Source @yorubalesson http://youtube.com/yorubalessons

Music in Eritrea has a Profound Background

All the nine ethnic groups possess different musical instruments, beats and rhythms. Through history, music in Eritrea, like many other parts of the world, was confined in regional premises. With the advent of media technology however, the sound of the beats and the ingenuity of folkloric music Eritrea possesses started spreading its rhythm to the rest of the country and the region. Although there is no specific time as to when and how music became a part of the Eritrean cultures, it is however definite that the history of music goes as far as centuries when it comes to folkloric music and original cultural rhythms that represent the true identity of the Eritrean cultures.

The one thing which was common between the music from the ages and those sang during the 20th century is that most of the artistic works of music played in Eritrea narrate stories of tribal heroes as well as religious and cultural holidays. The background of music in Eritrea lies deep and goes as far as centuries, but the organized and composed blast of Eritrea’s real musical talent was yet to be unfolded in the late fifties and sixties.

The First Eritrean Marching Band – 1890

Those were the times Eritrea was under consecutive colonialism and with the coming of musical instruments; recording studious as well as the mixing of traditional instruments with the imported ones, music in Eritrea had its rebirth in a more professional manner. Maintaining the cultural originality of music and infusing a strong sense of nationalism amongst citizens were the core elements of musical works during those times.  All the classic songs sang and the music played during those times is a reflection of the original Eritrean music summed up with the then state of the art instruments.

The lyrics were all written in a way to aspire the idea of nationalism and why the foreign colonizers should not be lords of our own land. Yet, all the songs were sung openly with no lyrical mischief.

With the coming of missionaries and the Italian colonization in general, the advent of music and composed musical performances set its beginning in Eritrea. Nonetheless, it took almost half a century to transform and lay grounds for the Eritrean music to a composed and more professional musical play. Hence the beginning of modern music in Eritrea had its beginning in the late 1950s where a handful of indigenous Eritrean musical talents started appearing in an organized manner, which they then called the Asmara Theatrical Association. Indeed, the music they played then and the songs they sang laid the foundation for the contemporary works of art in Eritrea. As its name implies however, the Asmara Theatrical Association mainly incorporated talents from Asmara and some from the city corners of the country.

It was a good beginning, yet music in Eritrea had another long way to go to explore the unique rhythms and beats from different corners of the country. The songs played back then mainly focused love contents metaphorically exposing their strong sense of nationalism and the need for an independent Eritrea which was then under federation with Ethiopia. All the songs sang during those times still possess a classic effect not only to the elders but to the young generation as well.

When Eritrea was put under full Ethiopian occupation in 1961, proud Eritrean fathers started an armed revolution against the Ethiopian colonizers under Emperor Haileselasie. Parallel with the armed resistance, musical revolution also became an asset to raise the awareness and build an unshakable strong sense of nationalism within the Eritrean population.

MATA – Asmara 1961

Especially with the start of the Eritrean voice of the masses in 1979, all the revolutionary songs made and composed in the terrains of armed resistance front made their way to the ears of the entire Eritrean population. The songs then had no hidden meanings as opposed to those sang from the colonized parts of Eritrea, they were fresh and liberally composed from the freed corners of Eritrea. The valiant freedom fighters had their weapons aimed against the colonizers and the musical front had another weapon that spread messages of freedom and resistance, where many fighters as they say had acquired their spirit from.  The best part of the revolutionary music was that the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front housed all the nine Eritrean ethnic groups under its wings. This freedom and bringing together of all citizens for one purpose exposed the untamed riches of beats and rhythms of all cultures. Apart from entertaining the valiant fighters, music during the revolution played a leading role in boosting the will of the perseverant fighters, raised the inclination of the local population to join the armed struggle while on the other hand terrorized and killed the spirit of the enemy.

Their composition was so strong that no one would believe they were recorded under trees or hideouts of the revolution under foothills. Indeed, those were the times all the cultures of Eritrea got their opportunity to get acquainted with modern musical instruments and spread messages of vision, courage and freedom.

Maintaining the cultural values of Eritrea was also among the major elements which were worked upon during the revolution. Maintaining the originality of the true Eritrean rhythm and modifying the folkloric musical works of all cultures into modern music without loosing their originality was amongst the major achievements. With the wake of independence in 1991, all the songs focused on the legacies of independence and the heroism of the martyred heroes during the 30 years of struggle. Sounds of independence and the developmental vision started coming from different directions including the legendary singers from the late fifties and sixties who were exiled due to colonialism.

The bonding of the revolutionary artists and the legendary ones produced an extraordinary blend and opened yet a bigger opportunity to the growth of music in Eritrea and the upbringing of young talents. The legacies of independence opened a way for the Eritrean artists to sing of any topic or idea they could come up with. The foundation of modern music laid during the sixties and the revolution saw their start go all the way to the top. Nonetheless, like every other aspect in the country, music also had to redirect its way and become the main tool of strength for Eritreans when the TPLF attempted invasion of Eritrea in 1998. The new artists who sprang with independence formed an amazing mix with the revolutionary singers in fighting the enemy with their ever strong lyrics and rhythm. Those times were the stage which really attested to the strong sense of nationalism and unity Eritrea ever boasts, and that resistance against invaders was written all over Eritreans. The resistance through music nurtured by Eritrean fathers of music was well maintained by the young artists who passionately wrote and effectively rebuffed the enemy ordeals.

Yet, music in Eritrea is not only related with revolution and resistance, although that can be mentioned as the unique Eritrea’s artistic gift, but lots of musical works were eloquently written over the years narrating stories of love, social activities, culture and beauty.

Source: www.qienit.com

Why is Esu not Satan but Jesus!

Satan or the Devil doesn’t exist in Original African culture, so stop equating it to Esu/Ekwensu.

Yoruba, Igbo, Igala and all other Original African philosophies are based on natural duality. Meaning everything has a good and bad side even Almighty God, so you can never have a wholly evil or good figure.

African spirituality and beliefs are based on universal science and not just impossible myths, so just as you can’t separate negative from positive in an atom, the smallest particle, you can not separate it in all life and the universe. Even if we had a figure called devil, he will be both good and bad.

The African philosophy is that there is good and bad in everybody and heart, and it is up to the person to choose whatever he does, and will be paid back. This is based on the cycle of life, the laws of retributive justice. And it is the highest moral standard known to Man.

Unlike Abrahamic dogma that allows a person to abdicate responsibility for their actions by claiming it was the devil temptations or machinations. No, you are the God and Devil!

So who is Esu and other African spiritual entities misconstrued as Satan or Devil? In a ploy to mentally enslave us, they labelled Esu, our spiritual entity, that carries our messages to God as Satan/Devil, while Jesus their spiritual entity that carries their own messages to God as son of God.

The irony of it all is that the letter J didn’t exist until after 100yrs the Catholics had landed and started slavery in West Africa. The name of the Jewish messiah/messenger of God was Yeshua before 1624, which after the introduction of J became Joshua.

So why the change especially when considering that this name had existed for 1500yrs. Was it a case that on getting to the true Garden of Eden in West Africa, where they relished and wanted to copy its sugarcane, gold and people, they converted to Esu, Yorubas messenger to God, who had blessed us with more than jedi jedi milk and honey of Joshua’s God?

The similarity between Esu and Jesus can’t be ignored because the Mediterranean peoples don’t pronounce J as a first letter in a word nor S as a last letter of a word, so Jesus is Esu.

Astrologically, they are both represented by the planet Mercury, the planet next to the Sun which represents God, and there is no way to God(Sun) without passing through the first planet Mercury or bitting around it.

The most annoying thing is our people that adopted Abrahamic beliefs couldn’t look for good comparisons like Jesus is Esu, and their racial inferiority complex had to make them match our best with the Abrahamic worst.

Ultimately, it is up to you to free yourself from mental slavery as Esu is the key to our information Retrieval system, the oldest knowledge bank also known as Ifa-Afa-Iha-Eha-Fa, shared by all Indigenous Original African groups in South and Middlebelt Nigeria, as well as across the Africa. From it came modern medicine and other technologies including the 256 pulses used to create the first computer.

As long as you are miseducated to call Esu, your own messenger to God, a wholly evil figure, you can never do well. No be curse my people. God can’t answer your prayers as the Oyinbo that changed Yeshua to Jesus realized. You will continue to be fooled with propaganda and selective justice that makes you choose the wrong leaders. Esu’s most important lesson was to acknowledge that all information is from a specific perspective. Give yourself brain.

We move…. with cultural Enlightenment because if you don’t know where you are coming from, you won’t know where you are going.

The writer is Esu because he was born in Virgo like all other prophets, or artists like Michael Jackson, Beyonce etc.

Source: http://aumedia.info/aumedia/?p=3259

WHENCE COMETH MY HELP?

The fact is, at some point in life we all need help. No one can successfully climb the ladder of success by himself without a helping hand from some quarters.

So many people are looking for help today and they do not know where that help is coming from. To some, those they see as their helper are in reality their mocker who is waiting to take advantage of their slightest mistake or weakness. Many placed their trusts in friends and families as their helper. Providence may not however design it to be so.

Consanguinity has no correlation with mercy, only the appointed will be benevolent to you. Look up to Olodumare, He alone knows who your helper is and with appropriate sacrifice, will direct his paths to meet yours.

Listen to what Ifa says in Idi Osa:

Ìdin sàá, ìdin sòó; the consultant Awo for Orí cast Ifá for the Orí; and gave a part to barber's Knife – the clipper. Ori was crying of having no helper. Ori was asked to offer two cocks and a hen as sacrifice, so he can find a helper. The barber's Knife was also asked to offer two cocks, a whetstone and a bowl of water as sacrifice; because he was to be given an assignment, so he will complete it successfully.

Ori offered his sacrifice without wasting time. But the Knife, refused to offer his, on time. By divine arrangement, the Knife was called upon to come to come and assist in beautifying Orí.

The Knife did a perfect job halfway, and became blunt. He went back to the Priests. He was told his sacrifice remains unchanged from what was listed yesterday; it is only the Priests rewards that have multiplied.  The Knife also brought items for sacrifice and offered the prescribed sacrifices.

Then he went back to the Ori and was able to perfectly complete his assignment.

Orí was singing and the Knife, rejoicing. They praised their Awo, Awo praised Ifa. Ifa praised Olodumare the most High.

Ìdin sàá, ìdin sòó; the consultant Awo for Orí cast Ifá for the Orí; and gave a part to barber's Knife – the clipper. Ori was crying of having no helper. He was asked to offer sacrifice.

For making the prescribed sacrifice. For giving the necessary offering to Esu, come and meet us at the port of blessing. The port of blessing is the lot of the Sacred Palm in Ife.

When the hair is overgrown, send an emissary to the Knife.

LESSONS:

1. Cry out for help! Do not be too arrogant or too shy to sincerely ask for help when you need one. No matter how big the head is, he humbles himself before the barber’s knife.  

Be humble.

2. Pray for divine direction. How and where you pray matters. There are many wolves in sheep's skin today who will only add to your burden. 

Be careful.

3. Offer the needful sacrifices – may be in terms of taking steps. Example as in making necessary calls, keeping productive appointments. 

Be proactive.

4. Make the work of your helper simpler by helping yourself first and play to the rules. Give accurate information and abide by instructions. Be diligent.

5. No matter what, your divine helper will never get tired or frustrated, as to abandon your project halfway. He will put even his life on the line to accomplish his divine assignment. 

Be hopeful.

6. Always show appreciation: to God and all those you meet on your way to success. Everyone have one or two contributions to your success. Even your enemies, they teach you to be on guard. 

Be appreciative.

May Oba Aseda send to you all, the Divine helpers of your destiny.

Aboru aboye.

By Oluwo Wande Akọmolafe 

First written in 2017.

Yoruba Spirituality and Their Culture

The Promotion of the Culture and Tradition of the Yoruba people is one of the keys to achieving this. The promotion of our medicine, music, dance, nutrition, fashion...

We must first publicly identify with them irrespective of how crude we perceive it to be; we must be proud of them. We must own them. Then we will know that it is our responsibility to evolve them into enviable standards.

First responsibility of a Yoruba is the promotion of its culture and tradition. 

There are several ways in which one can do this. All Yoruba must find the area where they are to get involved in the promotion of the culture.

LET ME TELL YOU ONE IMPORTANT REASON WHY ÌTẸFÁ IS IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE.

Ifa, Osanyin, Ọ̀ṣun, Ògún, Sango, Obatala are some of the highly Important social organizational geniuses that we intellectuals must interact with.

Bulk of its practical knowledge exist with the natives and can't be handed down to non-initiates, but, a few literature that should awaken our interest into wanting to have a personal experience with these entities are available.

These geniuses are the individual energies that you and I represent.

Those who think Sango, Ògún, Èṣù, Obatala, Ọ̀rúnmìlà are fallen angels (demons) would find it hard to accept the truth of the Yoruba religion because it will set their minds against itself to now begin to try to comprehend that they are descendants of fallen angels (demons). 

But I believe some of us have evolved to a point in the understanding of these entities howbeit partially for who/what they are.

If Ogun is recognized as the divinity of engineering and Ìtẹfá revealed that Ogun is your guardian Òrìṣà, it simply narrows down your journey in life into the area of your natural genius. You would do better in fields that are directly linked to the Ogun complex of universal order. 

And since energy can neither be created nor destroyed but simply transforms from one form to another, Ogun as an energy complex will continue to manifest in all life forms in the universe to continue its essence in one form or another. 

At this Time (T) and Space (S), you are an Embodiment of a certain energy. Its essence is what you carry and that informs your place in the giant scheme of things going on in the universe.

It is important to state that we are a mixture of all the energies but one is dominant in each one of us. It is that one that has the most pronounced influence in that subjects life.

This is where the Yoruba begins social organization from.

#Idafa #esentaye #akosedaye #itefa #orisa

Contributory Factors To Progress and Success

One of the strangest phenomenon I witnessed was at Hallam. I saw PhD holders who decided to stay behind at Sheffield to earn salaries below a certain tax bracket rather than go to London. They didn't want to work harder only to pay more taxes and have similar income. Privilege.

It was the privilege not to chase wealth because you were in a society that provided basic comforts as long as you were ”productive enough”. There were also a few who became millionaires from working on their research and papers without the headache of the London rat race.

Our Strategy Professor Kevan Scholes owned no car and never visited shopping malls. He was widely published and was very rich. He lived a simple life in Sheffield. I learned a lot of lessons observing people like him. It is not about a career race but quality output.

I realized that where you live was more likely to make you rich than how hard you think you are working. Many times, what people think is hard work is just overcoming obstacles to exist. The hardest work is deep thinking and creation. It is not jumping on buses and trains.

You need comfort and lack of distraction to do your best work. Each time I am in Palo Alto seeing the simple homes without fences, I remember Lagos homes in supposedly affluent areas. I will always choose Palo Alto over Banana Island. Even Napa over the San Francisco Bay Area.

I took some time off once in San Francisco to go to Napa to get an article written. It was the best work I ever did. Suffering to be productive because of the hardship and limitations in your environment is not a virtue. This year has changed the nature of work permanently.

By Asemota

The Essence of Celebrating Christmas

On 25 December many people only know it as Christmas but the essence on that day is Summer Solstice meaning the Sun and Earth is close in point of orbit where Northern and Southern Hemisphere is most inclined towards the sun. On that day more hydrogen is pumped on earth and the sun makes a return, it goes now to the North where they welcome Winter. Now they made that day a European pagan holiday. Christmas is foreign to Afrikans that is why it is celebrated in winter with the Father Christmas wearing a winter suit. Ask yourself again why is Santa wearing suit on the Summer?? During this day usually in Southern hemisphere it hot here, the suit for Santa itself is telling you that Christmas it is a winter festival. Afrikan people can be anything for anyone except being themselves. Know yourself, we have been lied to many times but this is very obvious.

Our ancestors understood Mother Nature and saw Spirituality through natural forces. They payed homage to those forces as they knew positions of natural object such as Moon (Inyanga), Sun, Planet and Stars Signs and Seasons/Time. They would know time/season spi(ritual), when to plant for certain seeds for harvest to come, that made spirituality. They knew Divination about human affairs or natural phenomena from relative positions of celestial bodies. Within the cosmological scheme is found the mandate of spirituality. Know divination and real seasons not fairy tales. And we must know that the year ended in the September. Our New Year begins today 23rd of September (UMANDULO) - Aries where the sun is exalted at the beginning of Spring here in Southern Hemisphere and is also the beginning of the agricultural year. It is the phase representing the renewal of life through the plantation and germination of seed.

There is a confusion that December is time for harvest which is not rather for eg. In Swaziland and KwaZulu Natal is a time/season for Ukuqinisa UbuKhosi/Royalty. We plant, store and harvest on a wrong time/season. If they say December is end of the month on the last day of that month the Moon is still not finished but rather still in a waning stage not end of the moon(inyanga). The moon must not be visible in the sky in that day and year as most make new year resolution on a wrong time that why it does not materialize. Nature confirms it not a new year in January it Summer season and in September it Spring season where mother nature celebrate new leaves, grass, snakes shade old skin to new, new year resolution. Izinyanga (moons) should really know the stage and the significant of the full Moon, waxing, waning in a spiritual world so they will know how to manifest real magic.

Be open, many of you may be well vast in many things which they may be little room for new information for others if I may put it that way which is both a good thing and a bad thing. You may ask questions as it offers something you have to work with as it is not new under the sun. You must know that our enemies changed almost everything to confuse us so I encourage us to be open to a new learning.

Celebrate this day and season for it is real and has meaningful essence.

By Joshua Maponga (Zimbabwe)

ÈṢÙ IN IFÁ.

Èṣù is the ruler over the forces of darkness/evil. They are called Ajogúns in Yoruba mythology. 

Ajogúns are eight in number, they are Ikú, Àrùn, òfò, Ẹ̀wọ̀n, ọ̀ràn, èpè, Ẹ̀ṣe, Ẹ̀gbà. (Prof. Wande Abimbola).

From the above, it is convenient to say that Èṣù is Satan, because in the western idea, Satan is the Supreme evil force that is against the order of God almighty who is infinitely good.

But one major difference between the Yoruba worldview and the western worldview is that while the Western worldview posits Satan as an infinitely evil creature worthy of nothing but scorn, curse and perhaps a future annihilation, Yoruba worldview sees the constructive role that Èṣù plays in Olódùmarè's order. Èṣù is not considered as infinitely evil. He is seen as the enforcer of Olódùmarè's order. One whose disposition to you is based on your disposition to the order of Olódùmarè. 

For this, the Yoruba has found a way to coexist with this very powerful divinity that Olódùmarè has given the freedom to exist with the light that he created. Olódùmarè created light to coexist with darkness, in his wisdom, that they should together govern planetary affairs and that has been the case from the day the world was created.

Considering that Èṣù superintends over darkness being his own region, it is important to note that Olódùmarè did not create Èṣù. Èṣù is self-existing. The first very creation of Olódùmarè has to be Ọ̀rúnmìlà and then Ẹ̀là (Light). Olódùmarè did not create darkness but upon his creation of light, there was an arrangement for the co-existence of both phenomena. (Osamaro Ibie).

The position of the Yoruba culture to the existence of evil is different from that of the western culture. (Prof. Sophie Oluwole)

In philosophical paradigms, the Yoruba culture believes in the Binary Complimentary Framework, that is, the existence of Two opposite forces (realities) that are not opposing each other but compliment each other. This philosophical framework was set up by the wisdom of Olódùmarè - Ọ̀rúnmìlà for the benefit of the human race. It is the foundation upon which the yoruba spirituality is built. 

The Western Culture Philosophical Framework is known as Binary Opposition. This is what forms the basis of the western religion of Christianity. They believe in absolute good and absolute evil. They believe that the forces of good must completely destroy the force of evil. 

They believe nothing good comes from evil and nothing evil comes from good. This is what explains the stand that they take against those who do not share the same religious views as them. To them, Satan will be completely wiped out by God someday.

But this is not the knowledge we have of Èṣù in Ifá. 

Èṣù, though a very complex entity, one which can upset the best laid plans and also known as the king of mischief, was "defeated" by Ọ̀rúnmìlà from the beginning of time.

Olódùmarè realized that Èṣù would be a problem to the Irunmoles he has created and thus set up a test for them to know if they would be able to still achieve their goals even with the existence of Èṣù. Ọ̀rúnmìlà, through divination was able to know how to get by even with the unlimited power of Èṣù and his determination to upset whatever Olódùmarè creates. 

Upon the victory of Ọ̀rúnmìlà, Olódùmarè dubbed him the divinity of wisdom and thus Ọ̀rúnmìlà was he who brought the word of Olódùmarè (Ifá) from Ọ̀run to Ayé to teach both Irunmoles and Ènìyàn alike how to navigate the world without being hindered by Èṣù or any of the Evil forces.

Olódùmarè taught the Irunmoles a very big lesson in the test that he gave to them. The lesson that they took from there was that it is important to make sacrifices. It was the contest that instituted the wisdom of Ẹbọ in Ifá. Olódùmarè said that to get something, you must be willing to part with something.

In Ifá, only sacrifice can save. 

Rírú Ẹbọ ní ń gbe ni. 

This is why Ifá practitioners don't engage in fall down and down prayers against enemies. Ifá teaches us that all the Ajogúns are under Èṣù's command and once a person makes sacrifice, Èṣù tells the Ajogúns to back off.

Note this:

Olódùmarè instituted sacrifice, not Èṣù. 

Èṣù is to ensure that those who obey Olódùmarè's injunction to make sacrifices will get that which they have desired. 

Èṣù will also ensure that those who do not make sacrifice will suffer for not making the sacrifice. 

Olódùmarè instituted sacrifice not because he needs the sacrifice but because of Èṣù. 

Èṣù vowed to frustrate the creatures of Olódùmarè right from the very beginning of creation and it is in the wisdom of Olódùmarè that Èṣù keeps existing with his creatures, hence his intelligence made a way out in Ẹbọ.

This is the summary of the Yoruba spirituality.

So, is this Èṣù the same as Satan of the Bible? If he is, then the followers of the Bible will treat him differently from the way the followers of Ifá will treat him. 

The followers of the Bible believe that he is a temporal entity and that his time will soon come to an end. The followers of Ifá believe that he is a permanent entity and through Ẹbọ, humans and Irunmoles are going to learn to coexist with him from generation to generation, forever. 

He exists to punish the disobedient. 

He exists to reward the obedient. 

To Ifá practitioners, he is a law enforcement agent and as such, his role is very crucial to the sustainance of order in the universe structured upon the principle of sowing and reaping.

*If you have any questions you can ask*

*References: Àwọn Ojú Odù Merindinlogun by Wande Abimbola; Complete Works of Ọ̀rúnmìlà by Osamaro Ibie; Socrates and Ọ̀rúnmìlà: Two Patron Saints of Classical Philosophy by Sophie Oluwole.

Happy Èṣù Day!!!

LAYING OF THE SCHOOL FOUNDATION FOR ILE IFE OBATALA GROUP OF SCHOOLS

Today, The Oonirisa HIM Enitan Babatunde Adeyeye Oguwusi Ojaja 11, Ooni of Ile-Ife as represented by Oba Elejesi of Ile-Ife alongside HDG O.O.O Dada (Obalesun Obatala Agbaye, Oloja Iranje-Idita), the President of ASHE Foundation Prince Justice J Faloye and his members, The School Management Committee under the leadership of Oba Olufemi Dada Oludayo-Akowe, Oba Alamo Ile-Ife, Iranje-Idita community amongst others performed the landmark foundation laying ceremony for the construction of a state of the art school in favour of Obatala Group of Schools at Oreole, Mokuro, Iranje-Idita, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The facility, which is being planned architecturally to have complete modern facilities of international standard, is intended to meet the growing need of the school in terms of space, branding and expansion.

In his keynote address, HDG Obalesun Obatala Agbaye said the building was a good legacy for the present and future children of the school.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo to Prof. Samuel Cookey in 1986

After he overthrew Muhammadu Buhari, self styled military President, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida promised Nigerians that he would enthrone a new social order by doing away with the politics of the past, bring in new breed politicians and change the political landscape.

He sought and got a Professor of Political Science, Samuel Cookey to chair a Political Bureau, which was saddled with the responsibility of fashioning out, after wide consultations with Nigerians via memoranda and public presentations, a new political order.

On Friday, February 28, 1986 therefore, Cookey wrote a letter requesting the sage, Pa Obafemi Jeremiah Awolowo, to avail the Nigerian state the benefit of his wisdom.

To that request, Awolowo replied:👇🏽

“Dear Sir,

“I received your letter of February 28, 1986, and sincerely thank you for doing me the honour of inviting me to contribute to the National Political Debate.

“The purpose of the debate is to clarify our thoughts in our search for a new social order.

“It is therefore neat and proper that all those who have something to contribute should do so.

“I do fervently and will continue fervently to pray that I may be proved wrong. For something within me tells me, loud and clear, that we have embarked on a fruitless search.

At the end of the day, when we imagine that the new order is here, we would be terribly disappointed.

“In other words, at the threshold of our New Social Order, we would see for ourselves that, as long as Nigerians remain what they are, nothing clean, principled, ethical, and idealistic can work with them.

“And Nigerians will remain what they are, unless the evils which now dominate their hearts, at all levels and in all sectors of our political, business and governmental activities are exorcised.

“But I venture to assert that they will not be exorcised, and indeed they will be firmly entrenched, unless God Himself imbues a vast majority of us with a revolutionary change of attitude to life and politics or, unless the dialetic processes which have been at work for some twenty years now, perforce, make us perceive the abominable filth that abounds in our society, to the end that an inexorable abhorrence of it will be quickened in our hearts and impel us to make drastic changes for the better.

“There is, of course, an alternative option open to us. To succumb to permanent social instability and chaos.

“In the premises, I beg to decline your invitation.

“I am yours truly, Obafemi Awolowo”

👆Is this not prophetic?

FIGHTING THE RIGHT FIGHT

If you go to the mountain to pray that Ogun Èṣù (Èṣù's forces) be destroyed in your life, I have to ask you first, who told you that the problems you are going through was caused by Èṣù?

And secondly, who told you that going to pray "die by fire" is what will solve the problem?

This is why it is important to understand who/what Èṣù is so that you don't just go about doing vocal exercises from mountain to mountain without any real change going on in your life.

First, if you were told that your problem was caused by Èṣù by someone using the Bible or Quran, you have been misled. Whatever character is explained to you as the source of your problem from the Bible or Quran is not Èṣù - except if the person carrying the Bible or Quran is one that has a third-eye but just using the Bible and Quran as a camouflage.

The only place where you can be told that your problem originates from Èṣù is from Ifá during a divination. 

And except the Babaláwo who made the divination for you specifically instructs you to go on mountain and pray that Èṣù should die by fire, that exercise is in futility with respect to solving your problems.

Satan might be able to die by fire, but I doubt if that can happen to Èṣù. Whatever Èṣù will take to back off your matter - if he is the one at the center - will be prescribed by Ifá during the divination. 

Even if Èṣù is not the one in charge, whatever force is in charge of your problem can be influenced by Èṣù. So upon doing what the Babaláwo says, Èṣù will intervene in the situation. 

This is how Traditional Ifá Religion works:

So first, before you enlist Èṣù as an enemy of your progress, ensure that you make the proper diagnosis from the appropriate quarters to be sure it is really Èṣù that is your enemy and not Ẹlẹyẹ, your Ìwà (character), Ègbé Ọ̀run, Imọlẹ̀ ìdílé or Èpè ota that is at play over your circumstance. 

The Ifá traditional religion works like Modern Medicine. Before a treatment is prescribed, a diagnosis has to be made. This is why a Babaláwo cannot apply the same pattern that works for Mr. A to Mr. B simply because their symptoms are the same. 

After finding out what the source of your problem is, you can decide not to make the prescribed Ẹbọ because you don't believe in it, and head to church or mosque to pray it off. 

But in Ifá, Ẹbọ is used and Èṣù is still the one that takes the Ẹbọ to the appropriate place in Ọ̀run (the abode of the divinities). This means that it is impossible to do without Èṣù in Ifá Religion. Èṣù is the one that takes Ẹbọ (supplicatory sacrifice) to Ọ̀run for humans. 

A demonizing of Èṣù therefore is a complete demonizing of the Ifá Religion because nothing can be done in Ifá without Èṣù. In Ifá, Èṣù helps and can achieve his aim of helping those who make Ẹbọ (the sacrifice) through any means. He is a craft master. 

So, you see why taking the pain to explain that Èṣù is NOT Satan is not just a matter of fighting for Religious liberty as calling Èṣù Satan is tantamount to religious persecution and victimization which ought to be criminalized in Yoruba land. It is also to get people informed so that in their fight against the enemy of their soul, they can know how to position themselves rightly for the assurance of victory. 

If you don't have adequate knowledge of your perceived enemy, how can you be assured of victory?

Copyrights: © 2020

NELIDA KARR

Nelida  Karr was born and raised in Malabo the capital of Equato-Guinean, she is known to be the "contemporary revelation of Equatoguinean music" and the voice of the new generation of Equatoguinean musicians that creates a great cultural and international impact on the present-day Equatorial Guinean music industry. This soulful singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist and winner of many awards, has move in to enrich the world music scene with her undeniable talent and exciting eclectic musical tunes of her singing and the hypnosis of her rhythms amongst her traditional roots and world music.

Surrounded by a family of artists, Nelida is the daughter of producer Samuel Karr and singer Domitila Rosario. Drinking from the various musical sources of her culture, it is not surprising that some sounds from Spain were a persistent in her infancy. But beyond the Spanish cultural heritage, the roots of Nélida's music are found in African, Equatorial Guinea.

She classifies her music as "Afro-Fusion" suffused with the many influences she assimilated while growing up in Malabo the capital city of Africa’s only Spanish speaking country, Equatorial Guinea. Her sound is  an eclectic mix of the music of the Bubi ethnic group and Equatoguinean rhythms like Katya, kotto, bonko, mokom and antonobe, as well as jazz, blues, Spanish and Latin music that she nevertheless incorporates into a sound all her own.

She recorded the first of her three albums to date in 2010 at the age of 20. After the release of her second album “Batobiera” (2013), she had a tour in Colombia organized by the Alliance Frances Colombia and was nominated for various awards giving her the opportunity to reached a sweet spot in the new pool of emerging talents in Africa. She is currently self-producing her new album which will be released in October 2018.

At 17 years old, Nelida Karr won the first prize in 2007 of the Song Contest of the Spanish Cultural Center awarded in Malabo. 2013, nominated among the ten best finalists of the RFI Découvert 2013 finalist prizes, won the first place, the winner of the Polyglot prize of the 6 people to watch out for in Central Africa in 2014 from "The African Report Magazine", named the new voice of Equatorial Guinea by the magazine El Mundo in Spain. In 2016, nominated the most promising female artist in Africa of the Kora Awards. 2016 winner of the best national female artist in Equatorial Guinea Jon Cham Media Awards.

The singer and performer is also the founder of "MOSART", a free school of music and art, a non-profit organization in Equatorial Guinea with the purpose of helping children and young Equatoguineans to discover, learn and develop their talents in the area of ​​music and the arts.

Early in 2018, she won the first prize of the Spain and Equatorial Guinea 'vis a vis' talent promotional festival, which led to a successful tour in Spain, where she graced some of the largest Spanish world music festival stages with her exuberant talent with diverse musical synergies both vocal and instrumental dexterity. Nelida is selected to perform on the WOMEX 18 showcase to showcase her talent and music, and open up to more opportunities for her music.

She is an incredible artist that will raise your expectations to the maximum with an exuberant demonstration of powerful vocals and stage control that at the moment will make you remember the great divas of soul & jazz, in the style of Aretha Franklin, or the great voice of Ella Fitzgerald. Nelida Karr a discovery of the type that you will want to listen again!

Source: www.nelidakarrmusic.com