*Reflections Without Mirror—Niyi Aborisade*
*The Masquerades- Oloolu v Ajagbemokeferi. Religious Violence Part 3*
This is the conclusion of the historical piece of which part 2 was published 18.08.2023
Ajagbe was urging his followers to intensify the attack . The missiles kept coming from every direction but Oololu stood his ground and kept using his two hands to direct the stones to another direction. He continued chanting incantations and chewing alligator pepper. It was a great chance for him to show that traditional powers are real and potent.
However, in the heat of the battle there was an advice from Oloolu’s lieutenants that in order to avoid loss of lives from both sides,Oloolu should return to the Palace and report the matter to the Olubadan. Oloolu made a fatal mistake and turned back without proper measure in place since the power to direct stones was in his hands; he lost concentration by attending to those who were pulling him back. Just as he turned , a stone hit him at the back of the head , blood started gushing out of the head, just like a proverbial song , Lion killed the leader of the hunters and the hunting collapsed ( Kiniun pa olori Ode Igbe fo) All Oloolu followers scattered and picked race to different angles. Some of his lieutenants, however surrounded him and protected him from further punishment from the attackers. They took him away to Olubadan Palace for first aid treatment. Oloolu survived the ordeal. He was later taken to the hospital where the head was stitched. Ajagbe declared victory, he had demystified Oloolu and nothing happened immediately, his women who watched Oloolu live did not die and neither did he lose any of his ‘mujahideens
Three days after the attack, all the big Masquerades of Ibadan like Iponriku, Jalaruru, Abidielege and Atipako that would not usually come out together in the same year formed a confederacy and came out together in unity against the common enemy that constituted a security threat to both lives and our tradition. Many of their followers came out with them and my cousin was there too, they made straight to Ajagbe house at Ajegede but Ajagbe has been tipped off and fled with his family before they arrived but he took one important ‘thing’ with him as that ‘thing’ was not found in the house. Rumours had it that the important thing was the source of his power too. Some moslems classified Ajagbe as a Cleric that was not practising genuine Islam , he was rated among those who practice Islamic mysticism. In order words, he mixed other things with Islam, and he practised voodoo. Ajagbe though confessed some things and renounced them by caiming that he was not practising them again, but no one was certain about his sincerity. His properties were destroyed by angry mobs. All his TV set, refrigerator and other things were thrown down on the street
Olubadan appealed to the Masquerades to sheath their swords and allow the law to take its course. Olubadan sued for peace and the Masquerades obeyed their King and returned home. The Olubadan was the custodian of our culture and tradition. Yoruba land is a secular States where all religions are allowed to thrive
Following Olubadan advice, legal proceedings were instituted against Ajagbemokeferi, where he claimed that he indeed fought with a celestial being when he was provoked but not a human. He was indirectly poking fun on Oloolu since Masquerades are referred to as ( ara orun kinkin) celestial being.
However, Prominent Ibadan indigenes did not spare Ajagbe over his insubordination and lack of respect. They condemned his attitude and declared him persona non grata. An Ibadan based musician, Late Amuda Agboluaje, also known as Amuda Ojeere, released a record wherein he told Ajagbe to leave Ibadan and that we cannot continue to live with a mad man in our city, he said he had overstayed his welcome and should vacate the city.
Ajagbe weathered the storm and continued to wax stronger. He forced his ways to many groves and other traditional sacred places to remove their deities and ancient statues, real antiquities from their place of worship. We do not know where he put or what he did with these expensive antiquities but there were rumours that he was selling it abroad. African antiquities are valuable properties and highly sought after in the US, United Kingdom, Germany , Italy etc. Yoruba Ori Olokun Statue is lying dormant in British Museum after it was stolen from Ife by the British. Many of our artefacts are lying dormant in private museums and houses abroad . Some Western governments are now returning some back to us .
People also accused Ajagbe that he had Sigidi in his house that he always sent on errands. Sigidi is a statue made of clay or carved stone in the image of man with eyes, mouth and nose marked. That was what he took away before his house was ransacked by the angry mob who had heard the rumours of it before. Sigidi is a fortified statue by using a spirit or demon to inhabit the statue. It serves his master without question. It was a powerful tool in the hands of its owner. Sigidi is always used to attack the enemy, particularly at night. Sigidi, however is different from Osanyin , Osanyin is a carved wood with spiritual intelligence and ancient wisdom, the common ground between the two is that both are inhabited by spirit and they used human being to fortify them . The ancient and the real Osanyin was said to be a brother of Orunmila in Yoruba mythology. Osanyin was credited with the spirit of herbal medicine , full of wisdom but did not complete his training from Orunmila when he thought he can stand on his own. He was also a physically challenged person. He started divining and collecting sacrifices from the people without telling Orunmila his brother. I will leave Osanyin story to another day when I will be writing on Yoruba mythology. It must be said that there are many liars today who claimed to have Osanyin and are collecting money from people who consult them and feed them with deception.
Ajagbe later built his own house at Sawmills area in Ibadan. He rented some out and banned all Masquerades from passing through his street , a tall order that the Masquerades grudgingly obeyed to avoid trouble and not much of fear. The alleged unbeliever or Kaffir were more tolerant than him. They also had respect for the rules of law.
During the annulled election of 1993 in which Abiola emerged as the undeclared winner of the presidential election, Ajagbe requested for money from Abiola to carry out prayers in all the States of federation known as Nigeria. Abiola demurred but Ajagbe claimed that since Abiola was a fellow moslem , he used his own money to carry out the prayer and his money only reached 14 States before it finished and those were the States that were declared. No one even responded to that Cock and Bull story.
However, calamity upon calamity started befalling him, he lost some of his wives and towards the end of his life, he fell terribly sick . The pain was too severe that he even invited pastors to pray for him for healing but he was not healed . Ajagbe eventually died in 1999.
*Conclusion*
There should not be any religious violence in yoruba land. Our people should understand that religion is personal. A situation where you force someone to accept your religion has no reward whether here or hereinafter . Consent on belief must be freely given without intimidation. There should be no compulsion. We must all live in peace and love our neighbours the way we love ourselves. That is the true religion when you show love and kindness to your fellow human beings . Among these three things; Faith, Hope, Love , love is the greatest. It is a lack of love for our fellow human beings that is destroying our country today, where people are using their fellow human beings for rituals . Let us therefore, eschew violence and bring kindness to our land.
Niyi Aborisade is a lawyer and Human Right Activist and an Historian.
