The Ooni of Ife and Tradition

Source: news punch.org

(Olusegun Adeniyi)--As a first year undergraduate at Ife in 1985, I was confronted with this myth that in the town on which our campus was domiciled, rituals were performed with human beings all-year-round except only on one day. But after Dr. Dipo Fashina (the ever-uncompromising former ASUU president popularly known as Jingo) had put enough sense into some of us (through Philosophy 101) to begin to doubt everything, I asked a roommate, indigene of Ife, whether the story was true. When he replied in the affirmative, I sought to know whether any member of his family had ever been lost to such practices and he responded: “A kii f’omo ore b’ore”.

That saying, crudely translated, means that indigenes can never be used for rituals involving human sacrifice. Of course, I must point out here that throughout my four-year stay at Ife, I was not aware of any incident of a student being lost to rituals. That is not to say we did not hear stories of some “strange” happenings at the period. That perhaps then explains why since the information broke last week that the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade, had ascended into the spirit world, there are stories of people either avoiding travelling to/through the town or of residents going to bed earlier than usual.

As the Ooni Retires to the Penthouse

Ooni of Ife; source: informationng.com

(Pendulum by Dele Momodu)--Fellow Nigerians, the controversy surrounding the health status of The Ooni of Ife would have been unnecessary if many of us had understood or respected the Ife tradition. Ile-Ife being the cradle of civilisation is steeped in endless myths and the ancient town parades countless pantheons for about 401 deities who are worshipped all year round. 

Ile-Ife and Benin City cherish their culture and never joke with tradition. They revere their kings and hold on fastidiously to the belief that these kings can never die, they can only retire to the ceiling, a concept that is probably alien to members of the modern generation. This is why it is possible for a powerful king to depart this terrestrial space unannounced for months by the traditional institutions. The people have accepted a system that may seem abnormal to foreigners but not to us.

What has made The Ooni’s case so contentious is because the news of his departure escaped and exploded from abroad and our Ife Chiefs are righteously miffed about the antics of some busy-bodies who seem hell-bent on rendering them irrelevant. This is unacceptable no matter how modern the world as become. Traditions the world over are either kept or wholly jettisoned. There are sacred rites or protocols that are observed and performed by the Catholics at The Vatican. For example, there cannot be an emergence of a new Pope without the appearance of the famous white smoke. It is the same for the Muslims who must search, find and sight the moon before proceeding on starting or ending the Ramadan. Modernity has not been able to obliterate those age-old traditions.

The "Great Journey" of Ile-Ife's "Great Crown"

Source: exploringafrica

"In the history of Ile-Ife, 1903 was an earth-shattering year for the yoruba people. It was the year that the Ooni, the god-king of the Yoruba, encountered directly the full impact of British modern colonial rule. From the perspective of the Ooni and from the perspective of the colonial governor in Lagos, the year ended the preceding era and opened a new investiture for Ile-ife City and the Yoruba states of south-western Nigeria.

Although the governor, Sir William Macgregor, referred cursorily to the occasion as the 'Great Crown' case, to Ooni Adelekan Olubuse 1 (1894-1910) and to the Yoruba people, it was a precedent-setting 'Great Journey' because it marked the first time in the history  of Ile-Ife that an Ooni would venture out of his palace and beyond the center of the universe.

For Westerners, the occasion would have been tantamount to asking God to leave heaven to answer the call of a mere mortal.

The Ooni traveled to Lagos, then the center of British regional administration. For the Yoruba, news of the unprecedented journey provoked fear, anxiety, and uncertainty because it was a great taboo for the Ooni to vacate the sacred city of Ile-Ife to travel to another seat of power, however that power might be defined."

Jacob K. Olupona (2011: 77)

City of 201 Gods: Ile-Ife in Time, Space, and the Imagination

Orisha--Triumphing Territorial Challenges

Source: fineartamerica.com

"Currently, new religious movements active in Ile-Ife are engaging in a second wave of missionary efforts (begun in the 1970s and 1980s) to achieve the people's radical and total conversion to Christianity (or Islam), to create a new worldview based on Euro-American conservative Christian values (or conservative Islamic values), and to sow intolerance of indigenous cultures and traditions.

These efforts threaten the destruction of indigenous culture, values, and even language. Indeed, in a number of churches it is forbidden to speak the Yoruba language! There is also an attempt to creat a new space in which these new religions will increasingly challenge the authority and privilege of orisa indigenous culture at the center of Ile-Ife city life.

Although there is ample evidence that orisa traditions are in retreat, there is also significant evidence of their renewal. Throughout the world, Yoruba diaspora communities of the Caribbean and the Americas are repositioning Yoruba-derived traditions--Santeria in Cuba and the United States, Candomble in Brazil, and new orisa traditions among african americans in the United States and Trinidad--as global religious traditions whose influence and consistency extend far beyond the home base in Ile-Ife."

Jacob K. Olupona  (2011: 17)
City of 201 Gods: Ile-Ife in Time, Space, and the Imagination

Ile-Ife: City of 201 Gods

Photo source: wikipedia

"In The Pivot of Four Quarters, Wheatley indicates that no place in sub-Saharan Africa has such cosmic significance as the Yoruba city of Ile-Ife. Known as the City of 201 (or 401) Gods, Ile-Ife is the base of the entire Yoruba civilization and culture, and its significance goes far beyond the immediate geographical boundaries of Nigeria. The religious culture of Ile-Ife has influenced the development and growth of new African religious movements as far off as Brazil, the Caribbean, and the United States.

Ile-Ife, a city of about half a million, is situated at the geographical center of the Yoruba city-states. To the west lies Ibadan... and to the east lies Ondo, gateway to the eastern Yoruba city-states. Isle-Ife is about two hundred kilometers from Lagos, which was Nigeria's coastal capital city for over a century.

Unlike the political, commercial, and administrative cities of Ibadan and Lagos, contemporary Ile-Ife is a ceremonial city par excellence; like the cities of Banaras, Jerusalem, and Mecca. [I]n the people's imagination it is the preeminent sacred place, beyond the secular and the profane."

Jacob K. Olupona (2011: 36)

City of 201 Gods: Ile-Ife in Time, Space, and the Imagination