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Tag: Tradition

The liberal tradition and its enemies
The death of Stanley Macebuh last weekend robs Nigeria of one of its greatest minds ever; a man of outstanding intellect and great cultivation. He was cut in the finest tradition of the liberal intellectual. He was refined, humane and tolerant of dissenting opinion. He was also generous and compulsively selfless. In a brutal and uncaring society, these endearing traits cannot be part of a survivalist kit or a manual for manumission from economic slavery. But exceptional nobility of spirit is not a crime. It is a monument in itself.

Stanley Macebuh was the quintessential man of ideas, an intellectuals’ intellectual and a pundit among pundits. He was unarguably the doyen of intellectual journalism in Nigeria. To make this claim is of course to do grievous injustice to those “old thunderers” of early Nigerian journalism; anti-colonial men of letters and pan-African patriots who took the colonialists to the cleaners in their own game of fiery polemics. In his grave, Lord Lugard still winces in pain at the rowdy effrontery of “these seditious niggers”.

But when we are talking of intellectual journalism, we are talking of a deliberate and systematic infusion of ideas and conceptual rigour into the practice of journalism and the transposition of the principles of standard scholarship into its modus operandi. On this, the scholarly and urbane Macebuh was the dean and doyen. He was the driving motivator and master of connectivity.

It is to be noted that before Macebuh arrived on these shores from America, he was already a tenured Associate Professor and author of two acclaimed scholarly works particularly a memorable treatise on James Baldwin, the celebrated African American writer. Had he chosen to stay on in America, the sky would have been the limit. But America’s loss is Nigeria’s inestimable gain.

It is to this fortuitous development in conjunction with certain beneficial economic and political circumstances that we owe the intellectual transformation that has taken root in Nigerian journalism. A few prominent Nigerian journalists might have become a corrupt and unethical lot, but there can be no doubting the keenness of their mind or the soundness of their education. If in the process they have become a more menacing danger to the society, this is a subject for another day.

Before its dramatic transformation, journalism in Nigeria was in danger of becoming a veritable haven of “the flotsam and jetsam” of the society as Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo once memorably put it. The typical column was an impressionistic rollercoaster lacking intellectual depth or rigorous engagement; full of sound and fury; brimming with petty sulking and nasty name-calling. Conceptual thinking was persona non grata and litigious writs flew in all directions from Agbadagbudu to Kakawa Street.

Macebuh and his colleagues seized all this intemperate nonsense by the scruff of the neck. Apart from Macebuh with his cherubic insouciance and professorial mien, there was the courtly, cigar-chomping Patrick Dele Cole with his donnish imperiousness and Oxbridge bravura. And then there was Oladele Sunmonu Giwa, he of the film star good looks and Great Gatsby sartorial aplomb, who pioneered a new tradition of feature writing based on American New Journalism with its combination of creative flair and political pizzazz.

It must be said at this point that certain favourable developments anticipated and complemented this new intellectual crusade in journalism. First, was Alhaji Jose’s visionary policy of recruiting fresh graduates into Journalism. This singular policy was so transformative that it led to a paradigm shift and an explosion of talents. Next was the arrival on our campuses from various graduate schools a new generation of university teachers who were bent on having a say in how the nation was run. Finally, the economic and political climate was quite good. Nigeria was awash with petrodollars, and having survived a Civil War, the country was also steadily and solidly transiting to democratic rule.

But something was afoot in journalism. Something truly new was coming out of Africa. The old order took it all in the chin, shocked and awed by the daring of it all and the breezy confidence of the shamans of the new order. Ruing the momentous developments one afternoon on the corridor of the Daily Times at Kakawa with a friend, the late Chief Olu Akaraogun, himself a notable journalist with considerable intellectual firepower, was shocked out of wits when Stanley Macebuh, the subject matter, suddenly materialised. But rather than join an animated but futile discussion, Macebuh romped through the duo as if they were nonexistent. Macebuh took both praise and damnation in his stride.

Stanley Macebuh always took things in his stride. He was not a temperamental genius. He was gifted with calm fortitude and equanimity. He was courteous, courtly and unfailingly polite, but he knew his onions. He could be roused to occasional fury by ungentlemanly conduct. But till the end, there was something about him which reminded one of a star professor in a notable American campus. Perhaps it was his mien and comportment.

But the professorial mantra cuts both ways. While it connotes a cool sobriety and calm detachment, it also suggests a certain degree of naiveté and idealistic hubris. In the real world to be dismissed as an intellectual is to be deemed to be on sabbatical from grim reality. In the brutal world of post-colonial politics it is almost always fatal to be demonised as an intellectual.

Yet only a visionary idealist could have conceived The Guardian on such magnitude and magnificence. The Guardian remains a magnificent tribute to visionary idealism and the ineluctable power of brilliant ideas and to the fact that no monument is ever left behind by the incurable cynic. But The Guardian is also a telling reminder of how lofty idealism can come unstuck under the relentless hammer of dogged reality.

The typical Macebuh project always came unstuck as recalcitrant reality came into violent and potentially fatal contradiction with posturing idealism. To have imagined that the liberal tradition as it is known in the west can be transplanted to a post-colonial culture without first transforming its illiberal economy and politics is a classic instance of daydreaming that is particularly touching in its idyllic innocence.

To think that the tenets of New Journalism as it is practised in America can be grafted overnight on a culture nurtured by Fleet Street and the wizards of Wapping is to fail to distinguish between harsh reality and elevated reverie. Finally, to begin to imagine that intellectual capital, however solid and sterling, will be equated to real capital when the blue chips are down is to substitute fiction and fantasy for the real world. But as Paul de Man has taught us in Literary Theory, the moment of great insight is often accompanied by great blindness.

The illiberal culture has a way of taking care of the liberal tradition. No organic liberal tradition can emerge from a society steeped in authoritarian and feudal mores. As we are currently learning with the drama unfolding in Nigeria, the more you try to humour such a malignant tradition, the more severe and exorbitant its price becomes.

Stanley Macebuh ought to have learnt the lesson very early enough. Shortly after the military retreated to the barracks, Dr Patrick Dele Cole, his bosom friend and confidant, was eased out of office. Most politicians have no time for freewheeling intellectuals. For Macebuh, the final straw and the moment of radical epiphany came not long after. By his own admission, he had gone back to Umaru Dikko’s office to retrieve a document only to find the great man of letters and Admiral of the rice armada, red biro in hand, poring over an editorial he (Macebuh) had just passed for publication. It doesn’t get more liberal than that.

Still, it must be conceded that it takes a certain audacity of hope to have conceived The Guardian on such a scale, and so soon after The Daily Times fiasco. The Guardian at its inception was the greatest constellation of intellectual luminaries to have graced any newspaper stable in the history of Nigeria. It was brimful of the best and the brightest and boasted of all kinds of ideological tendencies from the far left to the far right. Almost three decades later, one still marvels at how anybody could have pulled off such a stupendous coup. It was a starry-eyed venture by a starry-eyed intellectual.

As a completely detribalised Nigerian who believed in the aristocracy of intellect, one of the unintended consequences of the arrival of The Guardian was that it opened the door for many Nigerians who were technically Macebuh’s intellectual adversaries to be heard. Snooper owes Macebuh and Dele Giwa a personal debt of gratitude for this development. But as usual, reality came knocking very fast. The strange but understandable reversal of The Guardian’s “simply Mr” policy was a sickening blow to its credibility but it was a pointer to a coming katakata. It showcases the immense capacity of a rooted and organic illiberal culture to upend a disembodied liberal tradition. From this point, things began to read like the chronicle of a liberal collapse foretold.

After the great electoral robbery of 1983 by the Shagari administration, The Guardian for a long time maintained a studied and significant silence. It was a case of hear no evil and see no evil. It took a blistering and damning rejoinder from a don in one of our universities to rouse the flagship from its millennial stupor. The article was published on 1st November, 1983 after The Guardian Nomenklatura sat on it for over five weeks. As the author, yours sincerely should know.

As a direct response to the article and a rebuttal of its argumentative thrust, Stanley Macebuh penned a classic famously titled, The liberal Tradition and its Enemies. It was Macebuh at his most brilliantly persuasive and at the summit of his stylistic sublimity. But the article was also seething with glaring contradictions and unintended ironies. Rather than calming frayed nerves, it brought a gale of intellectual recriminations which only subsided with the military take over a few weeks after. The Guardian and Macebuh had been badly mauled.

After this, it was only a question of time before the contradiction between real capital and intellectual capital would arrive at the flashing point of fatality. In the contest between brutish, illiberal power and effete liberality the outcome is certain. The end came not long thereafter. In a night of the long knife, Stanley Macebuh was summarily cashiered from The Guardian. He was also reportedly slammed with an oath of silence as part of the settlement.

By this time, Dele Giwa had been physically accounted for. SAP was also taking care of those rowdy professors who were disturbing the peace of the nation by writing what they were not paid to write. Surely, if they do not eat, they cannot philosophize; and if they are made to become pedestrians all over again, their thinking will also become pedestrian. By which time they will know the true husband of their mothers. And so it came to pass. All became quiet on the intellectual front. It is called the pacification of professors.

But Stanley has paid his dues and paid the price. Hurt by the abominable discourtesy with which he had been treated by the capital class, Macebuh also made a bid to acquire real capital through the business of sugar importation. This did not go far either. Impishly hilarious as usual, MKO Abiola was known to have accosted Macebuh at a public function. “Ah Stanley, sugar is sweet ooo!!!”, MKO bellowed. “Chief, but money sweet pass”, Macebuh was said to have shot back.

Sugar is sweet, money is sweeter but power is the sweetest. In his bid to understudy power, Stanley Macebuh was rewarded with serial dismissal by his friend, General Olusegun Obasanjo. Perhaps we can now conclude. The greatest enemies of the trader in intellectual commodity are not the other traders in ideas however adversarial but the trader in power as a commodity. The greatest enemy of the liberal tradition is the illiberal tradition and its champions and collaborators. Let this great Nigerian now rest in peace.
- First published in 2009
November 29, 2015
How tradition delayed Olu of Warri’s ‘death’

It was one of those times when tradition muzzled a people and prevented them from expressing their emotions and grief, at least publicly. An overcast of gloom had pervaded Iwere (Warri) Kingdom in Delta State, as the rumour gathered momentum that the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II had joined his ancestors. It started in the early week of September, but the people could not mourn one of the gravest tragedies of the last three decades because their tradition forbids them from acknowledging the news until the whole hog of rites had been completed.

•A cross section of chiefs and Itsekiri people

Olu Ogiame Atuwatse II was the centripetal force that moved and glued the Itsekiri nation. He was the pride of the Itsekiri, a group that prides itself as ‘one people under one monarch’. They occupy, but are not restricted, to the three Warri local government areas of Delta State. The Itsekiri tribes are found in communities, such as Ugbolokposo in Uvwie Local Government Area, in Ologbo and other villages and hamlets in Edo State and they all revere their Olu as a deity that is second only to God.

But the death of Atuwatse II remained a rumour until last Saturday, when the Ojomo of Warri Kingdom, Chief Yaya Pessu, who acted the role of Ologbotsere, symbolically broke the pot of white chalk to announce his death. The rite freed the people from the burden of secrecy and era of topsy-turvydom.

The much revered monarch was last sighted by this reporter at his palace, when the state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, consulted with him before the constitution of the board of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission. Three Itsekiri indigenes – Mr Godwin Ebosa, Chief Thomas Ereyitomi and Mr Victor Woods – made the board.

Days later, Niger Delta Report learnt that the monarch had joined his ancestors after a domestic accident. His death took place at a private hospital in Lagos where he was flown to for medical attention. Prior to the sad event, the monarch had been slowed for years by a protracted ailment.

• The palace

Despite the report, prominent Itsekiri leaders, traditional titleholders and members of the royal family in of the kingdom (Otolus) kept mum. Some of the palace chiefs who are close to this reporter suddenly stopped taking his call, ostensibly to wade off inquiries about the monarch’s death.

The Iwere Integrity Group, in a terse statement denied the report but left open many possible interpretations. The statement was signed by over 30 members and the chairman and secretary, Mr Moses Fregene and Robinson Ariyo.

Barely a day before the Ode-Itsekiri announcement, this reporter spoke with Prince Ebiyemi Emiko, one of those considered as possible successor. The trained journalist also feigned ignorance. Prince ‘Yemi said he wasn’t aware of the death of his brother or that one of the most exalted traditional stool in the land was vacant.

By that time, Chief Yaya Pessu, the highest ranking and oldest member of the Olu Advisory Council, had sent out invitation for a National Assembly of the Itsekiri people. There was anxiety and uneasy calm in the kingdom. Telephone lines of prominent Itsekiri leaders and members of the JOS Ayomike-led Itsekiri Leaders of Thought, rang incessantly as people called for information and news on latest developments.

•Becroft waiting at Ode-Itsekiri

It was under this specter of tradition-induced silence and tension that the Itsekiri nation gathered at their ancestral home of Ode-Itsekiri (Big Warri) in Warri South Local Government Area on Saturday. The atmosphere at the Aghofen (Palace) in Ode-Itsekiri was tense. About all the Ojoyes (noble titleholders) were present; they were led by the Chief Pessu and Chief Isaac Jemide, the Otsodi of Warri Kingdom – the duo are the only surviving members of the Olu Advisory Council.

The only dignitary missing was Chief Gabriel Mabiaku, the Iyasere, who died weeks earlier and the most important personage in the kingdom. Olu Atuwatse II was visibly missing and his shadow loomed over the overcrowded galleria; it spread through the roads and walkway from his palace to the waterside and darkened the horizon.

Those who went to the arena hoping, against hope, that the man whose numerous titles include Ogbowuru Afomasin would somehow materialise, had their hopes dashed when Chief Pessu and other chiefs trudge in their traditional white chiefly robes and red cummerbunds. But this time, they also had the symbolic black sash over the red and the usual spring in their gaits was missing.

They came from far and wide, from various clans and lineage of the famous tribe. Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, led Igba and there were chiefs Hayman, Walter Omadeli, Mene Brown, Nelson Utienyinone, Emmanuel Jones, Edward Olley and E A Tetseola, among others.

At the dais where Pessu and Jemide other chiefs sat, an immaculate white chair stood empty; its void symbolised the absence of the highest authority in Iwere (Itsekiri) land.

Even younger men like Mr Temi Kingsway-Eyoyibo and Oregbemi Onamoren- Beecroft, who besieged Ode-Itsekiri decked in his kemeje (traditional male attire), knew that something was amiss. The reality that they were about to hear a bad news about the monarch they loved and respected began to dawn.

“I felt proud being an Itsekiri and in my ancestral home, but at the same time, I dreaded what was coming. Ogiame Atuwatse II was our father, he was our baba and the one whose pronouncement settles all arguments,” Onamoren-Beecroft told our reporter; his voice was laden with emotion.

A few minutes later, after singing the Ara Olorire (Itsekiri National Anthem) and other formalities, the Chief Priest, Chief Pessu, who bore earthen pots of efun (native chalk) raised one over his head and smashed it unto the ground. The poignant rite was accompanied by cries of Ale je efun, which literarily means ‘the ground has eaten the native chalk’, and ‘Ata tse’ (the anchor is broken) signifying that Olu was no more.

• Breaking of the pot of chalk

The rite was followed by murmurs of ‘eh oooh’, gnashing of teeth and shaking of heads as the import of the ceremony seeped through the sea of people. Some cried, others were too dazed to react. The time was 11:50am. Canon shots rent the air, the boom reaching as far as neighbouring communities like Ubeji, Ugbuwangue and the others communities in the kingdom and the Oil City of Warri metropolis.

But barely 25 minutes later – at 12:15pm, the crowd was animated and in jubilant mood.

Chief Pessu, after consulting with Jemide and other Ojoyes, announced that the late monarch would be succeed by his younger brother, Prince Ikenwoli Godfrey Gbesimi Emiko (aka Abiloye). And the ‘eh oooh’ and sorrow swiftly turned to shouts of joy. There was no doubt that the choice was a very popular one.

It was reminiscent of a similar rite nearly three decades ago, when Chief Ogbeyiwa Newe Rewane, announced the death of Olu Erejuwa II, who reigned from 1936 to 1987. But the euphoria and rapturous response that greeted Saturday’s announcement of Prince Ikenwoli contrasted with the announcement of then Prince Toritseju Emiko as Olu-designate in 1987, because a section, perhaps the large slice, of the kingdom preferred Prince Ikenwoli, who was also his late father’s choice.

The response that greeted the emergence of Prince Ikenwoli, indicated that 28 years after missing out on the throne, he was still a very popular choice. His emergence was the first time in centuries that an Itsekiri monarch would be succeeded by his brother, but there was no dissent.

Prince Tsola Emiko, the first son of the late monarch, as was earlier reported by The Nation, was disqualified on the account of his maternal lineage. The 1979 gazette on the monarchy was unambiquous: only princes born of Itsekiri or Edo mothers can ascend the throne. Prince Tsola’s mother is a Yoruba.

The announcement brought consolation to the grief-stricken nation. Men, women and youths erupted in singing and dancing as their new monarch surfaced to take the vacant white chair surrounded by regally dressed chiefs.

Shouts of ‘eeeeeeeeee iwoooooooo, eeeeeeeeeee iwoooooooo’, rented the air as the 60-year-old University of Benin graduate was led before thousands of singing and dancing Itsekiri men and women.

Decked in a sky blue damask kemeje and a matching wrapper, the Olu-designate emerged. He carried himself with the same grace and dignity that he had maintained nearly 30 years after he missed the stool.

The Olu of Warri-designate

Edged on all sides by younger Ojoyes including chiefs Ayirimi Emami, Thomas Ereyitomi and Francis Omatseye, among others, the man who would be addressed as Olu of Warri in a few months, was sat on the white chair at the centre of the room.

The day’s job was done and Olu-designate had completed the first stage of a long walk to the throne of his father.

But the rite is far from finished; he still has to participate in the burial rites and ceremonies of his older brother and predecessor. The final rite of passage will culminate in the ‘Iken Rites’, at the Royal Cemetery in Ijala, one of the five most important communities in the Warri Kingdom.

The 1979 Gazette of the defunct Bendel State, which is the law regulating succession to the title of the Olu of Warri, states that the Omoba’s failure to perform and complete the burial rites and ceremonies is bar to his installation, irrespective of the event of last Saturday.

The gazette, made under Section 8 of the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Edict, 1979, also specified that after interring the late Olu, Omoba Ikenwoli would proceed on “Ideniken” where he remains for a period of three lunar months.

The period is used to complete the burial rites and ceremonies for Atuwatse II. A very knowledgeable members of the kingdom also informed NDR, that the Ideniken is also an orientation and induction course for the next Olu.

“Prince Ikenwoli has been prepared for the role he is to assume a very long time ago; he is an Abiloye, the Itsekiri’s crown prince of sort. Apart from his formal education, he was schooled in the Itsekiri culture and tradition and that is why there were murmurs when he was overlooked in 1979. But that is not enough; he has merely passed a stage and there is now the last and final stage that will put him head and shoulder above his subjects – the Ideniken,” our source added.

September 25, 2015
Youths urge kingmakers to consider tradition

A group, The Cradle Youths, has urged Ife kingmakers to consider the tradition of the ancient town in installing the next Ooni.

In a statement by its co-ordinator, Mr. Kunle Elusayo, the Ife-based group described as an abomination an attempt to pick a prince that has been conferred with a chieftaincy title.

The statement reads: “As a prince, it is an abomination to offer and receive any chieftaincy title, regardless of the prestige and ovation associated with such a title. A prince is a prospective king. Being a prince places one at a vintage position ahead of any chieftaincy title and such cannot be compromised.

“Only those who are not princes are given chieftaincy titles and chiefs are not qualified to be Ooni of Ife. Princes are never conferred with chieftaincy titles. Once a prince, always a prince. This is a popular Yoruba custom.

“It is, therefore, odd to see chiefs coming out to say they want to be Ooni, which is impossible. Their declaration of intention is in the first place an embarrassment to our tradition.”

August 31, 2015
Ile-Ife: Tradition Vs Modernity (2)
Ife has strong traditional and cultural beliefs that have endured for a very long time. While modernity has been encroaching very fast into various societies, the people of Ife have placed a high premium on their culture and tradition. That is why in the face of all the media attention on the fate of the Ooni, the people of the ancient city have remained undaunted and unperturbed, preferring instead, to hold on tenaciously to their age long belief.

After all, as a foremost traditional society in Africa, Ife, as the cradle of the Yoruba race, must lead by example. The institution of the Ooni stool remains the existing seat of Oduduwa, the father of the Yoruba race. As the religious and cultural matrix of the Yorubas, Ile-Ife carries the burden of a great responsibility on its shoulders. Since the Yorubas, whose ancestry is traced to Oduduwa, are unique in their ways and values, it, therefore, follows that all the Obas in Yoruba land are direct descendants of Oduduwa. This is because they all left Ile-Ife at one time or another to settle down in their present places of abode. This is what unmistakably confers on Ile-Ife the enviable title of the cradle of the Yoruba race. As a result of this, any occupant of the Ooni stool is directly confronted with the arduous role of ensuring unity among Yoruba Obas.

Like I said last week, oral tradition and legend have played a significant role in the history and foundation of the Yoruba as Oduduwa was supposed to have been lowered down through the clouds with a string, bearing some sand and a cockerel in his hand. He was said to have spewed the sand on the ground while he released the cock to spread it over the surface of the whole earth which was then all covered by water. But there is another version, a less mythical story of the founding of Ile-Ife. The narration is that Oduduwa came from Mecca. The account is corroborated by archeological excavations of terracottas, carved figures, brass castings, stools and monoliths in granite and quartz found in several parts of the town. All these gave the suggestion that the Yorubas have the similarity of cultural origin with Egypt. The common denominator in all the various historical narrations of the origin of the Yoruba race is the undisputable acceptance of Oduduwa as their founder and progenitor. This has been the unbreakable bond of unification among the Yorubas.

Having said this, perhaps, we should now examine the importance of the Ooni in Yoruba history. The Ooni’s stool is an important one and it will be quite antithetical for anybody to question the authenticity of its superiority. The Ooni, a position which every occupant has carried with panache, charisma, candour, respectability and gaiety, is the spiritual head of the Yoruba race. The spiritual headship of the Yoruba race by the Ooni cannot be queried, because the authenticity of his leadership has remained sacrosanct since creation as attested to by various writers and historians.

In a passing reference, in its Volume No 9, of December 1932 pages 10-11, the West African Students’ Union, WASU, Magazine, featured the following: ……”the Ooni of Ife – the traditionally appointed Head of The Oduduwa House” ….. Also in 1932, the writers of Itan Ilesa, listed on page 115, the following as the sons of Oduduwa (alias Olofinaye i. e. the great lord of the world). (i) Obanifon (ii) Oba Ado (Benin) (iii) Oloye (iv) Owa Ilesa (v) Orangun Aga (vi) Ajero (vii) Elekole (viii) Ore Otun (ix) Alaketu or Aketu (x) Awujale Ijebu Ode (xi) Olowu (xii) Alara (xiii) Olojudo (xiv) Oloye (xv) Osemifarawe or Osemawe (xvi) Onipopo King of the Popos (vii) Oninan a King of the Nanans etc. Similarly, in Volume XII No 4, 662 of Monday, March 14, 1938, one Old Campaigner, a correspondent of the Nigerian Daily Times, in an article entitled “Forthcoming Chiefs’ Conference in Yoruba land’s Garden of Eden” wrote: “Here again, the Ooni, whom one may be permitted on the authority of Ex-Resident H. L. Wardprice, to call the super-father of the grand family of Oduduwa, had himself led the way”…..

According to the writers of Itan Ilesa, “Obanifon (obalufon) occupying the premier position among the sons of Oduduwa was the last surviving son of Oduduwa. He ascended the throne of Ife after the demise of their father and he is the ancestor of the succeeding Oonis of Ife”. What this implies is that as a successor to the throne of Oduduwa, the Ooni of Ife represents the tree while other princes who went away and founded new kingdoms represent the branches: In the Government Gazette No 13, March 28, 1903, the great Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Adeyemi Alowolodu was in a discussion with Sir William Macgregor the governor of Lagos on the previous visit to Lagos of the Ooni of Ife early in 1903. In reply to a question from the Governor, the Alafin said, “Egbon mi ni” meaning “He (the Ooni) is my older brother”. That 1903 visit of Oba Olubuse Adelekan, the then Ooni of Ife, to Lagos on the invitation by the Government, was purposely to decide whether or not the two Obas of Remo at that time who were asking for beaded crown had a right to wear it. How the Ooni decided the two cases was how the case was rested. It was there and then made public that it is the prerogative of the Ooni and Ooni alone, as the accredited head of the crowned sons of Oduduwa, to decide which of the rulers of Yoruba land had the right to wear a beaded crown.

In short, the Obas in Yoruba land know their relative position to the Ooni of Ife and documentary evidence abounds to buttress this claim. There are many other definitive things which are the prerogative of the Ooni alone as the head of the family of the Oduduwa House. However, the problem is not that these facts are not commonly known but there are some who are reluctant to accept them as true. For instance, on page 13 of the History of Abeokuta, by A.K. Ajisafe, even though two of the crowned sons of Oduduwa – the Alaafin of Oyo and the Oba of Benin – grew powerful with mighty influence, they still conceded to the Ooni his unquestionable prerogatives throughout the length and breadth of the commonwealth of Oduduwa. At a time in the past when most of the Yoruba Obas including the Owa of Ilesa, became tributary to the Alaafin of Oyo, the Ooni’s influence continued unabated.

‘The spiritual headship of the Yoruba race by the Oni cannot be queried, because the authenticity of his leadership has remained sacrosanct since creation as attested to by various writers and historians’
A record of the 15th Century gave an example of the powerful Oba of Benin’s own relative position to the Ooni. When a new Oba of Benin was to be installed, for the insignia of royalty, the Ooni used to send: a staff, a cap or crown, a cross and a sword. Whenever an Oba of Benin joined his ancestors, it was customary to send to Ile-Ife to get an official mask of the deceased Oba. Usually the Benin envoys sent to Ile-Ife were only allowed to see the Ooni’s foot. On the departure of such envoys they became for life “enjoyers of the freedom of Ife”, and crosses were put around their neck. In that century, the Chief of Ugwato, a Benin Ambassador, accompanied some Portuguese to Portugal. There, the Bini Chief gave information of a most powerful king named Ogane (i. e. the Ooni of Ife) to whom even the great Oba of Benin was subject. This so moved the king of Portugal that he sent in the year 1485, one Jose Affonso d’ Aveiro, to accompany the Bini envoy to see the Ooni of Ife.
- To be continued
August 12, 2015
Ooni: The limits of tradition

Last week Wednesday, most newspapers (if not all) went to town with the front page story of the ‘death’ of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade. This was an absolute contradiction of Yoruba culture and tradition, of which Oba Sijuwade was (is?) the custodian. In Yoruba land, announcing the death of a monarch is viewed as a taboo, especially if it is done by an unauthorised person. The announcement is not made by just anybody. The case is made even more intriguing when most of the newspapers which announced the ‘death’ on their front pages are situated in Yoruba land and should know that an Oba does not die, as they say. Perhaps one would have expected the headline to read something like “Ooni of Ife joins ancestors’ or ‘Ooni passes on’.

But in this age of internet and the vicious fight to retain readership and maximize space, the headline by most of the newspapers read ‘Ooni of Ife is dead’, ‘Ooni dies at 85’, these are shorter headlines and make for commercial success than a tepid one that says the respected monarch has passed on.

It is clear from the confusion that dogged the story the day after that what the Yoruba tradition and culture had to contend with at this juncture was the stark reality of the fact that we are living in an age of technology (what someone has perhaps rightly called ‘Google World’). It is now a world where any tradition that does not want to change would either die or invent its own paradigm. This was the root of the issues that arose with the reported ‘death’ of the monarch.

The moment the monarch was flown abroad for treatment in this age of internet, the culture and tradition given way and the rest have been taken out of the hands of the Traditional Council which was entrusted with the task of announcing the transition of the Yoruba monarch. It is my considered view that if the monarch had joined his ancestors in a hospital here in Nigeria it would have been easy to keep the news from the public until all traditional rites have been performed!

Taking the sail out of the wind of our traditions and culture would continue until we get our health facilities right and we can treat our sick and invalid here, no matter how highly placed. The passing of the Ooni in a foreign land and hospital would not be the first of a royal father. In 2012 when Oba Oladere Olashore of Iloko Ijesa died in a London hospital the news hit the internet almost immediately. And just like the recent news about the Ooni, the family and the traditional council denied his transition until very much later when they could no longer deny the obvious.

In Africa and most especially in Nigeria, our leaders, traditional or public office holders, are treated like some gods who are infallible and therefore could never fall sick. If, for instance, the Queen of England is taken ill today it would surely hit the front pages of major British newspapers and headline the other media. The report would not end there, it would also detail what sorts of ailment the Queen is suffering from. That is their culture and we cannot grudge them that. Our own society is not than open. We live in a world of denial.

Recently, the United States Secretary of State John Kerry was shown on world television attending an international event supporting himself with crutches. This can never happen in our clime. Our leaders, ministers, or public office holders can never be sick, they are like gods. Remember the drama that attended the sickness and eventual death of former President Umaru Yar’Adua.

As of the time of writing this piece, the true state of events on the health of the monarch is still unknown or more appropriately, his transition has not been ‘officially’ announced but we all know the truth. But what a better way to conclude this treatise than to resort to quoting another eminent son of Yoruba land, as the Yoruba Ewi (poetry) exponent Chief Olatunbosun Oladapo said in one of his records Ta la ntan? (Who are we deceiving?). Has the Ooni joined his ancestors or not?

We are waiting for the official announcement.

August 9, 2015
Ile-Ife: Tradition Vs Modernity (1)

It is quite obvious that those who question the myth of Ile-Ife as the origin of the human race cannot deny the historical roots of Yoruba people as a whole in the ancient town. The town is home to the sacred grove of Oduduwa, the progenitor and founder of the entire Yoruba race and to whom all Yoruba, scattered all over the globe, hold their existence. Today, a short walk from the palace of the Ooni of Ife, situated at the centre of the ancient town called Enuwa, takes you to an area called Igbodio where the sacred grove of Oduduwa is located.

Inside the grove, is a moderate building surrounded by trees. Inside the building, which is not accessible to anyone except the traditionalists in the town, is a rustic, ancient chain through which Oduduwa was said to have descended to the earth. Although, different towns and congregations of Yoruba have different stories about how they got to their present locations, that they still owe allegiance to Oduduwa is not in doubt. Except for Ile-Ife where the grove housing Oduduwa is located, I do not know anywhere else where such exists in Yorubaland.

Having said this, the role of an Ooni is central in the affairs of the Yoruba people. And when an Ooni brings to that role, the virtues of wide-spread business and enterprise experiences, immense regional, national and international connections, wisdom, wealth, and above all, a dignifying carriage, it is bound to make tremendous impact on the race in particular and other black people in the Diaspora in general.

These days, modernity has reduced the world to a global village where events and activities happening thousands of miles apart are simultaneously received and monitored all over the place with electric speed in the comfort of homes and offices. But despite these ever-consuming forces of modernity and advancement in technology, the umbilical cord that binds the ancient town of Ife with tradition has remained unbroken. Last week, the ancient town, the cradle of the Yoruba race was put in the spotlight. In what was akin to a clash of the titans, there was a direct collision between the forces of tradition and modernity. While tradition, as exemplified by traditionalists in the ancient town held on to their age-long beliefs and norms, the forces of modernity which have found expression in the internet and the social media through smart gadgets and what have you, were both engaged in a war of supremacy.

It all began like a whisper in the early evening of Tuesday, July 28, before it quickly snowballed into a near ‘conflagration’ of sorts. Time was about 8:30pm, Nigerian time which also corresponds with the summer time in London. That evening, I received an unusual call from London. The terse message from the other end almost threw me off balance: “Baba ti lo” meaning, Papa is gone. I stammered: “Baba wo?” meaning, which Papa? My adrenalin shot up. My question received no immediate response as the person on the other side simply said: “Jo, je kin pe e pada” meaning, “Please, let me call you back.”

From that time on, things happened in quick succession. My phones rang endlessly. Calls came in from virtually everywhere from friends and relatives as well as from numerous colleagues both within and outside the country – the USA, Canada, Britain, etc. They all wanted to confirm whether the news they had heard or picked up on the internet about Ile Oodua (Oduduwa House) as the palace at Ife is now known, was true. Of course, I had nothing to tell them. All I could say was that I had just received a call from London pointing to the same thing but that the person at the other end quickly hung up with a promise to get back to me.

Minutes turned into hours and the expectations continued as the phones will not stop ringing throughout the night. I could not get annoyed for the disturbance the calls posed to my sleep that night. I knew I was paying the price for having been born and bred within the four walls of the palace in Ife where I lived for more than 22 years with my parents and siblings during the reign of a great son of Oduduwa, also a great figure in Nigeria’s history, Sir Adesoji Tadeniawo Aderemi, the late Ooni of Ife, 1930-1980. The callers truncated my sleep that night because they thought I was in a position to throw more light on the wild “rumour”.

The following day, almost all the newspapers in the news-stands carried the story in one form or another. The other communication outlets – the internet, via smart gadgets and the social media platforms – also continued their feast on the news. But there is no way modernity will consign tradition to the backyard of events especially when the transition of a revered monarch and powerful institution as the Ooni of Ife is involved. In spite of the encroachment of modernity on our traditional ways of life in Africa, traditional beliefs especially in places like the Benin kingdom, Ile-Ife, Oyo and many other historical towns in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, have remained sacrosanct and unyielding to civilization. It is this unyielding stance that precipitated the clash between tradition and modernity which we have witnessed in the developments in Ife. What is at the centre of the raging media war between the traditional chiefs in Ife and mass communication practitioners who believe that it is their duty to keep the people and their readers informed of happenings at all times, is the belief that tradition is superior to modernity.

For more than four months now, the Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolopkolo, Erediauwa, has neither been seen nor heard in public. Though the Benin Traditional Council came up with the news that the revered Oba was indisposed on March 8, since then, nobody has dared to speculate anything about the Oba. Over the years, the Binis have held tenaciously to their tradition so much that whatever happens to their highly revered monarch cannot be for public consumption under whatever guise until the Traditional Council decides otherwise. This tradition is as old as the Benin kingdom itself. It is a procedure that has been rigidly followed and has remained unbroken for centuries, modernity notwithstanding. I guess the whole country is now waiting patiently for an update on the fate of the Oba from the traditionalists in Benin. Before then, people can only talk in hushed tones. Such is the fear and trepidation that tradition has created.

Perhaps, one of the reasons the media has been abuzz with recent development at Ile Oodua, is the flamboyance and visibility of the occupant of the Ooni’s stool which, over the years, has been accorded tremendous media attention and conspicuous visibility. As a result of this, it is natural that any news, whether good or bad, emanating from the Source, as Ile-Ife is affectionately called, will attract instant media celebration. Besides, it appears there are far too many leakages in the whole system and these leakages can only be engineered from within. It is like what comes around, goes round. The same scenario that played out in July 1980, is again playing out with greater effervescence and disruptive capacity to tradition, this time around in July 2015.

The question now begging for answer is: With increasing advancement in communication technology, how can these perennial leakages be stopped? I have written this with a great sense of responsibility and reverence as an ‘insider’ who has a good knowledge of Ile-Ife and particularly, the story of the palace of the Ooni of Ife.

‘Perhaps, one of the reasons the media has been abuzz with recent development at Ile Oodua, is the flamboyance and visibility of the occupant of the Ooni’s stool which, over the years, has been accorded tremendous media attention and conspicuous visibility ’

August 5, 2015
Culture, tradition on display as Ikere gets new king

There was excitement in the air last Friday as the new Ogoga of Ikere-Ekiti in Ekiti State, Oba Adejimi Adu, formally begins his reign. He entered the palace following the conclusion of all necessary traditional rites of passage to the ancient throne. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports.

The atmosphere was ecstatic and the suspense that had hung in the air all this while suddenly gave way to assurance, joy and fulfilment for the people of Ikere-Ekiti.

They people trooped out enmasse to witness the final rites of passage to the throne of the new Ogoga of Ikere, Oba Samuel Adejimi Adu, who formally assumed the throne as the king of the city.

Having been installed and presented with the instruments of appointment by Governor Ayo Fayose on July 6 at a colourful ceremony held at the sports field of the Holy Trinity Anglican Primary School, Odo-Oja, the next stage in his road to the throne was the performance of traditional rites.

•The Ogoga shortly before he left the Iwoye.

The new Ogoga’s next port of call was the Iwoye, a traditional place of temporary abode where he would undergo further rites and where he would receive homage from various interest groups in the community until his assumption of the palace.

It should be noted that the last time such an event was witnessed in the Iwoye was in 1971 when the last Ogoga, the late Oba Samuel Adegoke Adegboye, was installed as the traditional ruler of Ikere.

An indigene of the community told Southwest Report that it was the same place where the late Oba Adegboye underwent his traditional rites before assuming the throne.

The late Oba Adegboye, who reigned for 43 years, joined his ancestors on August 22, 2014 which made one of the most sought-after thrones in Ekiti land vacant; sparking a bitter struggle for the royal seat among princes in the eligible royal families.

At the end of the selection processes, it was Oba Adu that emerged as the Ogoga-elect after many rounds of consultations with the Ifa Oracle and election among the kingmakers.

A visit to Iwoye revealed a busy day for the new monarch as indigenes of the community streamed to the place on daily basis while the new king was still there. Locating the Iwoye by a first timer might prove a Herculean task as it also fell on an Oja-Oba (King’s Market) day which drew further crowd to the area.

It should be noted that the Oja-Oba’s original location was the precincts of the Ogoga’s Palace but it had to be moved backwards to the Iwoye area following the death of Oba Adegboye.

The market is expected to be moved back to its original location with the enthronement of the new Ogoga and the conclusion of his rite of passage to the throne.

Some came to catch a glimpse of the new Kabiyesi, others came to pay homage either as individuals or groups while others came to offer prayers either in Christian or traditional ways to seek the blessings and favour of the Almighty for a fruitful reign.

•Traditional praise-singers chanting Oba Adu’s oriki (panegyrics).

Oba Adu, who took his time to attend to his subjects, waved the irukere (horsetail) in appreciation of their homage and the chanting of his praises.

He was resplendent in an all-white outfit and intermittently beamed some smiles as each of the interest groups paid their homage.

A local trumpeter was on ground blowing royal tunes while local drummers added colour and life to the event.

Palace guards also ensured that there was law and order at the Iwoye as they attended to guests coming to pay visit and homage to the new royal father.

Friday was a busy day for Oba Adu as it marked the day the traditional rites would be concluded and a huge crowd thronged the Iwoye to accompany the monarch to the palace.

Oba Adu, who is from the Agirilala Ruling House received homage from traditional chiefs, quarter chiefs, age grade groups, women groups, youths, interest groups and ethnic nationalities who wished him a peaceful reign on the throne of his forefathers.

The chants of Kaaaaabiyesiooooooo rent the air as the Ogoga emerged from the inner recesses of the Iwoye; wearing a deep brown agbada with a sprinkling of cream colour. A snowy white crown gleamed on his head.

Making his way out of the Iwoye was taxing as the enthusiastic crowd of Ikere indigenes came to felicitate with him. Another round of Christian and traditional prayers ensued.

As the new Ogoga was leaving the Iwoye, the two chambers there were locked and some residents claimed that they won’t be opened again until another Ogoga will be installed.

Most of the youth present were witnessing the traditional spectacle for the first time as they had not been born in 1971 when Oba Adu’s predecessor was installed.

•The wife of the Ogoga, Olori Olufunmilola Ololade Adu…at the Iwoye.

The wife of the new Ogoga, Olufunmilola Ololade, who had her suku hairstyle adorned with beads to mark her new status as Olori was beaming with smiles as she humbly acknowledged greetings from well-wishers.

Before leaving the Iwoye, a goat was slaughtered and the new king stepped on the blood as one of the rites to be performed for his final passage to the coveted royal stool.

After the rite was performed, the new Ogoga was taken to Chief Akamuja where another rite was administered on him.

Akamuja highlighted the dos and don’ts of the occupant of the royal seat and the ritual was to make his reign crisis-free. Kola nuts were tossed and they landed with their faces up which were a good omen for Oba Adu’s reign.

The development was unique in the history of the Ogogas in the community and this symbolised immense prosperity and splendour.

He was taken to some shrines and junctions to observe the last round of rites before heading to the palace to commence his reign.

Following the conclusion of the rites, Oba Adu headed for the palace amid singing, drumming and trumpeting; marking the beginning of a new era in the history of Ikere Kingdom.

On arrival at the palace and sitting on the palace throne for the first time, Oba Adu received another round of homage from chiefs, age-grade groups and other interest groups in the community.

One of the high chiefs, the Sao of Ikere, Chief Jide Omotoso, prayed for peace, progress, prosperity and development of the town during the reign of the new king.

Addressing reporters earlier in the day at Iwoye, Oba Adu called on the indigenes to join hands with him to develop the town.

According to him, he felt fulfilled and humbled becoming the 27th Ogoga of Ikere; promising to justify the confidence reposed in him by the kingmakers and other stakeholders in the community.

He explained that he would use his new position to ensure that peace reigns in the town, which, he said, will engender rapid socio-economic development in Ekiti land.

Oba Adu also used the opportunity to extend a hand of fellowship to other princes who contested the throne with him; promising to carry them along in the day-to-day running of the community.

While emphasising that development could only take place in an atmosphere of peace, Oba Adu said he has started reaching out to his co-contestants and other people who are aggrieved by his emergence to join hands and lift the town to greater heights.

He revealed that all the kingmakers have resolved to work with him, even as they are actively involved in the task of reconciling fellow royals.

Unfolding his development agenda for Ikere during his reign, Oba Adu explained that his dream was to work towards the industrialisation of the community to boost its economy.

He pledged to enlist the support of his friends within and outside the country to invest in the town and tap its abundant agricultural, forestry, mineral and tourism potential.

Oba Adu said he was deeply concerned about the high rate of unemployment among the youth of the community, saying it would be given priority attention in his development agenda.

He said: “I am deeply concerned about our graduate youths who are unemployed. My desire is to reach out to industrialists to set up industries and small-scale businesses to provide jobs for our teeming youths.

“Ikere has huge potential as investors’ destination and I will work with my people to ensure overall development of our town as the community is strategically located.

“I feel elated, humbled and proud to be chosen as the Ogoga and this will give me an opportunity to work for the peace, progress and development of Ikere because Ikere is a city that had never been conquered in history.

“This is a thing of joy, this is a thing of great fulfilment and I am looking forward to a peaceful, fruitful and prosperous reign.”

Some of the programmes and policies he hopes to execute as the Ogoga of Ikere include the unity of the town and its inhabitants as a whole, better welfare for the chiefs, promotion of environment conducive to business, expansion and extension of Ikere, maximising the population strength of the community and using Ikere Day as a platform of development.

Oba Adu attended Baptist Primary School, Ikere and also briefly attended L.A. Modern School, Igbara Odo Road Ikere.

Oba Adu had been involved in community development efforts before becoming the Ogoga as a member of Ikere Development Forum (IDF).

He established two sawmills in Ikere to create jobs for the people of the community. He also built a big warehouse in his attempt to have Golden Fliyr Mills set up a depot for the supply of flour and cement to Ikere thereby improving the local economy and to create more jobs.

Oba Adu is also Chairman, Akoda Ventures; Chairman, Dejimi Investment Company; Principal Partner, Dejimi Consulting; Director, Seadol Oil Services Limited; Principal Partner in Sealords Marine Consultants and Director, Inisa Energy Limited.

July 22, 2015
A date with tradition

Awolowo Hall at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, was agog last Saturday for Aro (comical display) Day organised by the residents. AFEES LASISI (300-Level Political Science) reports.

Aro has become an enduring tradition at the Awolowo Hall of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State. It is a comic display in which students crack jokes about realities of campus life.

The tradition has been sustained for years, and for residents of the hall, Aro Day helps to relieve themselves of academic stress.

Last Saturday, Awolowo Hall was agog for the event. This time, the day was marked with the favourite meal in the hall – beans.

Students contributed money to buy a bag of beans, rice and beef to entertain themselves. They woke up early to prepare the food. Rice was added to the delicacy, following its demand by some students. The meal was cooked in a large metal pot in an open area within the hall.

By 2pm, the food was ready and students lined up with their containers to collect the food. Some were served in plates while others brought small pots, bathroom buckets, bowls and trays, among others.

The exercise almost turned rowdy when a student, dressed in female clothes, threatened to beat up one of the cooks for serving him a small meat. He threatened: I go eat wetin dey inside the pot if you no find meat for me, biko.

After the meal, students trooped to the celebration venue – Awo Cafe – for music entertainment by members of the Kegite Club. Female students were not left out; some of them joined the gyration at the cafe. One after the other, students came out to crack jokes about themselves and their lecturers.

Bayo Owolabi, a fresher, was amused by the hilarity of the event. He noted that his experience was not different from what he had been told before his admission into the school.

“I had heard about Aro Day before I got admitted into OAU and everything that happened confirmed what I heard. Students speaking different languages came together to dance and sing. This, in my observation, is the message of the event.”

To Ola Adeola, Aro Day is a period of madness. “The day we are free to abuse anyone and joke about our poor grades without exchanging blows,” he said.

Ola had travelled, but his colleagues informed him of the event. “I rushed back to school this morning to share my own madness,” he added.

Sogo Ayoade, a 200-Level Public Administration student, said: “Aro and Ewa (bean) Day has become a tradition for not just the occupants of Awolowo Hall, but all students of OAU. We are celebrating real madness on campus and it unites us more than any other thing.”

A female student, Sade Bajo, who entertained the boys with her erotic dance, said: “I left my hostel to be here because I always love any event that is held in Awolowo Hall.”

Aro Day, said Tayo Adewale, signifies an important day in the history of the university. It unites and makes all students equal, irrespective of their levels of study, he said.

“I was served ewa inside a bucket and I will eat it for two days,” Yemi Adeagbo, a 300-Level student, said, adding that the event always reminded him of his friends who could not afford three square meals daily.

He said: “For us, it is a time to share what we have in terms of food and money. Any student is free to eat from the food we cooked whether he contributed money or not. We do this to show that we are all colleagues whether we come from rich or poor homes.”

“Aro Day is the funniest day I ever witnessed on the campus. I see it as a day when students display maturity and socialise among themselves. We crack jokes on what may be a bad or embarrassing situation for us. Yet, nobody would feel too big or too small to be mocked because we see ourselves as equals. Rather making us to be divided, Aro makes the bond of friendship between us thicker,” Segun Alao, a student of English said.

April 9, 2015
Alaafin advises youths on custom, tradition

THE Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, has advised youth not to ensure that they remain firmly rooted to their tradition and custom. He stated this at a ceremony in memory of a late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Siyanbola Onikepe Ladigbolu, who reigned between January 15th 1911 and December 19th 1944.

Oba Adeyemi also noted that one of the ways of preserving culture is to continue to research into the lifetimes and activities of our fore-bearers. He said a nation or tribe without customs is as good as a horde of gorillas ravaging the deep forests.

“It is true that modernisation has bombarded our tradition with various vices, but like an ancient fortress built to withstand fierce military onslaught, our traditions and customs have remained the pivot on which rests the dignity of the black man.

If tradition is scrutinised under a historical microscope, it will be seen quite clearly that modernisation is an off-shoot of tradition and as the taproot that sustains modernisation, any attempt to destroy tradition is the surest way to ruin modernisation,” Alaafin said.

Extolling the virtues of the late Alaafin Ladigbolu, Oba Adeyemi said the monarch’s reign was epochal as he recorded many outstanding successes. According to him, during the First World War, the late monarch gave strong support to the recruitment drive of the British armed forces.

As such, several hundreds of recruits from Oyo and its environs enlisted in the army. He [late Oba Ladigbolu] also supplied food, men, and materials to the allied forces during the First World War, 1914-1918.

“Following the German surrender in December 1918, the lae Alaafin Ladigbolu was honoured in Oyo palace by the British colonialists in Januuary 1920,’’ Alaafin recollected.

Oba Adeyemi said the road and the railway initiated by the late Alaafin gave impetus to trade within the kingdom, adding that as a result, rubber, cotton and cocoa were introduced to Yoruba land and Oyo province got her share of the benefits.

He noted that St. Andrews College that was inaugurated in 1896, had blossomed and is still reckoned with within and outside the region.

December 28, 2014
Keeping faith with tradition

Occupants of Awolowo Hall at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, have celebrated the traditional Ewa Day and Aro Night. KEMI BUSARI (Political Science) reports.

The event began at 2pm with shouts of Ewa ti jina ooo (the beans is ready) by a student. No sooner did he finished than students came out with assorted of containers, such as bathroom buckets, bowls, pails, pots, cups, milk tins and nylons.

They lined up to be served.

Those unaware of what was going on joined the queue without any container. Asked what they wanted to use to take the meal, one answered in Pidgin English: “Brother, na for my hand I go take am o.”

As they were served, they moved to a corner to savour the meal. It was a sight to behold as students sang various Aro (hilarious) songs.

That was the scene at the Ewa Day and Aro (hilarity) Night held at the Awolowo Hall of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

Preparation for the day was slow because of the absence of the Hall Executive Council (HEC), which usually coordinated the event.

Occupants of the hall came out and picked the beans. A bag of beans was used for the celebration. A set of students brought firewood, local stoves and aluminum pots to cook the food. They poured the beans in a pot of water and placed it on fire. Some students stayed around, entertaining the cooks with songs.

Female students were not left out. Some of them were spotted, sitting at a corner preparing the drink to be taken during the Aro Night. One of them, Aderonke Adeyemi, a student of Computer Science, said they came to assist the boys and catch fun.

The Aro Night started at 10 o’clock after Awolowo Hall occupants visited the female halls, singing and dancing.

The venue of the programme – Awo Café – was filled up by students, dressed in funny attires.

The event started with a formal introduction by the masters of ceremony, who gave an insight into what to expect.

“We are here tonight to uphold the tradition of Aro Night as we use to do every year. We enjoin every weere (mad men) and were’birin (mad women) present here tonight to relax and be courteous throughout the programme,” one of the comperes, who was dressed in tattered Agbada, said in Yoruba.

Being called a mad man is enough to cause friction, but the reverse was the case at Awo Café; every student that attended the Night event was a mad man.

The Night featured hilarious displays from the Awo ‘choir’ and ‘mad legends’, such as Ogidiolu and Woli Agba.

In the comic display, Adewale Adesina, the Director of Socials-elect, said: “I wonder why the management decided to site the zoological garden far from the Halls of Residence. If I am elected as the Director of Socials and Culture, I will ensure all the animals in the zoo are relocated to the hostels. I will also ensure that no student pays fees next session.”

The speech was greeted with laughter and applause from the ‘mad men’.

The Night also featured music and dance performances.

Adedayo Adeleye, one of the organisers, said putting the programme together was tedious because students did not contribute money.

“We spent up to N30,000 in getting things together. We requested each room to pay N200 but when we moved around for the money, some gave us N10 and N5. But we kept on with the motivation that the tradition must not die,” he said.

Daniel Arohunfara, a 400-Level Educational Administration and Planning student, described the Ewa Day as a culture, which no one could tell when it began.

He said: “The consumption of the beans is not the most important thing but the enjoyment we derive in doing this together.”

May 29, 2014