YORUBA: – A careless people under siege and existential threats
By Adedamola Adetayo
You see, there is something called CUSTOM. It is the TOTALITY of the ways, behavioral patterns, values, rules, expectations and social order of a PEOPLE which has become over time widely accepted as the peculiar qualities of that PEOPLE and which is transmitted as a TRADITION from generations to generations.
IT IS THE IDENTITY OF THE PEOPLE WHICH MAKES THEM WHO AND WHAT THEY ARE.
These CUSTOMS are different from people to people and from places to places.
Our Elders in their wisdom say: OUR CUSTOMS here [ which is good for us ] may be an abomination in some other lands.
It is because our ancestors were sensible enough to know that CUSTOMS are different from places to places and ALL PEOPLE were expected to live by their THEIR OWN CUSTOMS otherwise they had no reasons to be identified as a people.
In YORUBA LAND, it is OUR CUSTOM that the one who is called KABIYESI/OBA is the human personification of the Òrìsàs. We can’t see the Òrìsàs but we see them in the OBAS.
It is the CUSTOM OF THE YORÙBÁS that the Òrìsàs are sacred immortal beings through which Olódùmarè, the creator of the earth is reached.
A man on account of a princely birth is CHOSEN, CONSECRATED, ANNOINTED, EMPOWERED AND ELEVATED ABOVE MORTAL REALMS to be the human face of the Òrìsàs of Yoruba land.
He is spiritually fortified in ways that no other mortal men could ever be.
On HIS HEAD, WORDS ARE INVOKED such that he is never again equal or beneath any mortal men.
Once he is duly installed, that man immediately assumes the role of Òrìsà, the embodiment of the CUSTOMS AND HERITAGE OF THE PEOPLE.
He is no ordinary mortal.
He is the single most potent RALLYING POINT of the people. In times of crises and tribulations, the people look up to him for directions.
His words are final.
In him is vested AUTHORITY OF WORDS called ÀSE.
Because of all the things packed into him he is called KABIYESI ALÁSE IGBÁ KEJÌ ÒRÌSÀ, the supreme authority whose preeminence is next only to the Òrìsàs.
THAT IS OUR CUSTOM.
It is NOT OPENED to your criticism because it wasn’t designed for Arabs or for Europeans..it wasn’t meant for Igbos, Hausas, Fulanis or whoever.
You have yours and this is ours.
It is who we are and who we have been for centuries or perhaps thousands of years.
The CUSTOM OF THE YORÙBÁ PEOPLE demands that the head of an OBA’s is NEVER left exposed or uncovered in such a way as to be seen by mortal men because it is the BELIEF of the Yoruba people, TRADITIONS from thousands of years, that the ÀSE AND ANNOINTING ON THE OBA is right on his head and such is not allowed to be frittered away under the gazes of prying eyes of mortals.
OBA is never seen anywhere in public with his head uncovered. Infact he sleeps with the white cap on his head.
That is OUR CUSTOM.
But look at this attached photograph.
Two men – the Àtàojà Òsogbo and Tìmí Ede – openly RUBBISH THIS CUSTOM in far away lands.
They did it so gleefully under the delusion of an Islam Religion which had no bearing to their ancestors nor their callings and responsibilities as OBAS.
It is an INJUNCTION OF OUR CUSTOM they so flagrantly pissed on.
They both know that it was totally wrong to do this.
They both KNOW this fact but they flout it anyway.
Soon they both will return and SIT ON THAT THRONE which they have openly RIDICULED in Saudi Arabia.
They will sit the throne and expect to enjoy and exercise all the POWERS AND PRIVILEGES OF OBASHIP.
That is after they had INSULTED THEIR PEOPLE.
It is not only Òsogbo and Ede people they insult but the entire Yoruba race of over 60m people worldwide.
Do you know why they do that?
They both know that we YORUBAS ARE AN EXCEEDINGLY CARLESS AND HOPELESSLY COMPLACENT PEOPLE.
They know we won’t do anything.
They also know that the majority of Yorubas who come to their palaces and who still create time to take the OBASHIP seriously are largely very hungry people who will still come to them for food.
They know that Adedamola Adetayo will only bark on Facebook and thereafter go about to find how he will feed himself.
They know that the Governor of Osun State is the only person who can give them issues. They know that it is a matter of the Igbo Governor of Osun directing a LGA chairman to remove them from the throne.
And the Governor is fine with. What’s his business. The Governor himself derives his relevance from the collapse of the CULTURE of the people.
If the PEOPLE were living according to their CUSTOMS they should know that the OBASHIP AND GOVERNORSHIP are both their properties and answerable to them.
It is the reason they attack your CUSTOMS AND CULTURE so you will never have the chance for self-consciousness and self-awakening till you are led like a cow to the slaughter slabs
Do you know that THE SAUDI KING will never in his life attempt to rubbish Islamic injunctions this way.
Islam is more or less ARAB CUSTOM presented as Religion and forced down the throats of Non-Arabs.
If the SAUDI KING as much as ridicule Islam this way, believe me, he will be STONED to death right inside that his palace.
He knows his people are scatter-heads who don’t take nonsense.
He won’t even do it because first and foremost he is aware that there are millions of Arabs who will be too eager to get rid of him even at the cost of their own lives and besides, he himself is just as passionate as they were
This is just what I was driving at yesterday in the Part 1 of the article
No Emir will try it in the North. Infact Mohammadu Sanusi II was forcefully removed as Emir of Kano because the Elders of Kano believed he was rubbishing their much valued CUSTOMS and the THRONE.
You won’t do it with the IBIBIOS. Infact, the people of Anang where Senator Akpabio comes from are reputed to have very short fuse for their temper and they are quite capable of exploding into murderous anger at the slightest provocation.
Sometime in the past, in Benin, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, the Esama of that kingdom hadn’t done to Oba Erediauwa II a tenth of what we do in Yoruba land when he was declared “Enemy of Bini Kingdom”.
In Itshekiri land, the OLU OF WARRI, Atunwatse II [ Father of current Olu ] hadnt even done it yet. He claimed he had met Christ and was just THINKING AND TOYING with the idea of dropping the title of “Ogiame” when the Itshekiri pounced on him. They ordered him to vacate the throne. He quickly APOLOGIZED and started behaving properly.
In Igala, the Attah is like a “God” himself. It is the same with the Ochi Idoma.
Our case is different in Yoruba land.
Wasn’t it in this Yoruba land that a band of b.a.s.t.a.r.d children under the guidance of IGBO ZIONISTS invaded the palace of Oba Eleko and took away his staff of office? Wasn’t it in this same Yoruba land that a band of hopeless morons who called themselves MOSLEM YOUTHS in Ile-Ife attacked ILÉ ODUA?
Both happened in broad daylight and we did nothing!!!!
I can’t think of any other places in Nigeria or beyond where the MONARCHY has become so RIDICULED like we do in Yoruba land except perhaps in Igbo land of SE which is quite understandable. They never had it in the Igbo lands of South-East.
I can’t think of any other places in Nigeria or beyond where their CUSTOMS are so openly RIDICULED as we do in Yoruba land. Not even in Igbo land of South-East have they tried to ridicule their CUSTOMS as we have so shameless done in Yoruba land.
Again it is the problem of ÀÌMÒKAN which troubles us.
ÀÌMÒKAN is one of the major contributors to our recklessly complacent attitude in Yoruba land.
We surely don’t know.
We are like the proverbial fowl which defecates in the Ìkòkò Ìyasùn, the very pot which will cook it.
We have become like the proverbial herd of goats which tramples upon the very lamp which it will later need to use in the night to navigate its way through the darkness into the recesses and safety of the compound.
Nkan ti ṣe ìran Yorùbá
Ìjànmba ti dé bá ilè Yoruba, afólójú akò ri.
