- By Taiwo Adediran
Earlier this morning, I was just combing through my phone gallery for an image I saved for a research work. Then, I came across this video and decided to share it with a caption. But no brief caption could capture it. It turned out to be something long. So, I did a simple write-up from it.
Yes, call me a neophile, you won’t be wrong. I enjoy weird adventures and derive thrills in crazy participant exploration. It was that same thrill that pushed me this very day.
That should be last month, I had joined my twin brother and a cousin to the field one Sunday morning. We arrived this small town, Ile-Ogbo in Osun State to decommission a site. As we were trying to locate the site, a lanky man in white round neck and a short just walked up to the car and I can’t even remember how he opened up discussion with us. All I remember was that we responded well.
Then, he asked to observe some intercession with us and requested for small hot drink. We had none in the car and had no cash on us. I was so amused and wanted to really experience what I see only in movies, so I dashed down to a nearby shop. I could only get one sachet of ‘Captain Jack’ drink with the N200 I found left in my jeans pocket. He was glad.
On his arm was that African traditional tattoo boldly bearing his name: Ifalade. He broke the sachet, spilled little on the ground, and sipped little. Then, just the way Pastors will direct us to do during some special prayer sessions, he asked us to pull off the right footwear, place our right hand on our head and say after him.
The three of us chorused the prayer after him, with some incantation. The prayer requests were the usual ones and then some further directives. He said his “mind just flowed with us seeing our pure heartedness”. How he knew that, I do not know. But I was surprised he didn’t know I made this video. I been thinking say my phone no go work self. The middle aged traditionalist thereafter talked about series of metaphysical powers that he inherited from his forefathers, and what they’re used for. I remember him saying he was always cautious to give them out because of the way many use them to perpetrate criminal acts. He was however willing to let us have any. He showed us the way to his house and asked us to visit after the day’s work. He even directed us to come along with blade. As naive as I was, I didn’t need anyone to tell me, that’ll be for incisions. 😀.
All along, I kept looking at his daughter. She couldn’t be older than 12 years. Holding some items on her palms, her composure showed she understands the game well. She could probably inherit this from her dad too. I can’t recall her name, but I remember she traced us to that site where we were working and told me her dad was expecting us. With enthusiasm, she pointed to their house, about 150meters away. I spent some time engaging her and noticed her brightness. I promised her we were going to visit. And if you ask me, I was going to visit. I have seen the traditional design and drawings on the building, I wanted to see what the service room of her father looks like. I wanted to hear him talk about many other wizardry. I’ve never engaged in this native power before. even though my grandmother was a staunch Sango worshipper who later converted to Christianity before her death. I learnt the husband – our grandfather – was an herbalist. He died before we were born. I was going to give this man a token and assure him we’d be back for fortifications, but first, make I sha see wetin dey happen for that place, make I hear gist.
Painfully, it didn’t work out as planned. The work that commenced on a good note at about 10am took another turn at about 6pm. Like say the whole incantation; phew! Irate youths of Ile-Ogbo mobilized themselves and stormed the site in protest. They instructed that we stop work and vacate the place. The next one hour was hell let loose. There was fight, threat, intimidation and harassment. They were armed with cudgels, cutlasses and charms. They preened themselves on possessing so much voodoo and delighted in their notoriety. The man who led them – we later learnt he just got back from prison – was boastfully instructing the boys to go and bring his “basket of charms as we were proving recalcitrant,” unwilling to go without our seized truck.
Funnily enough , some of the breakaway altercations at the spot were within their circle. There were two instances I can not forget in a jiffy. I like to share one that really amused me even amidst the whole hullabaloo. Kehinde as they called him had been interacting with us since we got there in the morning. Just before the mob arrived, one of our boys said he overheard the youths threatening to storm the site. Kehinde, most likely in his late 30s told us to put our minds at rest. He said no one can ever try it with him presently there with us. When I prodded him, he shook his head like someone who was being unassuming and doesn’t want to show off. As I played the devil’s advocate, he got more agitated. He told me his calmness should not be taken for granted as he could actually cause trouble that even the community leaders will not be able to withstand. He said he’s the black sheep in his family and the whole community dreads his fury. The bragging went on for like 20 minutes. And indeed I was enjoying it.
It was not more than 10 minutes after that the irate mobs besieged the site. Kehinde was the first victim of their wrath. He had assisted us to rent a jigger earlier and was holding it when he received the first slap. He acted like trying to protest then received a double fold. They descended on him for having anything to do with us and I was stupefied that he couldn’t do a thing. The man who vowed to fight for us could not fight for himself. The self-vaunted guy who threatened fire and brim stone was chopping ‘igbaju’ and ‘iforun’ free of charge. He’s been reduced to nothing before us. I laughed nothwistanding the tensed atmosphere and it’s painful I didn’t have the opportunity to hear him talk after the debacle. I still wonder what he’d say.
We all felt a bit of relief when the police arrived and led us all to the station. We were there till around midnight when we suspended all matters till the daybreak.
As we headed to one small hotel to lay our heads, my mind roamed back to how the day started, particularly the prayer session with Egbon Ifalade. It seems none of the prayer points had been granted. Rather, the day turned out to be the exact opposite. He said we would see luck all day, we didn’t. He said no antagonist will come our way, they did. He said we were going to get away with anything, that didn’t happen. I then wondered what went wrong. Was it our lack of faith in his gods? Was it that we needed to lick something in addition to the open prayer? Was God trying to show us the futility in such practice or was it all a coincidence? Till now, I really do not know. If I have another opportunity, I would love to ask the Ifa priest what went wrong. I will also love to see and hear from Kehinde again. In all, one thing is sacrosanct: God remains Supreme.