…says ‘Anyone who beats up Yoruba monarch is doomed’
Following last week’s fisticuffs between the Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba AbdulRasheed Akanbi and the Agbowu of Ogbaagba, Oba Dhikrulahi Akinropo, the Chief Priest of Osogbo, Osun State, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon, has warned that dire consequences await the aggressor in such a fight.
The Oluwo had allegedly pounced on the Agbowu at a meeting convened by the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 11, Bashir Makama, to resolve a prolonged land dispute between monarchs in the Osun West Senatorial District, claiming that he acted in self-defence.
But Elebuibon, who is a globally renowned Babalawo (Ifa priest) and the Araba of Osogbo, also warned that assaulting a traditional ruler in Yorubaland constituted a sacrilege for which the culprit could pay dearly.
He told The Point that if an Oba beats up another Oba, the other monarchs would come together to sanction the aggressor by imposing on him some payments in form of certain sacrifices. He, however, added that if the Oba found guilty refused to pay such ‘sacrifice,’ he would be made to face the “repercussion” of his action by the other monarchs.
“If an Oba beats up another Oba, all the other Obas will come together and tell him what he will pay as sacrifice, and they will punish the erring Oba. If he refuses, he will face the repercussion,” Elebuibon said.
He said it was an abomination for anyone to even talk ill of a monarch in traditional Yoruba society as such a person could be struck with chronic and head-splitting headache, not to talk of physically assaulting him, adding that any perpetrator of such an attack on an Oba would get a severe punishment that would make him regret his life.
Elebuibon, who is also regarded as the high priest of Yorubaland, further said that anyone who ridiculed a Yoruba monarch or even beat him up would “face the wrath of deities and ancestral spirits of the stool.”
The chief priest spoke exclusively with The Point in his Ifa Temple in Osogbo against the backdrop of last Friday’s alleged assault of Oba Akinropo by the Oluwo at a peace meeting in the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Bashir Makama.
Quoting some Ifa Corpus, Elebuibon, however, said the attacker of any Yoruba monarch would only suffer the consequences of his action if only the traditional ruler, who was his victim, had undergone the complete ritual practices such as the Oro cult and had achieved the required transformations.
He said if anyone beats or assaults a “modern king,” who did not pass through the necessary rituals, traditional rites and did not perform certain sacrifices, such an attacker could go scot-free because, according to him, “You don’t beat an Oba, who is regarded as a revered personality in Yoruba land. Among the people that are sacred, that we can call revered persons, the Oba is a revered person, Babalawo and Babalorisa are also revered persons. In modern days, an Imam is a revered person, a bishop too. They are supernatural people.
“But some Obas are different from others. An Oba that completes the cult (Oro) is different from those that didn’t. There are some Obas nowadays who are ordinary human beings, who didn’t complete the cult rituals. An Oba that completes the cult rituals and fulfills all the pre-monarchical rites of their towns or cities, would no longer be an ordinary human being. He is an Orisa and nobody beats such Oba. In an Ifa Corpus, ‘Ise orimi ran mi ni monje, ona torisa oke ni nmato nimonto’ Obas are not ordinary persons and so nobody can beat them. I am talking of an Oba that completes the cult rituals before ascending the throne (Oba to ba soro ni o).
“He who beats up such Oba in the olden days, (won ata loji ko ma ba mari arigbo), they will do sacrifice for him to prevent him from series of calamities. An Oba that completes the traditional cults’ rituals even if you wish them bad, or you talk about them negatively, you will continue to have severe headaches. But an ordinary Oba who claims to be Christian or Muslim and did not perform the necessary rituals, if they are beaten, nothing will happen.
“If an Oba beats up another Oba, all the Obas will come together and tell him what he will pay as sacrifice, and they will punish the erring Oba. If he refuses, he will face the repercussion.”
Elebuibon further explained, “Any Oba who does not observe the required transformations and ritual practices is just an ordinary being.
“Traditional rulers in Yoruba land are sacred people. They are super-humans. If anyone even dares to talk ill of monarchs or even ridicule them, such a person will be afflicted with migraine (severe headache) that could only leave such person after some sacrifices have been performed. If you now talk of beating a king, then the full wrath of the gods should be beckon. The person who involves in such act is doomed. It is a great taboo to assault a traditional ruler in Yoruba land.
“But the issue now is that most of these our modern kings do not go through required and vital transformations (Oro) and other ritual practices and sacrifices. And once these are not done, then the attacker would be free from the wrath of the deities. Obas who don’t do “Oro” are ordinary beings; there is nothing sacred or supernatural about them.
“What makes an Oba a supernatural from other human beings is the ritual practices done before their coronation. But, it is a pity that majority of our modern Obas skip this.”
Asked how anyone who assaults an Oba could appease the gods to escape their wrath and afflictions, Elebuibon said Ifa would have to be consulted and some sacrifices prescribed by it would have to be offered.
The high priest of Yorubaland, however, expressed displeasure over a situation where monarchs now fight each other in public, saying it was a “big taboo.”
He said there were better means and mechanisms for monarchs to resolve issues between them rather than resorting to physical attacks on each other.
