Ooni of ife demise: Traditon against Modernity and the missing link

  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.



Thisday newspaper was able to capture this terrific clash of tradition and modernity so poignantly in its story of Wednesday, July 30. I loved the way it placed the press conference held by the Ife Traditional Chiefs side by side that of those apostates or infidels (whatever you wish to call them) who betrayed Ife tradition by announcing what should never have been their remit. It would be interesting to see how this battle of wits plays out. The reason I’m anxiously awaiting its denouement is simple and straight forward. I had cause to speak with some of the key participants, such interesting dramatis personae to say the list, and none was able to predict the outcome of this unusual debacle.

If indeed The Ooni passed away in London, a precise hour and specific date would have been logged and inscribed in the death register. Such records, unfortunately, cannot be fabricated, falsified or altered, for whatever reasons, and certainly not in obeisance to some esoteric African tradition or superstition. Now that Ife Chiefs are insisting that the influential monarch is alive and kicking, but not the bucket, would they have to manufacture a new date or admit to the date earlier announced by both the traditional and social media?

I’m aware that certain funeral rites must precede an announcement but these are unusual times. It is obvious that the Ife custom and lore never envisaged or prepared for this kind of hullabaloo where an infirmed king would have to be flown abroad for medical treatment and may never return home in body and spirit. Ile-Ife as a university town has lost some of its ancient innocence to Western incursion. This infiltration has thus filtered through and adulterated its original pristine state. The Benin kingdom is the only place I know that not much has changed. The Oba of Benin is rarely seen in public ordinarily. If something untoward then befalls the awesome traditional ruler, it may be difficult to unravel such mystery for months or even years. All that would happen is for people to discuss in low or loud whispers and so be it. Please, tell me who wants to invade the palace to probe what the ordinary eyes have never seen!

My humble submission is that we must allow a delicate marriage of modernity and tradition on this one occasion. It would be sad and tragic to enmesh the memory of this great descendant of Oduduwa the Yoruba progenitor in this type of banal and unproductive debate. And if indeed The Ooni has only retired to the loft or, by his modern equation, to the penthouse, he deserves to be celebrated by those who knew him well enough. He would be more than delighted to read his own obituary from the gilded chamber.
Culled Scoopng