We have been told that as we approach the end-time, there is nothing we shall not see or hear! All things become possible. Yinka Aiyefele told us in one of his songs that Ifa now shouts Alleluia (Ifa n ke alleluya). In the ensuing melee over appointing a new Alaafin of Oyo, we have witnessed allegations of bribery and corruption fly in all directions, Ifa’s sacred groves inclusive. If gold rusts, what will iron do?
Do we have any institution that is spared the corrosive influence of corruption? Politicians and civilian governments are corrupt. Soldiers and military governments are corrupt. Judges and the entire judiciary, including the Bar, are corrupt. Lawmakers are corrupt.
One speaker of a House of Assembly was removed last week over allegations of corruption, among others. Civil servants are the engineroom of corruption. Imams and pastors are corrupt. The common man on the street is corrupt. Traditional rulers are corrupt. Even journalists and writers are corrupt! Everyone is corrupt.
Corruption oozes from every nook and cranny of our national life. But that Ifa, the Yoruba god of divinity that is renowned for purity, has also now been cornered by corruption baffles me! If the government cannot help, if lawmakers cannot help, if judges cannot help, if we cannot seek refuge with the men and women of God, if our traditional institutions are of no consequence if we all sleep – snoring – with all heads facing the same direction, where will salvation come from?
That there is a tussle over the Alaafin stool is normal; princes everywhere contest vigorously for vacant stools. In times past, virtue, not filthy lucre, most of the time determined the winner. I said “most of the time” because history records the shenanigans of princes and kingmakers that truncated virtue even in those distant times. Since colonial rule and after, Government interference has meant that laws enacted by the government determine succession and whatever disputes may arise.
Look around and tell of the occupant of any throne today whose ascension has not been influenced one way or the other by the powers that be! The difference, usually, is not in substance but in appearance. Traditional rulers today are government appointees. They ascend to and occupy the throne at the government’s pleasure. They spend time there at the mercy of the powers that be. They get promoted and can be removed at will. They are glorified artefacts and relics from the past.
The Alafin stool is not new to controversies; if anything, controversies and troubles have been its second nature since immemorial. However, the intrigues this time are of a dimension that has repercussions that will reverberate throughout the length and breadth of the Yoruba nation. One: If it is true that the choice of the Oyo traditional kingmakers is beholden to the Sokoto caliphate and that money was used to “press” the hands and pockets of the kingmakers, then he stands disqualified. Yorubaland must not allow Ilorin to happen again – and not to Oyo, of all places!
Scripture says affliction shall not rise a second time (Nahum 1:9). Even if inducement was not involved, the very fact of a cosy relationship with the caliphate automatically disqualifies any candidate to the Alafin stool – indeed, any stool in Yoruba land. Once bitten, forever shy! Based on the allegations of financial inducement, the Oyo State Government cancelled the exercise conducted by the kingmakers and embarked on another. It is a good idea but a bad implementation. That is the problem we run into when we employ half-measures when we ought to have gone the whole hog.
Allegations of giving and receiving bribes are grievous. Trying to sell a throne as important as that of the Alafin is sacrilege. About the importance of the Alaafin throne to the entire Yoruba race, it is a treasonable act of unimaginable proportions, especially considering the Yoruba experience with Ilorin.
The Oyo State Government was too lenient – too laidback, too lackadaisical, too carefree – in its disposition to those involved in the giving and taking the alleged bribe – if any. They should have been arrested and handed over for prosecution before warrant chiefs were appointed to fill the vacancies thus created.
Assuming that was done and they are by now having their day in court, they would not have been able to flex muscles with the government as is currently the case. Besides, the government would have stood on high moral ground today rather than have its back to the wall like the kingmakers and their supporters are trying to do now. But it is not too late for the government to do what is needed.
The Baba, who the Oyo State Government contacted to consult Ifa, is known by all to be beyond reproach. His records of probity and integrity are in the public domain. His expertise in Ifa divination is also not in the contest. So, I was satisfied when he was said to have been the one who said Ifa chose the prince who was pronounced as the new Alaafin by the Oyo State Government.
Regardless of whether or not he was the statutory Ifa priest so recognised by law, I go with his recommendation because the occasion was not normal after those with the statutory roles have (allegedly) compromised themselves and their offices.
A desperate situation, they say, demands a desperate solution. This was one such occasion, and I salute the Oyo State Government for its involvement. The snag, however, is a news report that says the “authentic” prince chosen by Ifa (which Ifa and by which Ifa priest again?) is neither flaunted by the kingmakers nor pronounced as the Alafin by the government.
That angle needs to be critically looked at and straightened out. If we are against the injustice of some elements who chose to sell the throne and insist on the right thing being done, then we must not, in the same breath, perpetrate injustice in another direction. Like Caesar’s wife, everyone concerned must wash their hands clean on this score.
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