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• Lagos building where Ifa priests are born, raised and tutored
• My father created abode for fellow priests in Ebute-Metta, but he never stopped any of his children from practising any faith
By Vivian Onyebukwa and Funke Busari
Odunfa is one of the popular streets in Ebute Metta, Lagos. It is popular for being a home of arts and the theatre, with some notable Yoruba Nollywood artistes having their base in the area.
But Odunfa Street, which in English translates to Ifa Festival Street, was made more popular by the presence of a particular building which, in times past, usually hosted scores of Ifa priests (babalawo) who usually converged on the place regularly. The name of the street is Odunfa simply because it was the place where Ifa priests converged to hold their Ifa festivals.
The building in question was the home of the late Chief Akano Fashina Agboola, the late Araba of Lagos, located at Odunfa Street, Ebutte Metta. This building for babalawos also served as shelters for many Ifa priests or those related to Ifa priests who came from far and wide to that part of Lagos to ply their trade.
Saturday Sun recently visited the place to see if the building was still the home of Ifa priests.
In the building was Chief Oyeyefa Agboola, one of the children of the late Ifa chief priest, Chief Fashina Agboola. He had just arrived from his father’s burial ground where he went, according to him, to pay homage and show gratitude to the memory of the deceased. He said his other siblings, including those not practising their father’s traditional religion, would also remember their late father and pray for him on that day.
“My father was 82 years old when he died. He was the head of all Ifa priests called babalawo. He was the Araba. As a result of my father’s popularity and accommodating manner, many of the Ifa priests lived here. I heard them call this place Oke-Igeti in times past and my father would give them money at the end of each month, an uncommon gesture back then. This is where the priests who lived here had free breakfast, lunch and dinner. There were many spaces here for them. Our father was blessed by God and the deity, and he was able to care for the people,” said Chief Agboola.
He informed that beneficiaries of his father’s benevolence are no longer living in the house with him because of the renovation that took place in the building. He said, however, that on August 2, during Ifa Festival, many Ifa priests came to rejoice with the family. According to historical account, that is why the place was called Odunfa Street.
According to him, many of those who benefitted from his father still come to show gratitude, while some no longer come to the place.
He said many of today’s popular Ifa priests spread across Lagos and all parts of the South West were trained by his late father and have become leaders and bosses.
Oyeyefa Agboola, who is also the Aseda Ilu Oworonsoki in Lagos, said he followed the professional path of his late father but also garnered more knowledge for his trade from the feet of other traditionalists. He went down memory lane explaining how he got into the trade.
“I am an Ifa priest like my late father who was from Osogbo, Osun State. I am also a Chief Priest and equally a religious leader at the Indigene Faith of Africa (Ijo Orunmila). I began learning about Ifa after completing my primary school education. I was getting into form two before I was taken to Ibadan where I learned and qualified as an Ifa Priest. I left Ibadan in September 14, 1991.”
On why some people no longer see being a babalawo as fashionable, Agboola attributed it to lack of understanding. He likened a babalawo to a native medical doctor who attends to patients. “But the problem again is that a lot of fake practitioners have damaged the reputation of genuine priests with their falsehoods,” he lamented.
He also tried to explain the differences between herbalists (onisegun) and babalawo. “For instance, it took me 12 years to become a native doctor but that is not the same for someone who says he is a herbalist because, within a week or so, a person could become a herbalist as long as he can access a documented account. Whenever a herbalist fails in satisfying a client, they go to a Babalawo, the native doctor at the end of the day. This is because a native doctor consults the oracle and makes recommendations to clients. In fact, both differ in a lot of ways. Those who consult native doctors do that for various reasons, namely; job progression, childlessness, and so on. Many call themselves native doctors but in truth, they are not, because they are charlatans and those who seek them do so in ignorance, but those that come to us and get breakthroughs to problems in their lives usually refer others to us.”
He also spoke about his mother who hailed from Ijebu in Ogun State, saying she was predestined to marry a native doctor. “My maternal grandfather was a friend to my father. My father married my mother and they gave birth to children. I have elder siblings and younger ones. My mother is happy with my choice of career. In fact, she was helpful and supportive in my learning about Ifa because I did not want to learn about it initially. She told my father that I was lackadaisical about it and that I should be taken somewhere else to learn it. That was why I was taken to Ibadan then. She is happy, though she’s ageing gracefully now.”
He stated that in spite of his father being an Ifa priest, some of his siblings are of other faiths. He reiterated the popular Yoruba saying that a father’s religion may not necessarily save his children.
“But for me, my father made me to understand that I should toe his Ifa path, and that is why I am also a native doctor. I don’t have any iota of regret and that’s why on a day like this, I have gone to pay homage to him, using goats, kolanuts, drinks, and the like to show the depth of my gratitude for the path he showed me.”
In the past few weeks, there have been controversies between adherents of traditional religions and some Muslims, notably in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital aboutn Isese festival of the traditional religion adherents. The latter had insisted that traditional worshippers should not practise their religion in Ilorin.
Chief Agboola faulted the controversies trailing the Isese Festival. According to him, since time immemorial, the traditional religion has been in existence. “Other religions were imported to our country and that’s why we have been seeking government’s declaration of a holiday. We observe the Isese Day on every 20th of August. We are begging for holidays. Christians have holidays like Christmas, Boxing Day, Easter. Even Muslims have about three holidays, like Eid El-Fitr, Eid-El Maulud, and all the religions are aware that the first religion is the traditional religion. Former Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola declared a holiday for Isese. Even Ogun State has declared a holiday. That’s what we are begging our government to do. The government knows what is right to be done, because traditional religion precedes others. There’s no family where a traditional believer does not exist. But civilization seems to have pushed traditionalism into insignificance. May God set things right,” he said.
He noted with dismay that Christians and Muslims do not want to acknowledge the existence of tradition, but expressed delight that government is being forced to acknowledge their existence.
“The world is like this because of falsehood. In the court, Muslims or Christians are allowed to swear to an oath with the Bible or Quran. The traditional believer must also be allowed to take oath with iron, knife or something else. If such is allowed and anyone swears falsely with the name of Ogun, the god of iron, such act comes with grave consequences.”
There are other Ifa priests still staying in the house. Ayantoye Ifabanji Faleke, a 37-year-old man who hails from Osogbo, Osun State, also spoke to Saturday Sun on his life as a babalawo. He referred to himself as a subordinate to the Ifa Priest Oyeyefa Agboola who also learned and qualified in the trade of native medicine.
According to him, he observed the sterling records of the Agboolas in traditional medicine and decided to learn about it like many others did.
He stated that traditional religion is not one that a person can be forced to accept or be lured into with money. For him, the Isese practice is such that dishonesty is not encouraged as any such act by any person will be punished. “We do not try to tarnish other religions for our personal gains or put people in servitude,” he said.
He agreed with Chief Oyeyefa Agboola that the late Araba, Chief Akano Fashina Agboola was a truthful person in all ramifications. “That was why this place is regarded as a museum. That’s why some persons left their parent’s houses and came to this place. Had he been a deceitful person, he wouldn’t have lasted beyond one year and would have been exposed. We usually show our offspring whatever we are doing.”
Faleke narrated how he also got involved in traditional practices. “After my father consulted the oracle, it was determined that I would not proceed to any higher institution, but that I should learn about the Ifa from someone somewhere in Ejigbo Local Government Area of Osun State. For over 20 years, I have learned about the nitty-gritty of Ifa and many things about life. I have some siblings who are also in the trade with me. One of my siblings is a medical doctor and another is currently in the University in Osun State.”
Faleke informed Saturday Sun that not all who claim to be versed in traditional medicine are indeed knowledgeable about it. According to him, some of them only steal other people’s documented account about herbs and begin to claim they have the panacea to people’s problems. That, he noted, is why some easily plunge themselves into chaos and are caught on the wrong side. He said that a native doctor does not resort to book consultation to solve clients’ problems. “Those that get into trouble that people hear about that are those who steal books of records belonging to someone else and who do not know how to apply what they read in such books. They are fake. They are the ones involved in cutting human heads and doing rituals with human parts. They are criminals and charlatans,” he insisted.
He assured that native doctors do not behead human beings, noting that those seeking to get rich quickly are capable of performing all kinds of atrocities.
“A babalawo does not cut off human heads or anything like that. We do not do money rituals, but our client’s situations may require sacrifices or some recommendations,” he said.
Faleke explained what distinguishes native doctors from herbalists. He lamented the perpetration of ills in the society by wealthy persons, expressed dissatisfaction that laws are not being enforced to serve as a deterrent, and said fear of God is lacking in Nigeria. He also asked the government to recognise the traditionalists.
