Tinubu and the ways of the wasp

TRIBUNE

Suyi Ayodele

There are two insects in Yoruba cosmology that are similar. But they are very distinct. One is oyin (bee). The other is agbon (wasp). Both equally sting in their unique ways. Oyin, for instance, is less aggressive and stings only when it is threatened. On the other hand, agbon is very aggressive, territorial, domineering and controls its space. While oyin and agbon live in almost similar nests (with oyin’s own a bit concealed), agbon openly displays its abode, daring anyone to come near it. Now, when these two insects set out to fight, oyin stings and leaves marks of the attack on its victims. That is not the way of agbon. Agbon deposits its poison in its nest and when it wants to use it, it goes back to the nest, uses its buttock to collect the poison and deposits the toxic material into the bloodstream of its victims.  Victims of agbon stings live in pain for days! Again, Yoruba describes such a fighting strategy in a proverb: “Ile ni Agbon ma nko idi si ko to ta – the wasp goes back to its nest before it stings. The’ home’ (nest), to the wasp, is its ultimate strength.

The Yoruba worldview is mythical. Nothing happens to that race by happenstance. Generally, Africans are esoteric; but the Yoruba people are in a class of their own. An average Yoruba person places a premium on their home. Ile ni abo simi oko – everyman retires home after the day’s work on the farm. Home (Ile) is literal and metaphoric in this sense. Whenever a man draws strength from his cultural background, the Yoruba people say “o pada sile” (he has gone back home). More often than not, when a man has troubles navigating the turbulence of this world, he goes back home. There is a saying that captures that: “ode ma nle ómó pada sile” – the outside chases a child back home. When it is tough outside, the Yoruba encourage the child to go back home. Why do they give such counsel?

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling  APC, went back home last week. If I were him, I would have started my last Wednesday presidential campaign in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, with a proper Ijuba (reverence) for my forebears. I would have chanted: Baba mi Oloyeloogun okun o (Greetings to my fathers who double as wizards and sorcerers).  I would have called them their names as: Osoogun sule, soogun saja (He who keeps his sorcery at home and in the ceiling). I would have told the crowd why my forefathers behaved that way – k’Oso ule ba mu tule, ko mu toke aja a gbe omo re (so that if the wizards within take hold of the charms in the house, you use the ones in the ceiling to avenge your child). I would have told my forebears why I embarked on the Ijuba by reporting my traducers to them thus: Oso ule tii hi kesiri omo re (the wizards at home are already troubling your child); Aje ule tii hi kesiri omo re (the witches at home are already pummeling your child).