TRIBUNE
Suyi Ayodele
At the very beginning of time when the deities lived among human beings, Òrúnmìlà, the father of Divination, occupied a prominent space. He attracted many people to himself, friends and foes alike. He assisted many people to achieve their ambitions. Òrúnmìlà was instrumental to many becoming wealthy. He made nobles of not a few. He crowned and assisted in dethroning kings. He was powerful, influential and generous. But he has hubris. He was always ruthless whenever he saw any obstacle to his ambition.
A time came when Òrúnmìlà wanted to take the highest title among the deities. Of course, many rose in his support; those who wanted to repay his past good deeds. Likewise, some others who had felt cheated or ill-treated by Òrúnmìlà, also lined up against him. To these people, it was payback time. Two Òrúnmìlà’s partners in divination were ferocious in their opposition to Òrúnmìlà’s aspiration. What went wrong between them, only the gods could tell. But Òtúrúpòn and Òkàràn swore that Òrúnmìlà would not attain the position he sought. While Òkàràn was ready to shift ground if certain conditions were met, Òtúrúpòn was so determined, and nothing would persuade him to be soft on his erstwhile friend. The duo approached Èsù (the trickster deity) to assist them in their mission against the great diviner. Èsù kept them in his shrine, waiting to see what Òrúnmìlà would do.
At his wits end, Òrúnmìlà summoned his diviners to find a solution. Ifa revealed to Òrúnmìlà that his two enemies were waiting in ambush for him at the shrine of Èsù. Òpèlè equally told him that it was only Èsù that could save him and get him to the position he so desired. Sacrifices were prescribed. Among them was that Òrúnmìlà must carry 700 empty gourds and 4,000 cowry shells to the shrine of Èsù. How would one man carry those items at once? Ifa simply asked Òrúnmìlà to make the poor in the town to be happy. He was asked to attend to the needs of the masses reasonably.
For seven days, Òrúnmìlà took care of the needy. He fed them, divined for them pro bono, attended to every of their needs and asked the king to initiate policies that would make life bearable for the poor. The people were happy. On the eighth day, Òrúnmìlà brought out the sacrificial items and began to carry them. The people who came to thank him for the way he had treated them in the past one week saw his struggles with the items. They offered to assist Òrúnmìlà. The masses shared the items among themselves and Òrúnmìlà led the way to the shrine of Èsù, otherwise known as Elégbáa.
The noise from the items as the empty gourds and cowry shells knocked one another was terrifying. The noise produced a music, which according to the Odù, says: A ó pa Òtúrúpòn/A ó kan Òkàràn lésè (We with kill Òtúrúpòn. We will break the legs of Òkàràn). On hearing the music, which was just coincidental, the duo thought that it was a battle cry, and took to flight. Òrúnmìlà and his party arrived at the shrine, offered the items to Èsù. He was instantly proclaimed the head of all deities. Òrúnmìlà defeated his enemies without shooting a single arrow. The masses who made up his team were his strength. When a dog has the people behind it, even the monkey on a high tree becomes a meal!
Today is barely three days after the Annual Convention of my church, The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), with the theme, “Heaven”, ended. For those my fellow heaven-bound brothers and sisters, who may be wondering why I chose the path of divination early this New Year in the RCCG, I refer you to my new position in the cabinet of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Senior Special Adviser, Culture and Tradition (See “Dangote Refinery: Blind man and his yam scrapers”, published on July 30, 2024). It is in pursuant of that new office that I offer this ‘advice’ free of charge! But like the deity, Olúa, in my town is wont to say: I wish Tinubu not to accede to my divination so that at the fullness of time, he would say the Oracle warned!
The year 2027 is going to be a decisive year for Nigeria, Nigerians, and particularly for President Tinubu. It is the year that Tinubu will be seeking his second term in office, no doubt. Many will support him, just as many will be up in arms against him. The battle will be fierce, mean and bloody. The opposition camps will give all it takes for the president not to realise his second term ambition. President Tinubu should have no doubt in his mind that the Òtúrúpòns and Òkàràns of the nation’s political firmament will assemble all arsenals at their disposals to see the end of his political career. We will be on the fringes to observe events and lend our voices here and there, and from time to time, by God’s grace. However, the battle will rage most fiercely, in Tinubu’s camp. What should the president do? We shall come to that.
But first, let us establish this fact. With the way the #EndBadGovernance ‘protest’ was prosecuted and ended in the North, it is clear, even to the blind, that the Òtúrúpòns and Òkàràns of the North have parted ways with Tinubu’s Òrúnmìlà. What happened between President Tinubu and his old friends and allies from the North is left at the imagination of the deities as it happened in the divination above. The North, we all have come to realise, did not ‘protest’ hunger, inflation and the general pains in the land during the August1-10, 2024 EndBadGovernance ‘protest’. What ails the North most in the last 15 months of President Tinubu’s administration is the loss of power to the South.
The folks up the Niger River have not been able to reconcile themselves with the fact that they are no longer in charge. They find the prospect of a Tinubu second term too difficult to bear. So, when the opportunity came for them to ‘protest’ hunger, the North sent their youths to do it peculiarly. That region is ready to do anything, ready to give anything and ready to allow anything, for power to return to it. They canvassed for military intervention. But it is understandable, anyway. When a region has no other business apart from the government, the loss of power, no matter how temporary, can never be palatable.
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