Daniel, blood oath & Gabriel Okara’s Piano & Drums [[OGBONI CONNECTION ?]

[toyin adepoju]

A RESPONSE TO THE MAIL BELOW THIS ONE:

Dear Festus Adedayo,

I admire your effort at understanding the logic and history of blood oaths as well as your relating this practice to the saga currently playing out in Nigeria's Ogun State.I am concerned,however,about your claims in relation to the Ogboni fraternities.I refer here to the Ogboni fraternities on account of what I understand,from my very limited knowledge, to be two major Ogboni fraternities in Nigeria,the Aboriginal Ogboni Fraternityand the Reformed Ogboni Fraternity.

A limitation of your analysis is that you make no distinctions that recognise the development of Ogboni history,such as the outgrowth of the ROF from the Aboriginal Ogboni,and the efforts of the ROF to develop itself as a more openly fraternal organisation, as indicated,for one,by public descriptions of the group made by a past head  of the society,a former Chief Justice of Nigeria,Sir Adetokunbo Ademola,and a more open presence,as represented,for example by the ROF website at http://www.rofonline.org/ and the ROF Facebook group.

My concern emerges from what seems to me to be the limitations of your knowledge about the Ogboni in general,both Aboriginal and ROF, limitations which you do not seem to be aware of.You mentioned reading Morton Williams on the Ogboni.Is that all? The Ogboni is an ancient society and has attracted more scholarly attention than that,even though not as much as its significance merits.Reading one scholar cannot be enough to draw conclusions,particularly since we are dealing with an esoteric order,what some would call a secret society.To a significant degree,its penetralia are not available to non-members,so a lot of correlation of information has to be made in order to understand what they actually do as far as that is possible.

Along with Morton Williams,one should read as much as possible,before coming to conclusions.It could be useful to also read Babatunde Lawal , "A Ya gbo, A Ya To: New Perspective on Edan Ogboni," in African Arts, vol. 28, no. 1, 1995, pp. 36-49, 98-100, "Ejiwapo: the dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and Culture",African Arts, Spring, 2008, Hans Witte,Earth and the Ancestors: Ogboni Iconography.The books of Susanne Wenger,one of the greatest devotees of Classical Yoruba spirituality and art,seem to also gain significantly from her self stated membership of the Ogboni society.Direct refrence to Ogboni belief and symbolism can be found in her   A Life with the Gods and The Return of the Gods:The Sacred Art of Susanne Wenger.  .Beier's book includes a picture of her with Ogboni elders,possibly after her initiation ceremony.

Having indicated what I have read about the Ogboni in the list above (although I have not read everything in Witte's book) I have also attached all the essays I can find on the Ogboni from the journal database JSTOR.The only essays not directly on the Ogboni,the one by Morton-Williams on Yoruba cult organisations,and another on Nigerian secret societies, is helpful to placing the Ogboni in perspective.I have also included the essay by Morton-Williams on Ogboni so that readers can read his words for themselves.

Frankly,speaking,I dont know much about the Ogboni.But I realise my ignorance.I think you are not better informed but you do not seem to be aware of that.You make a number of claims about Ogboni practices.What are your sources? You do make some accurate statements about Ogboni beliefs,but I wonder if you grasp the implications of those beliefs.You have correctly stated the centrality of Ile,the Earth,in Ogboni thought but have not indicated its spiritual and moral implications.You have also not suggested the fundamental significance of that veneration the Earth to Ogboni conceptions of fraternity,its implications for the unity of the family of all existence on earth as children of the earth,and the moral implications of such universal fraternity, and its resonance with all aspects of Classical Yoruba spirituality,from Ifa to Gelede,and what Morton-Williams describes as the sanction of the Ogboni oon the spilling of blood as desecreation of the earth ( "Yoruba Cult Organisation ).

You assert:

"And fraternities come with a great price. Fathers are reputed to have slept with their daughters as one of the conditions for Ogboni powers, while metaphysical offerings of beloved ones at cultic covens are widespread. At the death of Ogboni lords, their corpses are requested by living initiates, allegedly with the brief to sever the hearts off their limp cavities. Such, many times, bring the dead initiates’ families in conflict with the Ogboni elders, most of whom were always in the dark about the card-carrying membership of their departed ones of the Ogboni fraternity."

How do you know this is true?Or even if you dont,that it is sufficiently close to validity to be worth presenting to the public about an ancient institution which was central to the political and spiritual organisation of the Yoruba for centuries? Would the Yoruba have invested their political and religious authority in a society that was so patently anti-social? Regardless of the limitations of my knowledge about the Ogboni and Yoruba culture in general,from what I know of the depth of Classical ( commonly called "traditional") Yoruba culture,I dont think they would have been so stupid,or that the Bini and other Nigerian and African people who have Ogboni societies or have been influenced by it would have been so stupid.

I expect that you are accurate in your assessment of the prevalence of occult practices,and possibly,membership of secret societies in Nigeria in spite of the pervasive presence of Christianity and Islam.Your article suggests the need to study why this is so and the role of the Nigerian and African elite,and Africans in the Diaspora in this phenomenon.

On the question of the blood  oath supposedly taken by Wale Alausa,I dont think the Ogboni have to be involved to explain the rationale for that.Nigeria is awash with a plethora of indigenous spiritual practices,and blood plays a significant role in a number of these.I think,however,that the link you try to establish between Ogboni blood oaths and government in Nigeria is one that bears investigation on account of the role of the Ogboni in Classical Yoruba and Bini government,but one that at this stage has to be understood as conjectural.

The central point I would like to make is that it is important to understand that the correlations you are making between the Ogboni and the Ogun state saga are conjectural,even though significant and worthy of investigation.I also think that some of the claims you make about the Ogboni are unfounded since they seem to be based on anecdotal evidence.

I am particularly interested in the Ogboni on account of the wealth of their symbolism and its associated metaphysical and spiritual conceptions,aptly demonstrated by the texts I suggested.Its a great pity that not enough is known about them,particularly the Ogboni as it existed before the "modernisations" represented by the ROF.I think its the duty of anyone interested in a culture and its practices to make the most of the good in it,refine the bad and discard the bad if it cannot be refined.

In relation to the idea of refining away the bad,I am adding a recent article on the presence and eventual abolition of human sacrifice in Yorubaland.

The following claim has been  made about the ROF:

"Commissioner Parry Osayande, the man in charge of the Bendel State force when Anini was captured, thought that taxi-drivers and members of the Reformed Ogboni Society were linked in a life of crime: ' The combination of taxi-drivers[and] motor touts was a subculture which spawned criminal characters 'who, when they graduated into crime, 'derive their apparent invincibility and primary group solidarity from the cult'. Osayande also thought that the 'Ogboni connection with taxi-drivers is [not] a nation-wide thing and it may be peculiar to only Benin City' "( The Guardian, 7 December 1986).

From Otwin Marenin, "The Anini Saga: Armed Robbery and the Reproduction of Ideology in Nigeria *The Journal of Modem African Studies, 25, 2 (1987), pp. 259-281.

I will respond to this in the words of a participant in the Nairaland Forum at http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-17450.64.html :

"IT IS TIME TO FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION AMONG OGBONI"

I conclude with some references to the Ogboni which I find inspiring:

Ulli Beier,the German-Jew who was a great catalyst for modern African culture, on his first encounter with Nigerian ritual art,at the University of Ibadan in 1950:

"After dinner,liqueurs were served in the sitting room and ...Professor Christopherson passed round his latest acquisition-a magnificent Ogboni [ a secret association of Yoruba priests and chiefs invested with major judicial and political functions and devoted to the worship of the Earth ] brass figure some 30 cm long.I had never seen anything like it,had no idea what it meant or where it came from but was overwhelmed by a feeling of awe as I held in my hand the heavy object,emanating so much power and ancient wisdom."

From Ulli Beier, "In a Colonial University".Iwalewa-Haus,University of Bayreuth, 1993.

"Much of the society's authority derives from its role as the vital link between the community and the Earth that sustains it. Membership, which brings power and prestige, is restricted to a few individuals who have attained distinction in their professions and have proven to be people of high integrity and mature judgment. In the course of participating in various deliberations, a member gains considerable insights into human nature as well as local politics, traditional lore, religion, and philosophy. Above all, membership provides access to certain occult knowledge and powers for coping with the vicissitudes of life".

From

Babatunde Lawal , "A Ya gbo, A Ya To: New Perspective on Edan Ogboni," in African Arts, vol. 28, no. 1, 1995, pp. 36-49, 98-100.

A picture of the shrine house of the Ogboni cult at Osogbo by the artistic team of Susanne Wenger( from Adunni:A Portrait of Susanne Wenger by Gerd Hotter).The Ogboni venerate the powers of the earth. Beier describes the artistic form of this shrine and its symbolism most evocatively: “Three enormous thatch roofs rise against the sky like three giant lizards”. The reptilian forms suggested by the sweep of the thatch huts as well as by the dynamic thrust of the elongated sculptural forms they contain “symbolize the forces that inhabited the earth before [humanity], already charged with magical forces, which [humankind] tries to filter and use in [their] rituals for Ile, the earth spirit…” (Ulli Beier,The Return of the Gods, 1975, p.79-80).

This idea of chthonic powers that predate humanity and yet with which he can relate suggests an aspect of the ecological significance of Wenger’s sculptural interpretation of Ogboni lore as represented in the architecture and art of the shrine house.

Atelier Wenger’s architectural and sculptural interpretation of Ogboni belief, suggests, therefore, that the shrine house represents the filial relationship shared by all beings that have ever dwelt on the earth, above or below ground, in the past as well as the present.

Edan Ogboni is a pair of male and female brass figures with iron stems, usually joined at the top by an iron chain. It is an emblem of membership in the Ogboni society.

A typical edan has a serene, dignified, and somewhat withdrawn look, communicating the composure and self-discipline expected of an Ogboni.


From

Babatunde Lawal , "A Ya gbo, A Ya To: New Perspective on Edan Ogboni," in African Arts, vol. 28, no. 1, 1995, pp. 36-49, 98-100.

In many instances, both the male and female figures have beards (irungbon), signifying old age, experience, knowledge, and wisdom. Also in the female edan the beard motif recalls the image of the goddess Edan as Obirin bi okunrin, a "man-like woman," the wise judge of human morality who possesses the supernatural powers of aje with which she protects members of the Ogboni. Sometimes the female edan or altar figure wears a horned coiffure alluding to supernatural powers.

The breast-holding and breast-feeding female motifs emphasize the maternal affection and generosity of Ile and Edan.
The crescent motif (osu) is associated with regeneration and newness. According to some informants, the spiral or concentric circles motif signifies the spin of the small snail shell associated with increase, dynamic motion, and, by extension, with the transformatory power of Esu, , the divine messenger who mediates between the orisa and Ile, and with the motion of a whirlpool, signifying the expansive power of Olokun, the goddess of the sea and abundance, another aspect of the Earth.

From

Babatunde Lawal , "A Ya gbo, A Ya To: New Perspective on Edan Ogboni," in African Arts, vol. 28, no. 1, 1995, pp. 36-49, 98-100.

2009/7/7 Festus Adedayo <fesad...@yahoo.com>

Daniel, blood oath & Gabriel Okara’s Piano & Drums    Festus Adedayo’s e-mail: fesad...@yahoo.com  (08072000278 – sms only, pls) Having just read Peter Morton-Williams’ anthropological study of the Ogboni, the dreaded ancient Yoruba secret cult, entitled The Yoruba Ogboni cult in Oyo, which outlines the potency of blood in sacrifices and oath, it becomes very easy interfacing with how the public sphere is being recently inundated with hackneyed recounts of the cultic oath mess involving the Ogun State government. Written way back in 1960, Morton-Williams’ is a study in what probably drives interests in secret societies and why the elite take unqualified voyage into it, in spite of rapacious embrace of Christianity and Islam, and why the Ogboni still has controlling importance in Yoruba religious organization, centuries after it was established. It brings to mind the celebrated poet, Gabriel Okara’s Piano and Drums, a poem that evocatively brings out the effects of clashes between Western and African cultures. Blood oaths, which are administered to safeguard secrets and ensure they do not leak to third parties and to secure loyalty of one to another, are as ancient as humanity. An extension of fraternization, oaths seek to carve a brotherhood where none exists. The Norwegian warrior, Orvar-Odd and the renowned Swedish warrior, Hjalmar’s blood oath, is a case in point. Having fought for two days with no clear victor, they both decided to be sworn brothers by allowing their blood flow under a strand of turf raised by their spear. The blood was subsequently licked amid incantations and oath. The Lydia, an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor, located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir, on their own, get embroiled in ceremonies where their arms are nicked with a sharp object and they thereafter licked the blood dripping from each other’s arms. The Scyths, ancient Iranian people of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists, who dominated the Pontic-Caspian steppe throughout Classical Antiquity, too allow their blood to drip into a glass cup which is later mixed with wine and drunk by the oath-takers. This act was also found among the Mongols and Chinese, as well as in the Balkan Peninsula during the Ottoman era. There are a plethora of metaphysical powers that initiates of blood, especially in fraternities and cults like Ogboni, wield and which entraps those in search of such authorities. Believing in the potent power of the Earth as a binding force, Ogboni use the edan (a twin object of a man and woman pegged on a cylindrical brass spare) in their lledi (shrine house) and sprinkles of blood to subtly encode obedience to rules and secrets. Not only does Ogboni ensure secrecy of affairs among its initiates, an espirit de corps is priced out of the initiates by blood oaths, thus suborning potential squealers off revelations of Ogboni secrets and dark acts of the initiates.   Christianity and Islam have sought to wipe out blood oath. The Ogboni itself was a recipient of this rout in 1948 in Oyo by Alaafin Aderemi, a pious Muslim who sought to delink the palace from the ancient voodoo practice. Hitherto, the palace was a great link to and derived its existence from the immense powers of the Ogboni fraternity. Indeed, the Oyo Mesi doubled as initiates and Alaafin’s advisers. Even though a great attempt is made by the present cyber age to delink secret cults from the operations of society, cults flower greatly among African elite, especially among power cabals who run to them for metaphysical shields at moments of existential turmoil and travails. Indeed, judges, politicians, lawyers and many leaders of societies are said to belong to these fraternal secret cults, all in the stampede for power and protection against inclement weathers of life. You would be alarmed if Ogboni registers are ever opened for public scrutiny. Pastors, Imams and many society leaders are card-carrying members of the cult. And fraternities come with a great price. Fathers are reputed to have slept with their daughters as one of the conditions for Ogboni powers, while metaphysical offerings of beloved ones at cultic ovens are widespread. At the death of Ogboni lords, their corpses are requested by living initiates, allegedly with the brief to sever the hearts off their limp cavities. Such, many times, bring the dead initiates’ families in conflict with the Ogboni elders, most of whom were always in the dark about the card-carrying membership of their departed ones of the Ogboni fraternity. The above was the lot of Yoruba music impresario, Dauda Akanmu, alias Epo Akara. Epo had died February, 2005 of a kidney-related ailment and at his interment in Ibadan, at a spot opposite dreaded leader of One Love Family, Guru Maharaj Ji’s shrine, the Islamic clerics on hand for the interment had, in amazement and helplessness, watched as Epo’s body was hijacked off them by the advancing Ogboni. One thing led to the other and the body of great Awurebe music exponent, whose music, arresting and didactic …. this writer had been addicted to since the late 70’s, was hurriedly heaved off the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Talking about Gabriel Okara’s Piano and Drums! Bringing blood oath and membership of fraternities into recent view is the ongoing executive/legislative standoff in Ogun State. A member of the G-15 group of legislators opposed to Governor Gbenga Daniel, Wale Alausa’s pictures had been circulated in the Compass newspaper during the week, naked. He was said to have been photographed while taking a blood oath in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. While the newspaper, in pursuit of its proxy war against perceived foes of its publisher, had sought to profile Alausa as an oath-taker who did such at the prodding of Daniel’s string of traducers, Alausa and his legislative travelers turned the table around the second day, alleging that Governor Daniel had indeed been the instigator of the oath and that it was taken in his Ijebu-Ode home.  The Ogun blood oath saga has since metastasized, leading to incongruent submissions by both sides. While Alausa’s statements on the oath issue are riddled with inconsistencies, especially on the correct venue of the plot, the Ogun governor, like the proverbial man with a sore, is being understandably followed by flies. Though the Alausa issue cannot, on the whole, throw up Daniel as a governor who is enmeshed in the fraternal efficacy of cults, blood and oaths, it would be missing the point to conclude, taking cognizance of the recurrence of his name in this mire, that he is not. After reading details of Alausa’s press briefing, one is pushed to believe his tale only because of his generous appeal to the name of the Almighty and the plausibility of the plot, with the benefit of hindsight about stories on the Ogun governor. Daniel’s former Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Wale Adedayo, had earlier made poignant imputations of fetishism on Daniel in an interview with this newspaper some months back. Disputants who fell out with the governor have also always alleged recourse to sorcery in the administration of the state. However, the governor’s publicists have denied every strand of this allegation and as usual, holding on to straw in a defence that is needless. I will explain why presently. Why allegations of cult, violence and blood always oscillate around Daniel, his aides would need to explain. As highly vilified in the press as his colleagues – Bayo Alao-Akala (Oyo), and Ola Oyinlola (Osun) are, no one has imputed such rank fetishism against them as they do Daniel. Having said all these, it is the opinion of this writer that, if the ultimate aim of the said oath, according to those who alleged same, is to suborn allegiance to the person of the state governor, it is puerile asking why Daniel – assuming he did – demanded blood oath for allegiance to him. Except for religious explanations of its deleterious effects, or an empirical example in a moralism lecture, I do not see why an atheist, for instance, in search of total fidelity and obedience, cannot demand from his/her partner a blood oath. In this, I demand that we purge ourselves of peels of religiosity and face the fact as it is. Agreed, Christianity and Islam may frown at such demand of blood for fidelity, the onus of rejection of the demand is on the recipient and indeed on him should lie the cast of blame. In this regard, I strongly hold that Alausa is at fault and all his defence is baseless. When a man takes an action that boomerangs, he should be man enough to stand by its consequences. In this instance, regard must be given to the tenuous and vacuous politicking being practiced in Nigeria. Because the lure is material, the first casualty in politics is always integrity and whatever you hold dear. This is why the Ijebu-Ode lawmaker stands guilty. He ought to have told Daniel, the Awujale and even his dad to go and jump inside the Zambesi River if all that was needed for him not to be an omo ale was to swear to a blood oath with Daniel, as alleged. The moment he caved in, he lost every ounce of credibility and his later defence suffers an anemia of credulity. Alausa is in the same hypocritical and spineless mould as Chris Ngige who, as an after-thought, sought to pass the bucks of his attendance and swearing of oath at the Okija shrine some years back. The truth is, Nigerian politicians will do anything for power. Most of those big guns who wear white apparels like cousins of Saint Michael are steeped in sacral fetishes which are hewn all over them. Most of them are kingpins of fraternities under the shroud of nocturnes. To me, their denial of membership is what marks them as simpletons. This is why blind defence by the Daniel camp sickens. Except that he may court the wrath of his Bishop (who says he is not an Ogboni lord himself?) on Sunday and the typecast of fetishism by the people he governs, asking that somebody who desires a favour bend down low and shed his blood is indeed within the bounds. If the demand is rejected across board, it will frighten the person making the demand off his Dark Age demand. As much as blood oath may not pass religious and moral tests, it is a reflection of the crossroads we find ourselves as Africans. This is where Daniel’s style – if found to be true – may be considered to have thrown him up as a moral midget. But for a shrewd merchant – Nigerian politics having turned into merchandize – there may be nothing wrong in it, at a time when political treachery is on the upswing, after all, don’t people swear with the bible and quoran to ensure conformity with the letter of society? Ultimately, as Jimmy Cliff once counseled, every tub has to sit on its own bottom; if you are African in thought, stick to it; if you are Western, do. The intermix lands us at this juncture.   Reactions to Festus Adedayo’s column Re-Akunyili and  corruption in the media Festus, you have spoken well. But Akunyili’s definition of tips is not bribe. It is part of her rebranding. Don’t you know that Nigeria is a mad house that accommodates all gamut of hypocrites? Ralph Akintan, 08025771313 Haba, Festus! ‘Vermin’ is always plural. Check the 4th line of the second paragraph of your piece.  Charles Iyoha,  07033775454 I commend you on your write-up. I want to use this medium to tell Professor Rebranding Dora Akunyili to desist from her unguarded statements against journalists, otherwise she would face the wrath of the pen. Enuiyin Deji, Otun Ekiti, 08078975757 I think it is time we pray to God to wake this Rebranding minister from her bed of hypocrisy and to let her know that it will be foolish of Nigerians to live in pretence that it is alright when it all wrong! Festus, you are too much! Boma Agunbiade, 08057790988 I am not concerned about Madam Dora singing jazz and calypso but my concern lies in the bastardization of journalism lately in Nigeria which you equally touched on in your piece. No, I do not intend to place depreciatory blanket on or make a sweeping remark at all journalists in this country. Raather, I am highly perturbed by the lack of proper proof-reading in most newspapers. And perhaps, dare it be mentioned, the lack of proper investigative journalism by some journalists. Maybe only the bill of information can solve the latter in this country. All the same, thanks for your work. Sunday Ikpekpe, Warri, 07056310004 As one who cannot do without drinking from your ‘cup of wisdom’ every week, I will like to let you know that Madam Rebrand minister is not the same as Akunyili of NAFDAC of those days. Or what else can one say about Dora who wants to rebrand a country where everything you can think of is upside down? Madam, please rebrand Power Holding Company of Nigeria. Fr. Adoyi Onoja, K9, A-Bello Way, Kaduna Festus, are you people turning into porn? Why? Naked girls on Lifegal! Please, it is disgusting! 08058615588 Festus, you have done it again by saying the truth. Yours above is very good but our madam, Dora Akunyili should please go back to NAFDAC. That is her area. Apart from being a pharmacist, she is a mother and a woman. Whether we like it or not, she is a powerful woman. Maybe we should be careful with her, whether we can gain meaningfully from her.  Etuk, 08030413535 A blind woman needs no one to tell her when it is raining. Agreed, she cannot see the rain but ceteris parabus, she must feel it. In case it is not the case, she is not only visually challenged, she is also mentally impaired and would, more than any other thing, need to see a psychiatrist! Ogundare, 08038120538.    You must be logged in to post a comment Login Advertisement Archives by Tag abacha adenuga artistes banks Bottom Line Business celebrities Entertainment family federal government loot money music Nigeria obasanjo people Soccer World Cup Recent Entries 2011 guber race: Paul Unongo to contest again? 2010: Emeka Etiaba, a distraction or ‘real deal’ Re: Udenwa for 2011 presidency Chime’s coal city cabs and politician’s grabbing syndrome Senator Satti Gogwin: Ingrate or doomsday prophet? Use voodoo to get position? 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[Dr. Valentine Ojo]

Toyin Adepoju:

And what is further disappointing about all of this is that it is mostly foreign scholars - especially the Germans, starting as far back as with Leo Forebenius and Westerman – who would appear to be the ones who really took the study of our traditional African cultural practices and languages more seriously than ourselves – a tradition continued by people like Ulli Beier, Suzanne Wenger, Arndt Witte - whom by the way I knew very personally and very closely when he came to teach German as a DAAD lecturer in Ibadan.

I was actually the one who went to pick him up on his first arrival in Nigeria at Ikeja, together with another German DAAD lecturer who was at Ife.

And by the same token, we often tend to ignore the writings of knowledgeable Africans like Wande Abimbola, Tunde Lawal (both of whom were colleagues I knew very well at Ife, and with whose works I am quite conversant), and would rather continue to propagate half truths, rumors, and unsubstantiated speculations like this "assertion" you quoted from Festus Adedayo's writing:

"And fraternities come with a great price. Fathers are reputed to have slept with their daughters as one of the conditions for Ogboni powers, while metaphysical offerings of beloved ones at cultic covens are widespread. At the death of Ogboni lords, their corpses are requested by living initiates, allegedly with the brief to sever the hearts off their limp cavities. Such, many times, bring the dead initiates’ families in conflict with the Ogboni elders, most of whom were always in the dark about the card-carrying membership of their departed ones of the Ogboni fraternity.""

Like you rightly queried:

"How do you [Festus Adedayo] know this is true? Or even if you don’t, that it is sufficiently close to validity to be worth presenting to the public about an ancient institution which was central to the political and spiritual organisation of the Yoruba for centuries? Would the Yoruba have invested their political and religious authority in a society that was so patently anti-social?"

Note the expressions I underlined - these are indications that rumors and hear-says are here being presented as if they were empirical facts.

How many of us do not return home every day from meetings of associations where we are card-carrying members, and our family members are NOT "always in the dark about the card-carrying membership" in these associations?

Do we return home from our meetings to regal our family members with all the inner wheeling and dealings of these "associations" - whatever their nature?

Why then make a big ‘DEAL’ of it, if that also applies to membership in the Yoruba Ogboni Fraternity?

Why should automatically spell the “hiding of hideous, ant-social secret practices"?

And by the way, my Maternal Grandfather was an Ijebu Ogboni Chieftain who took me to several of their meetings as a child, carrying his stool and fan of office - frequently against the express wish of my Catholic father who could however do nothing to stop my grandfather taking mew to these meetings whenever he chose to do so.

We educated Africans need to focus more on finding out the true workings of our respective African societies - some of which were close to near ideal, even if often relatively stagnant - prior to the arrival of the Portuguese and the other Europeans to put us all in the cultural LIMBO in which mostt educated Africans find themselves today.

It is maybe only then that we can ever hope to be able to forge any meaningful synthesis between our own traditional African practices and values, and the inevitable onslaught of globalized foreign cultural practices – including the massive CORRUPTION and PERSONAL GREED as actively encouraged and nurtured by for example Western capitalist economic practices for example.

Or as in the present "blood oath" saga, in order to be able to distinguish between, and to avoid a confusing and unholy symbiosis of traditional African values, orthodox Christian beliefs, and OUTRIGHT UNADULTRATED EVIL and PURE MORAL DECADENCE!!!

 

Dr. Valentine Ojo

Tall Timbers, MD

 



On Wed 07/08/09 2:44 PM , toyin adepoju toyin....@googlemail.com sent:

[toyin adepoju]

Dear Dr.Ojo,

Thank you very,very much for your appreciation.Thanks too for sending my response to the various groups you belong to.Thanks ,too,for sharing your memories of what could be called a golden age in scholarship in Africa.Some of those names are new to me.I will check them up.

If only we really knew what is at stake in this struggle for our cultural heritage.It is possible to trace the cognitive history of the West,from ancient Greece,through Rome,the Middle Ages,to the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution of the Seventeenth Century,to the Industrial Revolution of the 19th,if I have got that right,to the Information Revolution of the 20th,and the further developments gradually gathering momentum. Nothing has been lost.The religious impetus that is seemingly non-existent now has been distilled and absorbed into the general mentality. The quest for knowledge of the divine  represented by Medieval Christian theology can be understood to be  transposed  in terms of what the scientific cosmologist Stephen Hawkin  describes in A Brief History of Time  as the quest to know the mind of God in terms of a theory that unifies all the fundamental forces  of nature.

How can one theorize profoundly,speculate deeply,if one is not grounded in a deeply felt body of ideas?

One of the most influential of modern Western occult schools,the Golden Dawn,drew the core of its rituals,poetry and ideas from ancient Egypt,which is now  understood to have had a significant Black racial configuration.

Contemporary work on the development and applications of information technology,as in architecture, indicate the integration of various conceptions of nature,one of which recalls the animistic  cultures of African and other societies,in which consciousness  is perceived as present in non-animate  forms.Chris Grootozein of the AVATAR project at UCL,London,projects the possibility  of architectural forms that share consciousness  and subjectivity with humans.

I am reposting the mail with the attachments which did not arrive.If you could forward the more complete mail,along with the mail I am responding to, to your various groups,I would be grateful.

2009/7/8 Dr. Valentine Ojo <val...@md.metrocast.net>