Returning to Aku (aka Ọmọ Oduduwa) Traditional Religion

Below is a an interview with an Aku (aka Omo Oduduwa) woman who returned to the Way, having been drawn to home to Ifa by Olodumare – a sample of the mass return to the Truth to happen in these times as prophesied in Deuteronomy 30; notice her apparel which is probably similar to Osara’s, Deborah’s, Moremi’s (Miriam/Mary), etc. The interview was first published in page 48 of The Guardian of May 5, 2012 but is no longer available on The Guardian website.

‘We Are All Traditionalists’

Saturday, 05 May 2012 00:00 By Yemi Olakitan Saturday Magazine – Saturday Magazine

Ebun Osunnike a.k.a Iya Adunbuyinbo, is the President of International Congress of Orisa Congress, Lagos State Chapter, an umbrella organization for all the Orisa Worshippers in Nigeria and in the Diaspora. She had once been a Christian named Ruth, She had once been a Muslim, named  Falilat, but today Osunike is dedicated to the propagation of traditional religious worship. She fervently believes that a return to tradional religion will bring about a better society.  In this interview with Yemi Olakitan, she bares her mind on various issues affecting tradional religion in Nigeria and why she believes that traditional religion  is the best .  Excerpts.

MOST people have abandoned traditional religion for Christianity and Islam, Why have you remained in it?

The Christians and Muslims have not abandoned our traditional religion. They deceive themselves when they say that they have abandoned our traditional practices and I will tell you why. There are ways in which they still observe our traditional religion.  The Muslims still use what they call ‘‘Tira’’ which is a kind of charm if you look at it well. During the Salah celebrations, a good Muslim must slaughter his own ram and share such with the neighbors.

In the Christian Bible, Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of the world. The death of Christ was a sacrificial offering. In the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, God told them to make sacrificial offerings of bulls and rams. Therefore, it is all interwoven and related. Tradition is supreme and we are all involved in these practices in one form or the other. Each religion has its own rites and rituals. So, don’t tell me that they have abandon tradition. In actual fact, traditional religion is the first-born. Look at our Muslim and Christian brothers, particularly in Yorubaland, there are few names that do not have a connection with a Yoruba deity. Our names are either attached to Ogun the god of iron, Ifa the god of Divination, or Osun, the River goddess. These are deities that are attached to traditional religion, although these people may claim to be Christians or Muslims. The fact is that  traditional religion is the religion of our ancestors.  Look at Governor Fashola. He may claim to be a Muslim; his name is derived from Ifa. Traditional religion is the first. Islam and Christianity are foreign religions. Islam was imported from Saudi Arabia, while Christianity was imported from Europe. They are not our culture originally. We accepted these religions because we do not know the value of what we have. The white man knows what he has and he packages it well and he gave it to us and we accepted his own religion to the detriment of ours.  I had been a Christian before, my baptismal name was Ruth and I had been a Muslim as well, my Muslim name was Falilat. I have examined the two and I prefer Orisa Worship.

Don’t You feel odd Atimes, being a traditionalist among a sea of Muslims and Christians?

I grew up with traditional religion. My father was a staunch traditionalist and so was my mother.  I know the value of what we have. We have inherited a strong religion full of deep spirituality and strong philosophy of life. Honestly, there is nothing in Christianity or Islam that is not in Orisa Worship. My father’s name was Ogundeyi, my son’s name is Ogunshina and my other son’s name is Ifashola.

You see, traditional religion works if you practice it with truthfulness and right living. I believe in the Orisas. People have different problems. Christians, Muslims and even atheists all come to us for help including those who condemn us in public. I want to appeal to Christians to stop castigating us. They say, all we do is evil.  That is a lie!

People come to us with problems and we are able to help them. Some come with unemployment problems, some barrenness, some business problems. We consult the Orisas for the solution and the solutions are always there.

What is the position of traditional religion on life after death?

In Yoruba traditional religion, there is a strong belief in life after death.  Life does not end here on earth. If you do good, you will have your reward and if you do bad, you will also be rewarded. Everyone has spiritual groups in heaven (egbe orun). These groups depend on your character and the kind of life you live on earth while you were here. You see, birds of the same feather flock together. If you are a robber when you are alive, you will have spiritual affiliations with robbers in heaven and you will suffer with them. Let me give you a very classic example. A woman came to me in search of a child. She had been married for many years. I told her what she must do to cure her barrenness. She must offer sacrificial offerings to her spiritual group but she screamed “Jesus!”  She went away because she found it difficult to accept because of her religious background. She came back to me after two years ready to offer the offerings. Today, she is blessed with a bouncing baby girl because of her obedience. You see, there is no one without groups in heaven. However, you need to live right in order to enjoy their blessings.

Tell us about your work and your association

Well, I am the president of the Orisa Congress in the whole of Lagos State. I went to Abuja to establish it. I have established it in Minna, Sokoto, Benin Republic and every state of the Western Region. We are present in the United States of America. We are in Europe as well.  Professor Wande Abimbola in Ile Ife established Orisa Congress, when he was a Professor at the Obafemi Awolowo University. He is the President of the Association, worldwide. Araba Awo of Oshogbo, Chief Yemi Elebun Ibon is the National President of the Congress of Orisa Worshipers. Traditional religion is the first-born and it is supreme.

Our Association is fully registered with the government. We are registered just like the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). However, the government does not recognize us. They give attention to the Muslims and the Christians but not to us. We want to move close to the government, but our government is like a woman who gives birth to three children but abandons one. They have thrown traditional religion away.

But we are the true identity of the country. The others are foreign importations. In traditional religion, you cannot lie. If you do evil, evil will overtake you. Many people today cannot practice traditional religion because their works are evil; and the Orisa don’t condone evil. That that is why they hide under Christianity and Islam and yet many still come to us for deliverance. As an Osun Priestess for example, I cannot lie or cheat. It is what Osun asks for that I must ask for from the client. If Osun does not ask for money, I cannot ask for money. Yet, you will never lack. All the Orisas do not encourage wickedness. Therefore, it is wrong to associate traditional religion with evil. I also want to appeal to the Nollywood people who are making films to portray us in good light. They are castigating our collective cultural heritage. The images of Christianity and Islam are just products of good branding.  Let us portray our culture and tradition in positive light to the outside world.

True, there are some people that go about parading themselves as Orisa Worshipers. They are dressed in white and they sit in public places begging for money. These people are not part of us. It is not Yoruba Culture to beg for money. It is not even in the tenets of Orisa worship. It is completely unacceptable.  You don’t beg for money. You work with you hands. This is what the Orisas instruct us to do, although there is a certain deity that instructs his followers to go and ask for money and pray for those who give. However, this comes up at a particular season and when that season is past, you cannot continue to do it as if you are a beggar. It is totally against the religious inclination of Orisa Worship to turn oneself into a beggar and be begging in the name of religion. I have trained several priestesses. You cannot find them begging for money. Those who are doing that have deviated from tradition.

What other advice do you have for the Government?

The government should recognize us more. A father who has three children but throws away one is not a good father.  If the Christians can help in nation building, we can also help. The Boko Haram issue, for example. They are not spirits, they are human beings. The government should involve all of us in finding solutions to the problem of the nation.

Fayose blasts Obasanjo over letter to Buhari

Nigerians have already made up their minds to show Buhari the exit next year with or without Obasanjo’s self-serving letter

“So Obasanjo should not take the credit. He should not reap where he has not sown.

“Nevertheless, President Buhari should heed ex-President Obasanjo’s advice and go home and rest. President Buhari has overstayed his welcome,” he added

Fayose added that “Obasanjo himself should heed his own advice to Buhari by also going home to rest. Both Obasanjo and Buhari are analogue in this digital age and have expired.

“We have been hearing of Obasanjo since we were in the primary school.

“It is time for him to vacate the public political space. When Nigerians hear him speak nowadays, they hiss.”

A wonderful reunion

He made the disclosure during an appearance as a guest on an ongoing reality TV show, ‘Celebrity Housemate’, in Lagos on Thursday, January 25.

According to him, Davido’s popularity made the rift “bigger than fighting Abacha”.

He told his audience, “The Davido issue was my biggest battle ever. It was bigger than fighting Abacha because of the blistering popularity of David; he is an extremely popular guy and it was very unfortunate because a baby was involved; very beautiful girl, Imade. When it happened, I tried to avoid a collision with the family because I am very close to the family especially because of Ademola who is now a senator.

“So when the baby issue came, I didn’t know about it, if Sophie (Davido’s first Babymama) didn’t tell me she was pregnant, I wouldn’t have known, she was able to hide it perfectly from everyone.”

“We used to sleep in the same house when I was in exile in London. Whenever Ademola was around, he would call me and then pick me up to his house and I’ll sleep there and when I need to go back to my own house he would drop me

Momodu also mentioned that Davido’s father, Tunji Adeleke, was the one who facilitated the “true reconciliation”.

Afrobeats Nigerian artists like Davido are slowly but surely seeping their way into the U.S. music industry. Nearly 10 months after joining forces with RCA Records/Sony Music International, the songwriter/producer finally premieres a new track entitled “Gbagbe Oshi” (pronounced Bahg-Bae Oh-Shi).

On the Shizzi aka Magic Fingers-produced single, which loosely means “kill the drama or “leave the matter” in the Yoruba language, the Afropop singer, known for hit songs like“Skelewu,” makes it clear to his anxious fans that he’s still here with his signature sound and that he’s looking onward and upward, all negativity aside. As a bonus to this track’s release, Davido teased the song’s official visual on Facebook, which is set to premiere on Saturday, October 1 in honor of Nigeria’s 56th annual Independence Day.

To hold fans over until the release of his next studio album under his partnership, the“Dami Duro” artist will release a 5-track EP, Son of Mercy, featuring South Africa’s ownNasty C and labal mate Tinashe. If you’re a fan of Afropop music or new to the sound, spin Davido’s new track down below and/or download it on iTunes. You can also pre-order Son of Mercy which officially drops (in Nigeria) on Friday, October 21st and then in the U.S. afterwards.

NIKE DAVIES OKUNDAYE; THE ARTIST

By Keith Richards

It is not possible to fully appreciate the work of Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye, the artist, without having some understanding of the cultural, social and religious environment that has shaped her life and her work. The very essence of Nike can be seen very clearly in this collection from the early monochrome pen and ink work, through her time at the Osogbo School under the spiritual influence of her mentor Suzanne Wenger and right until her latest collaboration with Tola Wewe in their “Stitches of Partnership”.  Throughout her life Nike has always remained utterly connected to her being as a Yoruba woman. From leaving home at 13 to escape an arranged marriage, the experience of being the junior wife in the Twins Seven Seven compound, the profound mysticism of the Orisha religion and the witnessing of the failure of Western Nigerian Society to improve the economic and social lot of rural and working class women. In fact, the very fibre of Nike’s work is woven from these threads both in terms of the subject and the media she works in.

Much of the work in this retrospective is from a prolific period when, working with Watercolour and Pen & Ink, she documented the lives of women in the village.  Sometimes working but usually singing or dancing, the women are invariably reflected with dignity and humour, warmth and affection.  Despite the economic hardship which led Nike to create centres and workshops where local girls could learn the traditional skills of Adire (Batik), dyeing, weaving and making an independent living (usually selling their output through Nike’s own Galleries) the emotions depicted are those of joy, love and hope. Her determination that Art can be a weapon for the empowerment of her native Yoruba women continues to be her motivation.  Her technical accuracy aligned with her native passion for deep colour and rich texture are eloquent testimony for her beliefs.

Her recent work with Tola Wewe brings yet another dimension albeit from within the same cultural and spiritual framework. Tola defines the shape and broadly the subject matter, which are inspired by the spirits that inhabit his world of Onaism (a group that develop art through the use of traditional Yoruba symbols and beliefs).  Nike develops the texture specifically through the filing of spaces using traditional Adire patterns and Yoruba symbols that represent the emotions and the insight of their ancestors.  This collaboration seems to me to be unique in that the two artists are clearly drawing from the same well of belief, fusing a single mystical motif from their differing techniques and methods.  Renaissance artists, post-impressionists, pre-Raphaelites and others all worked together within their broadly shared value systems, most usually Christian for example, but it is tempting to believe that the same spirits and ancestors were present for both Tola and Nike in their separate studios ensuring a particularly cohesive association.

The range of their collaboration is also of interest.  The early pieces are highly evocative, clearly reflecting the belief that humans and spirits inhabit the same world.  As their work develops, more secular themes such as the “Feminine Power Series” or “Seeking for Love” consider a more overtly sexual side of African Womanhood and the consequence of economic disability, misplacement and desperation.  Nike’s influence in these pieces ensures that dignity and beauty are somehow maintained despite the more graphic approach.  Displaying their versatility there are also examples of a lighter touch, documenting everyday cultural activity and events, as in the “Trip to the Hills”.

It goes without saying that African Art is still a ‘Frontier Market” and buying as an investment is not without its risks.  Having said that, the surge in interest in both modern pieces and older tribal art, encouraged by the development of quality auctions and galleries in Africa itself as well as by the increase in auctions in London, New York and Paris has seen healthy growth in prices.  Given the smaller Watercolour and Pen & Ink pieces in Nike’s show are GBP 3,000 this seems a reasonable risk for a genuine insight into an ancient and vibrant culture from a unique woman.  This November the Smithsonian will be celebrating 50 Years of its African Art Collection and amongst the honourees will be another Nigerian friend and confidant of Nike, Bruce Onobrekpeya.  Something tells me the Gallery of African Art will be somewhere to keep an eye on.  Nike Davies-Okundaye – A Retrospective, is on till 22nd November.

NIGERIA'S FIRST TEXTILE MUSEUM

Despite volumes that have been written and voices loud enough on the importance of the creative sector’s ability to drive tourism economy, government still appears lethargic. But all is not lost, as Abuja’s tourism landscape is expected to receive a boost this year with a Textile Museum at the proposed Arts Village.

It is, perhaps, the first of its kind in Nigeria where genre-specific museums are uncommon. The proposed facility is the initiative of a renowned artist, Nike Okundaye, whose career of over 40 years has been on textile art.The textile museum is being conceived as part of a big cultural centre to be built on a six-acre land said to have been acquired by the artist’s family a few years ago. As a textile artist, Okundaye is also known to be a passionate collector of modern Nigerian textiles across cultures. Some of Okundaye’s collections in textiles, as old as many decades, are currently housed on the top floor of Nike Art Centre, Lekki, Lagos.

“We have just been able to complete payment for our six acres of land in Abuja, on which we plan to build an Art Village,” Chief Reuben Okundaye disclosed at Nike Art Centre. The Art Village, he assured, will have “a Textile Museum for my wife’s over two thousand collections.It is of note that the artist’s passion in textile goes beyond producing the well-known Yoruba native adire fabric from which she has become a revered name globally. Nike, as she is fondly called within the art circle, has done a lot of paintings in different media depicting the adire texture. Apart from the museum, the Arts Village, according to Chief Okundaye, will have amphitheatre and gallery of African Art as well as a multi-purpose hall.

After opening for business in 2011/2012, a visit to Nike Art Centre revealed what one thought could generate the proposed Textile Museum. Obviously, the artist already had her dream of a specialised museum for textile worked out back then. At the textile museum section of the building, the artist’s passion for fabrics of African origin was loud. Okundaye then noted, “We are fast losing our traditional textiles and something has to be done.”

Neatly arranged in the textile section were hand-woven materials such as alari, sanyan, petuje, among other hand-woven Yoruba native textiles.When the proposed Textile Museum becomes a reality, Nike, again, would be filling a vacuum abandoned by the government. Currently, the Nike Art Centre is the only visible spot for modern and contemporary gallery in Lagos, a city variously described as ‘Africa’s six largest economy.” But a unit known as Modern Gallery at the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, remains a huge embarrassment to a nation like Nigeria. Apart from the fact that the art pieces on display are endangered – given the deplorable state of the building – the modern and contemporary textures of Nigerian art vigour are not updated.

FOR the Nike Art Centre, the passion is in favour of tourism as a strong ingredient of developing Nigeria’s economy. The Textile Museum, Chief Reuben stated, would go a long way in developing the tourism industry.“Tourism can create jobs as we are trying to do with the Textile Museum so that every family involved in tourism industry should able to feed themselves,” he said.

With over 25,000 pieces of art at Nike Art Centre’s gallery space, the proposed Arts Village in Abuja has enough pool of collection to feed from the Lagos facility. Perhaps, as part of preparation towards the building of the Textile Museum, promotion through workshops for better understanding of textile art would be touted as the focus of Nike Art Centre this year.

If anyone is interested in researching Nigeria’s tourism business in the context of foreign inflow of visitors, the Nike Art Centre appears to be the right resource spot. It is no longer news that the centre is known to be a spot of attraction for foreign tourists.

But a disturbing revelation came to light when Chief Reuben said: “Tourists complain about the difficulty in getting Nigerian visa for visit” and advised government to “relax” the process and condition for “tourist visa so that more visitors can come here” and argued, “we know because tourists who come here complain of difficult of about as much as six months to get a visa to visit Nigeria.”

A few hours after the Okundayes shared their 2018 plans with their guests, a list of artists and art patrons were scheduled to receive awards for their contributions in developing Nigeria’s art. The award night themed ‘Connecting Lagos with Art’ had Prince Yemisi Shyllon, Robin Campbell, Prof. Peju Layiwola, Ndidi Dike, Sam Ovraiti, Rom Isichei and Peju Alatise, among over 10 others as recipientsThe awards are important to encourage people to do better in creating and promoting art,” Chief Reuben explained. “We hope to make the award a yearly event.”Still on arts as a crucial content of tourism, the Nike Arts Centre appears to have its main focus of the year on Lagos State. It’s a proposed Public Private Partnership (PPP) to be known as Trash to Treasure. Nike said the project is a collaboration with Lagos State Government, adding, “It’s called Trash to Treasure, which we want to use in creating monthly festivals in collaboration with Lagos State Government.”

What looks like the pilot process of the proposed collaboration, she said, “has already started with a private outfit, Sisi Oge Beauty Pageant” and noted that Lagos has so much potential to be host to as many festivals as possible. “We can recreate other festivals in Lagos; people don’t need to travel out of the city to attend major festivals in the country.”

When the Nike Art Centre opened six years ago, space utilisation in curatorial articulation gave artists, who work in large format canvas and installation, more windows of artistic expression. Also, the centre expanded the number of works on display for exhibitions with a minimum of about 50 works on each of the four-flour building. It was an unprecedented availability of space in Nigerian art exhibition circuit despite the building’s challenge of columns that could obstruct viewing.In a given exhibition that may need the entire gallery space, as many as 300 pieces of art can be on display in a conservative curatorial style devoid of choking.

A Nigerian Artist with a differience

NIke is the Managing Director/CEO of Nike Center for Art and Culture, Osogbo where trainings are offered free of charge to all Nigerians in various forms of arts. The center was established in 1983, by Nike solely from her earnings as an artist and without governmental assistance. Nike opened this center with 20 young girls who were marching the streets in Osogbo aimlessly and who had no hopes for the future. In their tender age, Nike withdrew these girls from the streets and provided them with free food, free materials and free accommodation at her residence at Osogbo and taught them how to use their hands to earn decent livings through the art. So far, over 3000 young Nigerians have been trained in the center and who are now earning their decent livings through art. Many African countries now send their students to study textile art at the center.

The Nike Center for Art and Culture, Osogbo now admits undergraduate students from many universities in Nigeria for their industrial training programs in textile design. Over the years, this center also now admits students from all over Europe, Canada and the United States of America. International scholars and other researchers in traditional African art and culture also visit the center from time to time for their research works into Yoruba "Adire" fabric processing and African traditional dyeing methods.

Nike is also the Owner/Curator of the Nike Art Galleries at Lagos, Osogbo, Ogidi-Ijumu and Abuja. In 1996, Nike established a textile (Aso-Oke) weaving center at Ogidi-Ijumu near Kabba in Kogi State for the women of the village, employing and empowering more than 200 women in the weaving center. In June 2002, Nike established an Art and Culture research center at Piwoyi village, FCT Abuja with an art gallery and a textile museum, the first of its kind in Nigeria which will provide functional platform for research into Nigerian traditional textile industry in the Federal Capital Territory area of Abuja. In furtherance of these noble endeavors, Nike is currently the managing director and founder of the following organizations in Nigeria; "Nike Art Productions Limited" which she incorporated in 1994, "Nike Art Gallery Limited" which she incorporated in 2007 and the "Nike Research Centre for Art and Culture Limited" which she incorporated in 2007. Also in 2007, Nike founded the "Nike Art and Culture Foundation" with some notable eminent Nigerians as trustees, with the main aims and objectives of fostering Nigerian cultural heritage.