It is hard to imagine Orunmila Shrine worshiped in the Vatican or Mecca. There is no greater contemptuous sacrilege than building a church right under the Ooni of Ife, the keeper of Yoruba Oracle, religious arts and others. If Orunmila said he created the world from Ile-Ife, modern genetics and archaeology back the beginning of life in Africa than that of Adam and Eve anywhere else.
Never mind the continual personality show of power between Alafin and Ooni on the daily newspapers. Each office has its jurisdiction well understood amongst Yoruba. This is the reason the inherent power of the Ooni must not be diluted with foreign religion. One would think that the Alafin would have more axes to grind with his traditional son in Benin that wants Ogiso acceptance so much, he pointed his left hand to his father’s house in Ife. They should worry more about foreign religions displacing their religions.
The building of a church in Ooni’s palace by his wife should not come as a surprise. When Orunmila wants to do his will, he could use the wife of Ooni to build a shrine that is worthy of Moremi. It came as an idea to the wife of Ooni as a Christian, but before there was Jesus, there was Obatala and Oduduwa despite the late date modern history ascribes. It could not be the real Oduduwa but they meant children of Oduduwa in BC.
Moremi that came after them could care less about Christianity. So she was inspired by the great work of Orunmila, Obatala, Oduduwa. Moremi deserved a benefiting Shrine centuries ago. When you live so close inside the palace of the greatest religion on earth, where life itself was created, your mind is in the hands of Orunmila. Scientific support and evidence that life began in Africa is undisputed. The myth of the Bible and Koran do meet any scientific scrutiny.
What we need to do in Africa is clean up our acts. The days Abraham tried to sacrifice his son or Jesus sacrificed are gone. People look for excuse like Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, to drink wine in Church these days than drink blood and eat flesh of human like Jesus. So, all the sacrileges in Africa religion must stop. Some Oba have even refused to perform rituals for the same reason. Moremi Shrine serves a cleaner ritual than Church.
The God of Abraham and Mohammed is no greater than Orunmila. Church or Mosque built right in our compound does not make us a better person. It is what we wish for a fellow human that determines the type of person we are. No matter what religion suits us we cannot avoid the Aiyelala or Nemesis. Call it what you want in your religion. Only weaklings do not realize that heavens only help those who help themselves.
The fact that the wife of Ooni built a Church at Ooni’s palace does not make her a better person or a bad woman, it only means she was driven by colo-mentality. Africans are well known for worshiping foreign gods to fool their friends and outside world that they are civilized and free of rituals, when in fact they are hypocrites that would not hesitate to call on Sango in time of trouble or elation. There are no worse rituals than weapon of mass destruction, drones or suicide bombs in exchange for virgins without ?blokos?.
What is interesting is how African preachers convert the same adjectives used in praising Orunmila into praising God of Jesus and Mohammed. The devil created in those foreign holy books has never scared Africans. If you want Africans to swear, telling them to do it in the name of the Bible or Koran is like wasting your precious time and effort. Tell them to swear with Ogun and Sango, it is then you will notice a natural reaction.
Building a Church right at the palace or your home, does not mean you are pure. It is not a coincidence that you have most African countries without official authentic religion. Most of them banned their own indigenous religion in their countries. If you do not think that is a warped mentality, go figure out what that it is. Mind you, some of them do it for convenience so that they cannot be held accountable when they perpetrate their evil ways, like loot their countries blind.
This is not the motive of the wife of Ooni in building a Church at the palace but it is certainly not to please those surrounding the Ooni. She may get praises from the Christian communities all over the world but at the expense and ridicule of the Keeper of Ifa tradition. It is for that reason the Church must be preserved and turned into a Shrine for Moremi, not destroyed by fanatics.
There was a lecture at one of the leading foreign universities where the professor gave a beautiful lecture about Ife tradition and Moremi. Many of us were so impressed that we congratulated her on her dutiful expedition to Ife, compared to many armchair professors. Until she got to the point that Christianity was created in Africa and Moremi could have some Christian influence.
Look, it is hard to blame her since most of us relate to others from what we know from our background. By identifying Moremi with Christianity and feminism, which is what she is, she saw some part of herself in Moremi. It makes it easier for her to identify with Africa. This is what most of us do, we identify with what we can relate to. She deserves praises for her work in Ife but failed miserable on Moremi.
The building of a Church by the wife of Ooni solidifies that relationship. If that Church is not replace with Moremi Shrine, in some years to come, people will be writing about Church in Ooni’s palace that was started during the time of Moremi and completed by the wife of Ooni of Ife. So we have to be careful about what we do in sacred palaces so that a wrong interpretation is not ascribed to it in the future.
Ooni palace is not Aso Rock where Christians and Moslems can worship when they become presidents. There must be a clear demarcation between politics and religion when it comes to the seat of indigenous place of birth of religion before either Mohammed or Jesus. It is not a rejection of either or any religion one wishes to practice but please give due respect to the Keepers of Ifa Oracle.
Source: Farouk Martins Aresa.
