And so as more customs, traditions and vices got driven by the úlàmáhù into secrecy, to the fringes or out of town, suburbs became goto havens for adherents and patrons for what refused to die out or be abandoned. With increasing sanctions, Oloje, Okelele, and Ita Amodu, well-known holdouts, were not spared.
Fun seekers moved further out to Opo Maluu, GRA, Coca Cola Road, Garage Offa, Gerin Alimi and Adewole whilst traditionalists left town for Eiye Nkorin, Shao, Molete, Olooru, Oke Oyi, Ganmo, Ilota, Pampo, Ogele and other settlements, generally considered oko Ilorin in Asa and Moro and beyond.
Gradually, the converged interests of the Emirate and clerics to solidify the monarchy, deepen Islam, expel idolatry and uproot ‘vices’ prevailed, through vigilance and persistence. Some indigenous music forms gave way to Islamic mádíu and wákà. Fashion and school uniforms altered as the scarves of the múndía, maidens, berets of school girls, and gèlè (headtie) and ìborùn (light veil) of adélébó or housewives, yielded to hijab. Nikob or burka, the black head-to-toe veil with sight slits now gaining popularity among girls and young women was jàlùbábà25-30 years ago, and exclusive to eléhá – women in purdah – usually màkóndòró wives, who were derisively likened to masquerades with the adage, “òfin tó m’éégún lo m’éléhà”, the restrictions (ostensibly to private spaces) on the masquerade also apply to eléhá.
In 1999-2003, the Emirate was seriously challenged when the then Governor reinstated Yoruba traditional rule and elevated Afonja descendants to first class oba aládé or beaded crown king, next door in the city centre and equal in status to the Emir, who alone ever had the title of ‘Oba Ilorin’ in the city’s history (Afonja lineage titles having only spanned Ajélè, Consul, Baálè and Are Ona Kakanfo, Field Marshal of Oyo). It was resisted. This in part cost that politician reelection and his successor promptly reverted to status quo.
The people of Jebba in Moro challenged the Emir’s overlordship, contending that as descendants of freeborn Oyo Yoruba, they are not subject to Fulani Emirate propped up by Hausa and Tapa former slaves of the Yoruba as aristocracy. They disregarded the Emir’s mágàjí, headman/local chief designate, appointed their own oba, king, and sought to coronate him. The matter is in court with no end in sight.
One self-styled ‘Chief Imam Yoruba Ilorin’ from Ìdí Àpé, attempted to import OPC (Odua Peoples Congress) into Ilorin and attracted commentary, following, likes and mentions on Facebook and Twitter. The Emirate intervened and he quieted.
The Emirate, supported by clerics and vocal members of the elite has won many battles, weathered many storms and triumphed. So far, it has preserved the theocratic order.
Even as Yoruba language prevailed, the multicultural heritage and Islamic ethos have endured. There’s no living memory of cultic rituals or traditions such as the Yoruba’s egúngún and orò, or the Tapa’s ìgunu or other masquerading that any elderly or middle aged adult can recall in 50 or more years. They are said to have been outlawed as public events 200 years ago when the disparate peoples united under the banner of Islam, succeeded to Oyo rule, coalesced into a 90% Yoruba populated but Fulani-led multiethnic Islamic kingdom and forged a common culture and identity.
The modern Ilorin of the Emirate era was built on a fighting force powered by fine horsemanship and swordsmanship required for its strong cavalry modeled on the once great and powerful Oyo war machine.
This perhaps explains part of the city’s panegyrics, “Ìlú tóbi tó yíí ò l’éégún, esin l’eégún ilé won, òkò l’orò ibè” (a town this big has no masquerade, horses are its masquerades, and swords are its customs); and underscores Ilorin’s ‘balancing’ of its Islam and Africanness.
In recent years, there has been notable effort under the current Emir to mainstream Durbar as an annual festival and tourist attraction in the Emirate’s cultural calendar. Though the modern name, Durbar, is Persian, the practice is said to have originated in Kano (Circa 1400) as Hawan Daushe, also Hawan Salah, the Eid mount, under Muhammed Rumfa, Sarkin Kano, and was celebrated as a cultural, religious and equestrian festival in which nobles demonstrate horsemanship skills as well as pay homage to the Hausa king after Eid prayer or preparatory to war.
Ilorin sons and daughters know their culture and oral praise poetry. They worship no deity that requires ìsèse. Yeye Olokun’s strange quest proves her non-indigeneship and lack of roots and/or stakes beyond that of an èrò, resident visitor and/or economic sojourner; or as the clerics insist, agent provocateur on a sponsored mission to destabilize Ilorin. They insist they have the will and capacity to stop her if she doesn’t desist from her unholy agenda!
It’s against the forgoing backdrop that the clergy’s warming, “enitó s’eun t’énì kan ò se rì, ojúu rè ó rí n t’énì kan ò rí rí”, (one who does something unprecedented will encounter something yet unseen) becomes ominous. The Yeye’s unprecedented quest and the úlàmáhù’s unyielding posture portend brewing crisis, which if not well managed can combust into a conflagration.
There’s something to be said, however, for Yeye Olokun and traditionalists, and for the rights activists that have taken her side – freedoms of movement, opinion and worship.
The Yeye has rights to move from her Osun home town or state of origin to Ilorin or anywhere else in Nigeria and to worship any god or deity of her choice.
The 1999 constitution, as amended, guarantees her right and forbids state religion. Yet it provides for shariah, particularly in the north, of which Ilorin is geopolitically part and host to a sharia court of appeal. It also provides for subordinate laws including on chieftaincy and customs in states. Sharia and customary laws are built on religion, cultures and traditions of people of concerned jurisdictions. Ilorin as a city-state adopted Islam as religion and its 200 years old custom is: Idolators and traditionalists can worship privately,but No ìsèse or carnival-type traditional religious or public worship within the Ilorin Emirate.
Is Ilorin on a collision course with the constitution, given that anyone who interferes with peaceful exercise and enjoyment of the rights of another does something unconstitutional?
“We are also backed by the laws of the land”, the clerics insist.
Is there a lacuna? Are there contradictions in the constitution, state and local statutes that conduce to customs versus liberties rivalry? Are constitutionally guaranteed personal rights absolute and uniformly sacrosanct in every conceivable situation, granted 100% rule of law?
If exercise of individual right/freedom could cause public outrage, disrupt the peace, break down law and order and/or degenerate into violence, loss of life and damage to property, is such right inviolable?
There is also the dictate of prudence. Awòlú má te, ó mo ìwòn ara è ni. Knowing one’s limits is key to success in foreign lands. To do in Rome as the Romans do has been conventional wisdom for ages, before Yeye Olokun from Osun attempted to do otherwise in Ilorin, as it now seems. Is she and her backers being prudent and wise or on an excursion in willful provocation and/or folly?
In the premise, all parties are best advised to remain calm and law-abiding and to maintain status quo.
In the interest of peace, the clerics should sheath their swords. The Yeye Olokun and her supporters should approach the courts for interpretation/ruling on the extents/limits of personal liberty.
Before daring the Emirate and úlàmáhù with ìsèse festival and traditions that, for Ilorin intents and purposes, would be tantamount to reviving the ghost of the fallen Oyo Empire, which yoke they sacrificed and shed blood to rid themselves of, let traditionalists and their advocates and indeed all parties be informed of the constitutional latitudes and/or boundaries of customs and religious freedom.
Let good sense, reason, and harmony for which Ilorin and Kwara are well known prevail.
Concluded.
Suleiman, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Lagos. netmatrixng@gmail.com or 08036692165 (WhatsApp only).
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