It was one surreal day, around 4:00 pm
or so, and I was out on our street for a
reason I can’t really remember now, I
was pretty young then. Then as I got to
the maisuya end of our busy street, I
noticed this huge and electrified crowd
thronging after a slowly-moving convoy.
At the center was a white limousine and
from the sun roof, was a man full of
charming smiles, waving to the frenzied
crowd, he looked very smart, handsome
and he was also wearing white, all
white, the hat too was white. It was quite
a dazzling spectacle. The limo was
headed towards the city stadium where
he had a show. I had just set my eyes on
Africa’s greatest magician, ‘Professor
Peller’. And would never see
him again. But for a young African child
who was also seeing a limousine for the
very first time or so, it was truly a
magical moment for me. He performed
and left my state leaving incredible tales
of outstanding feats. Ladies and
gentlemen, this is a piece on Nigeria’s
most famous magician, Professor Peller.
For about thirty years, Peller held the
world’s most populous black nation
spellbound with millions gasping at the
whisk of his wand. I hope you find this
magical.

¶BIRTH AND EARLY DAYS

He was born in 1941 at Iseyin, Oyo State
and he was named Moshood Folorunsho
Abiola. He would later pick on the stage
name of ‘Professor Peller’, an
appellation that has stuck to him like a
second skin.

¶HIS MAGICAL PERFORMANCES AND
EXPLOITS

When Professor Peller was alive, he was
the most brilliant magician in all of
Africa. I am not too sure if the record
has been broken. Even in death, Peller
remains the greatest of all. He performed
not only before princes but also held
kings spellbound with his magic. Here is
how Femi Oyebode, a Professor of
Psychiatry at the University of
Birmingham described Peller and one of
his shows in 1972 at the George V
Stadium in Lagos (that is the old name of
the Onikan Stadium):
My last ever visit to the stadium was to
see Professor Peller, a magician, and said
to be a member of the Magic Circle take
on the last of our traditional magicians
whose name now escapes me (itself a
significant fact). Professor Peller was
dressed in black tails, a top hat, a wand
in one hand, black shoes and well-cut
hair. He was a perfect picture of debonair
gentleman and was assisted by an
attractive young woman. He flicked his
white handkerchief and a white dove flew
out. He pulled at his cuff links and
flowers bloomed under his command. He
was confident, majestic. He was suave
and graceful. He levitated his assistant.
He cut her in two without drawing blood.
He locked her in a cupboard, chained up
several times over yet she disappeared! It
was a masterly performance. The crowd
clapped, hooped. We were seduced
against our better judgment. We wished
desperately that the traditional magician
would enthrall and endear us to his
magic, the mysteries of African magic. We
were disappointed or shall I say that I
was disappointed. When he came on stage
dressed only in a loincloth of
indeterminate color, you could hear the
audience gasp aloud. Was this African
magic? This crude, little thin man who
seemed recently woken from the dead? He
swallowed a stone and turned his
backside to us, slipping his loincloth to
one side and excreted the stone.
Awfulness and shame. He submitted his
abdomen to a sharp sword to be sliced
open. But by now, the absence of
razzmatazz and of finesse had turned us
against him. The crowd poured through
the gates. That was how disgusted we
were. You can say that at George V
stadium, in early adulthood I lost two of
my childhood dreams.
A master at his craft and a consummate
entertainer, he cast a most powerful
spell on the following African leaders,
right in their presidential palaces:
-The late President Gnassingbe Eyadema
of Togo (Eyadema later died after
spending 38 years in power, he was the
longest-serving ruler in Africa when he
died in 2005 (see his picture below). His
son, Faure, is currently the President of
Togo).

-The late President Samuel Kanyon Doe
of Liberia (see picture below). There is
an interesting story behind his
performance for the late strongman of
Monrovia. There was a time Peller had a
performance in Liberia in the 1970s and
the crowd was just too massive. The
Liberian government drafted security
forces to the venue of the act to control
the surging crowd. One of those
responsible for maintaining security that
day at Peller’s performance was a young
man called Samuel Doe. So when Doe
became President, he summoned Peller,
Nigeria’s finest magician to come
perform for him. Such was the stellar
performance of Peller. Doe said he was
busy controlling the surging crowd and
he could not witness the even properly
as at that time when he was a junior
soldier.

-The former President of Benin Republic,
Mathieu Kerekou was also one of those
who patronized Peller (see picture
below).


Apart from the Presidents mentioned
above, Peller also reigned supreme in
Nigeria. It was like there was no other
conjurer in the land. Chief Obafemi
Awolowo, the late Premier of the
Western Region was one of those he used
to entertain regularly.
-Peller was a prolific magician with
many shows, some of which were the
Invisible General, the Escaping Box,
Changing Dresses and the Zigzag. One
thing with Peller’s performances is that
they were executed with maximum
finesse and excellence. He was thorough
and professional. Perhaps, if not for
death, he might have even eclipsed David
Copperfield of the USA in fame.
Copperfield is presently the greatest
magician on earth and the first person
to make one billion dollars from magic.

-While growing up, he was nicknamed
Moshood Olori Pupa (Moshood the Red-
Headed Boy).
-One of his classical performances
included putting his wife in a ‘magical
coffin’ and severing the same coffin into
two halves with a ‘magic coffin’. There is
no spirit at work here, watch how the
trick is done here:
When Peller was performing, there was
really no Internet as we have it today, so
it was quite easy to fool people in their
millions. Now, YouTube is spoiling the
show for many magicians except the
most ingenious of them. Here are few
more magic clips on YouTube just to let
you know they do not conjure any evil
spirit or demon, it is nothing but sheer
trickery.


LOVE, ROMANCE AND MARRIAGE

He was described as a very romantic
man. His most prominent wife, Alhaja
Silifat, fell in love with him while she
was still in the secondary school. She
confessed that she had always admired
him and his performances even before
then and each time she watched him
perform, her heart fluttered with
affection for the fine magician with
tribal marks.
In 1967, Iseyin Grammar School in Oyo
State became the place where Peller
planted the seed of love even if he was
there to perform but was carried away
by the ravishing young beauty in the
crowd called Silifat. Hear her: “I am sure
he musthave been attracted to me
because of my beauty. So, he just
whispered to me: ‘Baby, you are
beautiful.’ And I said, ‘Thank you.’ He
didn’t ask me out that day. For quite a
long time, we were friends.” For a
couple of years more, they continued
dating and Lady Peller said after two
years, she said yes to his advances. They
got married in 1971 and they already
had a child by then.
For a man who was a showstopper at
any events, it is no surprise that not a
few women fell for the enchanting spell
of Nigeria’s most famous magician. He
was a man of many women and married
many of them. However, the best known
of these ladies, with whom he performed
his magic tricks is Alhaja Silifat
Adeboyin Peller (see picture). The whole
of Nigeria knew her as Lady Peller and
she is most famous for the act in which
she was ‘sliced’ into pieces by Peller and
had a hard time putting her back. Now
66 years of age with her husband gone
and not remarrying, she is tending to
her grandchildren while reminiscing
over the glittering wonders of an empire
of magic that once held sway. Lady Peller
was born in Kishi, Oyo State where her
father was the Chief Imam and had five
children for him, while also raising
many other step-children.

However, unknown to many, their rosy
marriage later had a deep crack to the
extent that they were not staying
together anymore. When Peller was
killed at his Onipanu residence, he was
in Lagos State for a function while Lady
Peller was living at the GRA, Ikeja.
Although they were not officially
separated as they still saw regularly,
Peller checked on her in Ikeja but met
her absence. As at that time, they had
already reconciled and were even
planning on coming back together before
Peller was prematurely silenced by the
assassin’s bullets.
Peller left a message for her to check on
him as he was not feeling well and was
rushed to Ibadan for treatment. Lady
Peller was furious as to why he was
taken to Ibadan since they had family
doctors at the Ajayi Memorial Hospital
and the EKO Hospital in Lagos but upon
getting to Ibadan, she was simply told
that Peller was dead. She fainted
immediately only to wake up to a bucket
of water and intense fanning by family
members. She said: “It was a great shock
and I had never seen that kind of things.
I don’t ever wish to go through that
kind of thing again.” While he was alive,
he also taught her some magic and
ensured she got some training in
Michigan, USA. Little wonder they
always performed together and as far as
she is concerned, her religion is not
against the brand of magic she
performed with her late husband
because according to her, ‘it was not
fetish’. She still remembers the very good
old days and says she will not remarry
and will still marry him over and over
again, rounding off: They only want to
enjoy what Professor Peller was enjoying
for several years. But they can’t have it.”

DID HE ACTUALLY CUT HIS WIFE INTO
TWO?


No. I will not call magic a lie but I will
describe it as a well-oiled pack of
grandiose dramatization, outright
deception, fantastic misdirection and
uncanny slyness. There is nothing
spiritual about magic, it is nothing but
an agglomeration of well-practised
tricks. However, if done well, an
excellent magician can actually ‘create
something out of nothing’ or make the
‘possible from the impossible’ (even if
that will look like he or she is going
against the established laws of
Newtonian physics, it is all an illusion)
in a very fluid and convincing manner
(in that case, I will call many Nigerian
politicians magicians). So what happened
that fateful day when Professor Peller
allegedly ‘sliced’ his wife into two but
could not put her back together and she
almost ‘died’?
It was at the National Theatre in
Iganmu, Lagos and the Lagos State
Governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande was
present at the occasion to represent
Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The event
started as planned but then the Peller
team decided to throw in a suspense-
filled event, as their usual practice when
they have events following one another
every evening. The essence was to create
so much suspense so that they will draw
in even more crowd by the next day. So
for day one, the idea was to create an
illusion that he ran into trouble while
sawing his wife in half. But then, the
next step involved ‘reviving’ her. After
the ‘cutting’, which was obviously done
with a lot of dramatic effects, the crowd
went into a frenzy and began to shout
‘We want Lady Peller!’, ‘Give us Lady
Peller!’.
Later in 2012, the 66-year-old Lady
Peller was interviewed and asked about
the incident and she insisted that Peller
actually cut her into two and she even
sustained some light injuries. If you
really want to clear your mind on this,
just watch the video below. Even in
hemicorporectomy in surgery where the
entire half of a human is severed,
survival rate is very low. Enjoy this
video and see how magicians ‘cut’ people
into halves


FAMILY AND CHILDREN

He was a wonderful father and some of
his children are as follows:
-TOYIN

-SABURI (aka Pastor Kayode Abiola):
Now a pastor, he was born in October
1960 and practised magic like his late
father. He gained some degree of
prominence before squandering the
profits on women, cars and ultimately,
drugs. Peller tried his best to assist
Kayode when he was alive, he fought
with him, took him to court, all to no
avail. He later became a changed man
after the demise of his father and the
dwindling of his own magic firm, which
he named Fantastic Young Peller.

-NIKE: Probably the most well-known of
the Peller children, Nike Peller is a
popular face in the Nigerian movie
industry where she featured in many
Yoruba flicks. On the 20 th of November,
2010, she was made a traditional chief
and was conferred upon the title ‘Yeye
Agbasaga’ (the Custodian and Promoter
of Culture) of Erin Osun, near Osogbo,
Osun State.

-SAHEED (aka Zeeto): A lawyer (he
practised in England) and also keen on
sustaining the magic world created by
their late father. In July 2013, he made
his sister, Nike, disappear and reappear
before an audience in Port Harcourt,
Rivers State.

-SHINA: Handsome and suave, he is
always in the news for his partying
lifestyle, love for cars and not too long
ago, for allegedly shooting a man in a
club over an argument.


HIS DEATH

Yes, Peller was assassinated. It was on
fateful day on the 2 nd of August 1997.
Interestingly, he was killed the same day
that Fela Anikulapo-Ransome Kuti also
died. Peller was attacked at his residence
in while observing his evening prayers
at Onipanu, Lagos State and he was
fatally shot by unknown gunmen.
Nigeria and all kinds of unsolved
murders, brutal killings and blood-
curdling assassinations.

INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT
PROFESSOR PELLER

-He bore the same names (Moshood
Abiola) with another popular Nigerian
and winner of the 1993 presidential
elections, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo
Olawale Abiola.
-Professor Peller was a member of the
International Brotherhood of Magicians,
an association for some of the very best
of magicians on earth. Here is the
Magician’s Oath: “As a magician I
promise never to reveal the secret of any
illusion to a non-magician, unless that
one swears to uphold the Magician’s
Oath in turn. I promise never to perform
any illusion for any non-magician
without first practicing the effect until I
can perform it well enough to maintain
the illusion of magic.”
-Right from their childhood, Peller and
Baba Sala, popular Nigerian comedian,
were best of friends. While making his
movies, Baba Sala would include some of
Peller’s magical performances.
-During the reign of Peller as the most
powerful and influential magician that
ever walked the Nigerian soil, there was
this tale of bitter and intense rivalry
with another magician and herbal
medical practitioner from Osun State
named Aladokun. Their rivalry was not
just superficial, it also had traces of a
clash of principles. Aladokun
represented the typical African
traditional magic while Peller was
carrying the flag of the ‘foreign’ and
Orient-trained magician. The intense
competition brought about by their fights
led to even more spectacular displays of
magic and illusions. At the end, Peller
prevailed, just like Tesla over Edison in
the War of the Currents. His wife also
stated that the rumour that Peller was
once swallowed by Aladokun was false.
-Peller was good friends with the late
Obafemi Awolowo, his son, Wole and
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, all of whom enjoyed
his shows and gave him tremendous
support.
-Professor’s Peller house at the junction
of No. 11 Bode Thomas Road and Abe
Street in Onipanu, Lagos now belongs to
a parish of the Redeemed Christian
Church of God (RCCG). When the house
was put up for sale, many of the
prospective buyers ran away when they
learnt it belonged to the late magician.
Nigerians are funny sha…lol! When he
was alive, his house was a well-known
destination and schoolchildren thronged
to see the massive picture he put in front
of the house, it was Peller in all the glory
of the paraphernalia of his magic.
-Although he is the undisputed legend of
magic in Nigeria, Professor Peller was
said to be a devout Muslim who did not
miss any of his Islamic obligations. Here
is what his widow said in an interview
with the Nigerian Compass in April
2012: “The Professor Peller you knew in
public was not the same Eerson at home,
especially whenever e was praying. On
Fridays, all he enjoyed doing was
praising God. He never missednis five
daily prayers. Whenever he wanted to
pray, he would just wear either an
agbada or jalabia and nothing else.
Whenever he was praying, he was
always very serious, showing utmost
piety. In fact, before he got married to
me, he told me that he never observed
his Subhi prayer at home; he would
always go to the mosque wherever he
was. At least, we livea together for about
27 years, and I don’t know of any day he
missed his five daily prayers. “Oh, yes! If
he was not praying, they wouldn’t kill
him like that. Ask anybody, if he was not
praying, he wouldn’t have been killed
just like that. No, no!” She also said that
Peller made a mistake when he revealed
in an interview with journalists that the
only time he was without any magic was
when he was praying. His widow believe
that his enemies exploited this.
-An extremely confident man, Peller told
the African Guardian (Guardian
Magazines) in an interview in 1988, that
‘there is nothing like failure. I am the
last of the world’s great magicians’.


LEGACY
Without a doubt, the late Peller
popularized the art of magic in Nigeria
and polished it to such an extent that not
even his children have been able to
duplicate. He unarguably remains
Nigeria’s greatest magician. After
conquering Nigeria with his conjuring
skills, he went international and
received global acclaim. Mention the
name Peller and the next thing that
comes to mind is magic. But when he
died that fateful 2 nd of August, it seemed
magic in Nigeria died with him. Will
there arise another conjurer even far
more impressive than Peller in the land?
Time will tell.
You love magic? Enjoy these!
ABRACADABRA! The more you look…the
less you see.
Thanks a lot for your time.

Cc:Lalasticlala

http://naijarchives.com/professor-peller-the-enchanting-story-of-nigerias-most-famous-magician/

Chai!

MORE PHOTOS

He was an enigma,no doubt.

Photos

Issorite

He should halt boko haram with his magic if i should believe him

The Naija Magician... funny interesting hearsay about him...I will never forget a particular one that I was told he disappeared (teleport) to see Alaafin of OYO when the King's guards refused to let him in.
hmmm...Ogun po (too many jazz).
He was assassinated while praying...The only moment he doesn't have juju..He was acclaimed to tell his secret on air during interview with a presenter....I think O'un rosi ni galaxy or so.

Man. Look at the way he elevated that woman's body!

I will get there soon. Advancing!

Now I believe Nigeria is a zoo





imagine you wake in a day you find out that all our great men and women were murder in cold blood

... ABACADABRA

Aś far as i am concerned,the greatest magicians remain our leaders who mąkę our Money disappear from the coffers without a tracę.Peller dey learn work where dem dey
$20 billion dollars dissappears just like that. No be Magic?

great man.

legendboy:
He should halt boko haram with his magic if i should believe him

Go wake am up na

Taaa make i hear say magic na only deception no spiritual strings attached to it...Op na lie...na Babalawo power

Demigods:
Man. Look at the way he elevated the woman's body!

I will get there soon. Advancing!

If you look at that picture of the woman 'floating' in the air, you will see how he did it. Look well at the shadow of the woman and where her head tilts back.

Make I book space first

ok

fp

all of you people copying the entire database of naijaarchive to nairaland, cant you be creative for once instead of copying everything from their site.

Nike is not peller daughter

This is the original Jazzman Olofin Hehehe

legendboy:
He should halt boko haram with his magic if i should believe him

u no dey read abi u no dey understand?

Awesome read

Who knows maybe he proclaimed the SHAHADAH (with sincerity) then got fired. If yes, he is one of the few luckiest men on earth, cos it is Straight paradise.

**Muslims would understand better

f

??