₦airaland Forum

A few years ago while in California I had it in my right knee along with other symptoms of a severe auto-immune disorder but it was gone after about 3 months in naija - change of environment. OP don't go to pastors or imams. Try experimenting with changes in your diet and/or environment which has once worked for me as I found ibrupofen to be useless (there is as yet no permanent western cure; go local) and exercise and massages to increase the pain. Someone once suggested that I should consume ginger frequently to balance the immune system since the condition is a manifestation of a very strong immune system attacking its body proteins.

Mad Cow: I was gonna say something tribalistic, but then again, I am a good Christian.. However, who are those other women sitting in front of the Oba and his wife?! Are they his other wives as well?!

From the article:

Sitting on bare floor right in front of the king are the wives from the royal dynasty consisting of Mowa, Arojo and Obasolo families. The women adorned their heads with conical hairstyle, singing Orangun’s praises intermittently in their rich Igbomina dialect.

The firstborn son (Daodu/Otunba) may not ascend to the throne if his health status would cripple the fulfillment of his royal obligations - my understanding.

The only available picture that I saw on the guardian webpage was that of the drummers (top left). The quality of the scanned pictures is not so high, but we can endeavour to find out the festivals celebrated in our home towns, attend such when we can, and post the pictures ourselves.

https://www.ngrguardiannews.com/images/resized/images/stories/2012/september2012/isinro-2-1-9-12_200_160.jpg

[img]http://yemitom.files./2012/09/2.png[/img]

[img]http://yemitom.files./2012/09/3.png?w=528&h=350[/img]

[img]http://yemitom.files./2012/09/4.png?w=529&h=326[/img]

By Olodumare's grace, expect many more people, even from overseas to attend our festivals from this year.

I used to have those succubus-like dreams till I noticed a pattern - they occurred just before Sunday service at church and when delving deeper into christianity. Then I was led to read Bible passages about the spirit of harlotry being in the midst of the children of Israel because because they were fornicating with alien ways/cultures/religions, much like what happens today. Not long after I abandoned Christianity for good and those dreams stopped coming. My understanding of such dreams is that they have been misinterpreted by Christian and Muslim clergy as succubi and the likes, whereas the concerned individual is probably fornicating with that spirit of harlotry.

slideshow of sinkholes

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/massive-sinkholes-wreak-destruction-slideshow/

google 'guatemala sinkhole' to see pictures/stories of one that swallowed a three-storey building

linearity: I never knew, I will read where someone will completely minimize and denounce westerner education...while simultaneously using his Phone, Time piece, Electricity, Laptop, Internet...all products of the westerner education that he condemns..

Yes, civilization stated in the middle-east, no one denies that, it is replicated in our history books....but modern scientific advancements that made the life you live today comfortable and enjoyable took root outside the middle-east.

Going by your comment, if you unscrew your laptop, you might find a demon or two underneath your keyboard or mouse placed there by the oyibo man and western education that manufactured it...the last time I checked, there was no computer languages or instructions in hieroglyphics.....Hieroglyphics the origin of learning and communication is artistic and sign language based and have no concept of binary numbers upon which the modern world operates today.

context context context

My reference to western education was in reference to western ideals of superiority. It is no wonder many of your ilk keep looking down on and misunderstanding causes like Boko Haram's and fellow humans.

Literacy does not translate to immediate comprehension, won't you agree?

Before gaining enough consciousness to move or recite this or that, how much struggle is put in to overcome the paralysis?

Does the transition to death from sleep involve an inability by the individual concerned to reach some sort of consciousness threshold? (Perhaps only those who rose from the dead can answer)

Has there been any documented research by Negroes into traditional African views and treatments of sleep paralysis? Wouldn't such attempts have been discouraged and ridiculed as silly by Negropeans?

Some years I had a 2nd level dream, that is, a dream within a dream (recall the movie 'Inception').

I've been shown a lot of future events in my dreams, including one that uncomfortably seemed to come true as the Abaniwonda-Marina tragedy. I even get same-day answers and warnings.

In one set of dreams in which I found myself in uncomfortable situations like facing persistent attacks, I knew I was in a dream state and awoke after concluding that the best way out was to awaken. In these dreams I would consciously seek (tell my consciousness somehow) to awaken, and would finally do so after a brief period of effort, like 2 secs. Such dreams did not involve fearful paralysis.

In another set of similar but quite terrible dreams I awakened immediately after attack - no paralysis at all as the awakening was immediate.

There was this set of dreams that I experienced when in a state of ill-health at times and when lax with prayers. In these dreams I would see something frightening, almost of human form, black (perhaps the effect of oyinbo-supremacist depictions?) but without seeing the face, which I would want to attack but maybe while harbouring some measure of fright. At times I would encounter such, while dreaming, in my home or premises, and such seemed to attack me or prevent me from attacking by paralysis. After some period (seconds) of struggle to free myself from paralysis with the being/spirit still within dream view and/or approaching, but without any consciousness of the real (aiye) environment, but with the awareness that awakening meant escape from that situation, I would awaken.

The one I recently experienced was different. I woke from sleep a few minutes after midnight, checked my phone for the time, and did not pray but was trying to convince myself to go back to sleep - electricity supply had been restored about 45 minutes before which implied an opportunity to surf the internet with a laptop. About 2 to 3 minutes later, while still awake but drowsy and conscious of my environment, I suddenly felt and maybe saw something serpent-like (I didn't notice any limbs) lay on me. Then it sort of gripped me on the right side of my chest (tapeworm-like clamping of the intestine) with its teeth/mouth. I felt paralyzed but was able to free myself and get up after a brief struggle following which I prayed in the name OSHU.

As for those who conclude that it has nothing to do with the spiritual, I say such smacks of gross stupidity and white supremacist megalomania. The oyinbo who have been carrying out genocides of other peoples, stealing and plagiarizing the spiritual systems of various indigenous peoples, brainwash the world into thinking Europeans are superior,fabricated Christianity (read up 'Serapis Cristus' and 'secreta fidelis crucis'), Judaism and Islam after slaughtering chasing away and replacing the original black populations of the middle East, were the ones responsible for the formal educational systems we have today. It is through this education that they brainwash the world, filling them with stupor (the aforementioned religions are strong delusions). As such, lies constitute the foundation of western, formal education (eg read 'Mis-education of the Negro'), including psychology and psychiatry based inquiries. As for suggestion of a wall-gecko correlation, oyinbo education would dismiss such and many Negropeans would blindly accept without any investigation based on traditional African perspectives. Oyinbo way of life, education inclusive, is mostly (maybe totally?) insanity and rebellion against the Almighty.

My people perish because of lack of knowledge - the Almighty has blessed us with knowledge which we have been rejecting for oyinbo insanity, the consequence of which is the Almighty giving us into the hands of our enemies to punish us and our people perishing therefrom.

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Kindly let us know the yardsticks so we can get appropriate articles.

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It has been a while since I went through the narratives at sacred-texts.com. I'll try to read them thoroughly this time around. Also, I have some old newspaper cutouts of Yoruba history but I want to search for them online.
Have you heard of the Orimiyan Festival in Ogute-Emai?
Did you see the thread where some people thought they were mocking us by comparing Oduduwa to Lucifer?

Let me add that there was no symbol of the cross in the Temple at Jerusalem, but there was that of the palm tree (Ezekiel 40:16,22,26,31,34, 41:18-20,25-26). Ifa's symbol on earth is the palm tree, and Ela interacts with the palm tree in the process of consultation (my tentative understanding). Other important Biblical references to the palm tree include Psalm 92:12, John 12:13 and Revelations 7:9).

Mọndiana (Madayana in Hausa) in Mesopotamia is where Oduduwa migrated from and where Lamurudu (son of Cush) reigned amongst the Assyrians (Hausa). In the Book of Jasher or Jubilees (I have to confirm) it is recorded that the Assyrians let Lamurudu be their leader. These same extra-Biblical sources make mention of a commotion that took place in that region following which Abraham had to leave for Canaan where ELA appeared to him. Prior to his arrival at Canaan, ELA had spoken to (not appeared) him in Mesopotamia and en route Canaan. Furthermore, the migration was at the instruction of ELA and the attempt to punish Abraham for destroying Lamurudu’s idols. Interestingly, oral and parallel Yoruba accounts have it that Oduduwa left Mondiana for Ile-Ife after a commotion in the land during which he was accused of not practicing the state religion. Also, he met ELA for the first time since birth, presumably face-to-face, on arrival at Ile-Ife. The inclusion of Mohammed into the Oduduwa migration story is the result of Islamic feedback which has been used to erode the actual recollections of Yoruba history. This is seen in the absurd insertion of Islam and Mohammed that came unto the scene some 2,000 years after the reign of Lamurudu, into the accounts. Likewise, the presence of oyinbo impostors in North Africa and the Middle East with obviously different phenotypes would have confused some of our recent ancestors who would have come to the conclusion that our people never migrated therefrom. Sadly, there are many people who have information and the natural gift/talent/insight to contribute to discussions such as this but for Christo-Islamic mental interference which makes them hesitant.

If you say “Nineveh” = “Ine Iveh”, what about the first “N” in the former? If your hypothesis is correct, perhaps the first set Shem’s descendants, including Asshur (Hausa) after whom the formerly mighty Assyrian empire is named, settled in Mesopotamia around or in Nineveh before spreading. Likewise the point of initial settlement by the ‘Dabiri’ of a community could be regarded as their Ile-Ife, and an instance of this is the spread of the Awori from the 2 spots where the plate they used as a beacon sank. Thus there could be several Ile-Ifes for several peoples but one pre- and post-deluge Ile-Ife.

The original tongue, though still spoken by the original people, has been presented to the world in a distorted/relexified form by Amorite (oyinbo) impostors who imported Yiddish and Slavic vocabulary (http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/29/science/scholars-debate-roots-of-yiddish-migration-of-jews.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm). Consequently, the study and evolution of anthropology in the academia has deliberate fraud as its foundation, and there will be glaring conflicts in theories by black Africans ‘put forward to tackle ''ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE & TRIBE''’ as long as we continue to rely on the oyinbo tools (including religious) of falsehood. Another instance of the use of religion by the oyinbo to commit fraud is the imposition of the warship of ‘Serapis Cristus’ in ancient Egypt.


ayobase, do you have links to the author you referred to? I could not find his name online.

If you can, get those books ASAP before the white supremacists make further efforts to hide them from the public. 'Secreta fidelium crucis' by Marino Sanudo is not available for free despite its being composed in 1321. Also, I have not been able to find an English translation and I suspect it is available mostly or only in Latin because that would expose their imperialist actions.

You may have already noticed that while black African symbols/representation of spirituality were meant to serve to convey messages and teach lessons, eg the ọgọ-Eshu and the pendant of cowries on carvings of Eshu, the oyinbo religious symbols placed were meant to impute an attitude of superiority for the oyinbo and inferiority for others. The oyinbo placed emphasis on worthless things like the shate and texture of hair and beard, shape of nose, eyes, muscles, veins, prick (which appeared puny and limp; perhaps they hadn't come across many Negroes then), skin complexion, etc. This they transferred to Serapis Cristus, Jesus Christ and Christianity.

After imputing inferiority complex into Negroes which weakened us mentally and manifested in the replacement in our minds and hearts of Eshu with Jesus, the oyinbo were able to conquer more easily.

The oyinbo value system is described in Deuteronomy 28:49-51.

When the HELLenists conquered Egypt they introduced 'Serapis Cristus'. When they took over ancient Israel they introduced 'Jesus Christ'. These oyinbo people also have manuals for the use of economic blockade and their christian missions to infiltrate and take over other nations. One of such is 'Secreta fidelium crucis' by Marino Sanudo, another is 'Liber define' by Ramon Llull, and there's another written by Pierre Dubois for a crusade to be directed by Philip IV of France. These I presume were applied to Africa and Africans.

Shu - ancient Egyptian

I scanned the pic as the one on the guardian website is one out of the four that appeared in print.

Source: Guardian Newspapers – Saturday September 1, 2012, page 41
Saturday, 01 September 2012 00:00 By Ajibola Amzat
[img]http://yemitom.files./2012/09/isinro-festival.png?w=584&h=376[/img]
SEATED on a huge armchair made of damask, the Orangun of Oke-Ila, Oba Abolarin Adedokun Aroyinkeye I, nodded constantly and waved his horsetail in acknowledgement of the greetings from his chiefs and the people of the ancient town who came to celebrate Isinro Festival with him.

Atop his head is the most ancient crown adorned with beads of many colours.

The beads cascaded down his face, making it difficult for onlookers to study the king’s countenance.

But occasional flash of white teeth behind the dropping beads showed that the Orangun was happy. More distinct is Orangun’s carriage that is every inch of a quintessential royalty.

Likewise, small smile radiates on the face of his wife, Olori Solape who, seated next to the Orangun, was observing the dancing town folks with keen interest.

Sitting on bare floor right in front of the king are the wives from the royal dynasty consisting of Mowa, Arojo and Obasolo families. The women adorned their heads with conical hairstyle, singing Orangun’s praises intermittently in their rich Igbomina dialect. Here, to paraphrase William Shakespeare, were the women whose bosoms have lodged kings and princes. Drawing on the quote of a British writer, Lawrence Durrell, Kabiyesi described the women as women to be loved and suffered for, or to be turned into literature.

This kind of cultural outing by the Orangun and his subjects happens only during Isinro Festival. The festival heralds the New Year in Oke-Ila, the headquarters of Ifedayo local government in the State of Osun, one of those local councils created in 1991 during the regime of President Ibrahim Babangida.

Legend has it that the present Òkè-Ìlá Òràngún formerly existed alongside Ìlá Òràngún as a united kingdom known as Ìlá-Yàrà, a city-state founded by Òràngún, the fourth son of Oduduwa, the Yoruba progenitor.

The kingdom became divided over a disagreement on a choice of relocation site. The two princes Àpàkíìmò’s and his brother, Arútú Olúòkun who were at the centre of the dispute led their supporters to different sites today known as Òkè-Ìlá Òràngún and Ìlá Òràngún.

In the ancient town, the New Year begins in Osu Ogun (August) two days after the Isinro Festival. Like Osun Festival in Osogbo, Isinro or Odun Oro holds at every August. The New Year customarily coincides with the commencement of the eating of the New Yam. For ages, the peasants of Oke-Ila have been coming home after several months of hard work in the farm to celebrate the harvest of New Yam

The thirteen-day feast, according to Orangun, is a re-creation of the thoughts and the memory of the past. It is the time of the year when sons and daughters of the agrarian community troop out in large numbers to offer prayers to the gods of the land and the spirits of the ancestors. The Orangun likened the Festival to the Christian’s Christmas celebrated in December 25, or the American’s Thanksgiving celebrated in July or the Jewish’s Hanukkah Day celebrated in November or December.

Being a festival of dance also, each family house and the chief gathered at Odode’s compound to greet and dance before the king. After the dance session, the king himself rose to his feet, followed by the Oba-in –Council, and offered prayers to the gods. Constituted by Iwarefa (the Oba –in-council), Logun (the warriors), the Ikegbe and Ojuwa, these are the men and women who strengthen the administration of Orangun,

Then the procession began to the Obanla house where the king paid homage to the people. The procession, led by Orangun himself, began to dance like a paddleboat sailing on the creek as the drumbeat of iya’lu, the talking drum and emele, the small drum changed to slow rhythm. “Regal dance is measured in slow steps”, says one of the natives.

The king drummers, and the chroniclers of oke-Ila history escorted the throng to Obanla compound. The high chief who received the king on behalf of the people was the aged Obanla of Oke-Ila, High Chief D.C.A. Olowolagba. Traditionally, Obanla is the second in command to the king. He is also the head of the Iwarefa, the high chiefs who double as the kingmakers in Oke-Ila. Tradition requires that the king dances seven times to meet Obanla where he is seated. But unlike Obanla who must prostrate in

At the end of this ritual, the king is presented with kola nut as a gift from the people. This practice is symbolic of the social contract that exists between the people and the monarch. “Though the king is the custodian of the power, but sovereignty lies with the people”, says Oba Adedokun who is also a political scientist and a lawyer.

This year festival, according to the natives, was better organized than those festivals of yester years because of the many more visitors who attended the festival this year. One of those visitors was Prof Gbemisola Adeoti, the director of the Institute of Cultural Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

The Professor who attended the festival on the invitation of the king explored options on how the festival can be made grander in the years ahead. He spoke about introducing the entertaining aspect to the festival in order to make it more appealing to all and sundry in Yorubaland and to those from abroad. “We could introduce artists performances, and entertainment of various kinds to enrich the social and religious dimensions of the festival”, he told The Guardian. “We could also invite corporate organizations to participate so that it can be a festival to be enjoyed by all.” He added.

Hon. Olorunjuwon Abatan , the scribe of Ifedayo Local Government and a member of Olori Awo family said the collective effort of both the people of Oke-Ila and Ila Orangun can bring about cultural renaissance needed to transform the community. Truth is Oke-Ila lay in wait of modernity. The town could use a few more infrastructures to boost the economy of the agrarian community. And the reigning Orangun is not unaware of the limitation of his community. This is the reason he is mobilizing his subjects home and abroad to rise up and work for the progress of Oke-Ila. As a tested administrator, Orangun shared the vision of the State government led by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola that Osun can become a cultural haven for tourists from every part of the world. “We could make the month of August a cultural season in Osun that would attract tourists to the state.”

In spite of the infrastructure challenge in Oke-Ila, Hon. Abtan said Oke –ila remains one of the few places in Nigeria where the crime rate is low. This is not unconnected to the institutional practice in Oke-Ila where, at the turn of every year, people are reminded of their civic duty to keep the town safe. Two days after Isinro festival is Ofin Odun. The custom requires people of Oke-Ila to converge in the frontage of Orangun’s palace where the laws are reviewed. It is also at this occasion that the monarch is reminded of his social contract with the people. On no account should the king abuse his power.

[size=18pt]Son impregnates own mother, sister in Delta[/size]
Posted about 123 days ago
A 26-year-old, Ugochukwu has thrown residents of Ibusa, a settlement near Asaba, the capital of Delta State, into bewilderment and palpable tension for allegedly impregnating his mother and step-sister.
Ugochukwu, otherwise known as Peter by his cliques in the area, was said to have left his mother, identified as Cecilla, to work in a Lagos hotel at the age of 12.
Dailypost exclusively learnt that subsequent on the demise of Ugochukwu’s father, his mother, got married to a Yoruba man in Lagos.
Meanwhile, Peter who was later admitted into the Lagos State Polytechnic met one Mary and they both started dating. Unknown to him, the lovebird latter turned out to be his stepsister (being the girl his mother had for the Yoruba man his mother remarried in Lagos) after putting her in the family way.
However, the love between Cecelia and the Yoruba man went sour after three issues and she latter indulged in commercial sex work around Allen Avenue, Ikeja where his son, Ugochukwu who got himself drunk one night decided to pass the night in the hotel where her mother coincidentally does her bed-to-wealth business.
Unknowingly, Ugochukwu ended up picking his mother and they both had unprotected sexual intercourse and got her impregnated.

http://dailypost.com.ng/2012/05/02/son-impregnates-own-mother-sister-in-delta/

nku5: I know you are a product of incest so its natural your brain can never work well. To make matters worse I learnt that 80% of your ppl don't even know who their real fathers are. For all u know your father could be your elder brother, uncle or if you're lucky your family plumber.

Next time try your best not to protect the image of our great country by spelling correctly. There is nothing like "Ilks" you turd! Ilk is correct.

Have a nice summmer biaatch!

But the south eat has become synonymous with baby thefts and baby factories. Are you sure of your own genealogy?

I still need time to digest your post, but for now:

Recently, I have thought about the possible reason for Ethiopia being listed as among the nations that would attack Eshu's restored people in about 1,000 years time, according to the prophecy in Ezekiel 38. I suspect that the nation may have been involved in the scam of Christianity. The Malaki-Ijebu link which you pointed out may raises some questions about the Ethiopian royal dynasty. Perhaps we should look more at Oke Eri (mount of evidence; why was it named thus? are there lots of archaeological and anthropological evidence right under our noses?).

How about we search for Hausa cognates of Nineveh and Ife?

It seems Edo(m) chiefs used to be known by a title similar to or same as 'Alaafin':
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0006_0_05562.html

History until Its Conquest by David

From the information contained in Genesis 36, it may be learned that the Edomites were governed by chiefs (allufim) and kings in the period which preceded its conquest by David. The question arises as to whether chiefs and kings ruled at one and the same time, the kings being only the most powerful of the chiefs, or whether there were two periods, a first of chiefs and a subsequent one of kings. It appears that two periods should be distinguished, the "period of the chiefs" and the "period of the kings," typologically paralleling the "period of the judges" and the "period of the monarchy" in Israel.


THE PERIOD OF THE CHIEFS (Allufim)

It appears that the chiefs were the heads of the thousands (alafim), which were tribes or clans (in the broad sense of the word), and later, heads of regions. This form of organization was prevalent among nomadic tribes. Actually, only 11 chiefs of Edom are mentioned, but there is reason to accept the opinion that a 12th name, which is found in the Septuagint, was left out. The tradition of the 12-fold organization in Edom is based on, and confirmed by, the organization of other tribes which are closely related to Edom in terms of race and origin. This 12-fold organization is found among the Nahorites (Gen. 22:20–24), the Ishmaelites (25:13–15), and the Israelites, and it is M. Noth's opinion that this system is based on "principles such as were customary in tribal societies which were still lacking settled political institutions" (Noth, Hist Isr, 87; for details).

There's a version of the creation story which has Oduduwa as restoring the earth after the flood (http://ifatraining.weebly.com/library.html).

[size=14pt]938 persons kidnapped, N1.2 billion ransom paid in 8 months in South East[/size]

Kidnapping has become the fastest growing business in Nigeria’s south-east with no fewer than 938 prominent sons and daughters of the South East zone are alleged to have been kidnapped between January 2008 and August 2012, a civil society group, Campaign for Democracy (CD), has said.

Police authorities, however, disagreed with the figures, saying it was the figment of the imagination of the group that released the figures.

In a statement signed by Mr Uzor Uzor and Dr Jerry Chukwuokolo, the CD chairman and secretary respectively in the South East, said the kidnapped persons paid ransoms said to be valued at about N1.2 billion during the period.

The statement also said that kidnappers collected substantial amounts from their victims ranging from N5 million to N30 million per individual.

“Anambra State has the highest incidence of kidnapping of 273 persons, especially within the commercial axis of Onitsha and Nnewi. And it is happening at a constant rate for over five years now.

“Imo State with the current up-surge in kidnapping incidence has recorded 265 cases, while its residence is living in heightened fear.

“Abia follows behind with 215 persons so far; although the incidences of kidnapping had continued to reduce for some months now after the death of a notorious kidnapper called Osisikankwu.

“Enugu has recorded 95 cases in the past five years. However, the state has recorded the highest in abduction of government officials.

“Ebonyi is the least of all the five states in the South-east. It has recorded 90 cases so far officially. However, apart from kidnapping the state is laden with communal crisis,’’ it said.

The statement maintained that there was a need to take decisive actions to checkmate the spate of kidnapping in the zone.

“One practical way of doing it is the demolition of established structures or buildings used by kidnappers to advance their operations.

“The governors in the zone must work in synergy to address the issue of security and draft laws that would stiffen the penalties for kidnapping and other related offences,’’ the CD said.

The group gave the South-east governors’ forum till the end of October 2012 to address the up-surge in kidnapping and restore the confidence of foreign investors to the zone.

Contacted, the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Frank Mba, described CD’s figures as a figment of their imagination.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the police was the statutory authority to issue the number of persons kidnapped in an area.

He, however, raised some questions over the CD’s statement: “What is the source of their information? What is the methodology of obtaining the figures? Do the CD work with the kidnappers or did the kidnappers render account to them?’’

http://reporters365.com/more-news/938-persons-kidnapped-n1-2-billion-ransom-paid-in-8-months-in-south-east/

Posted by CuteNaija at 8/29/2012 06:35:00 AM


Policemen attached to the Festac Police Division in Lagos have arrested a 20-year-old man, who posed as a hired assassin in a bid to swindle his employer of N2 million.


It was gathered that the suspect informed his employer, one Kelvin Cheng, a Korean, last Thursday, that he had been paid to eliminate him.

He was said to have told his boss that he would spare his life only if he could pay him the money.
He further warned the fear-stricken boss not to disclose the conversation to the police or any other person, threatening to kill him if he did.

[b]Suspect’s demands[/b]The suspect also reportedly wrote a letter to his boss reinstating his claim.
The letter, on a half-page torn sheet read; “Dear, Mr. Man, listen and listen very well, I know you too well. You have a company. I have been following you around and I know all your movements. I have been hired to kill you. But, it is of no use. All I want is N2 million only or your life will be cut short.

”Even inside your company, you are not safe. I kill whoever I want to kill anywhere. So, read my lips very well; number 1. No police or I will surely kill you. 2. I will call you and tell you where to bring the money. 3. Don’t, I repeat, call anybody!. Remember, I know your call and movement. That is all for now.”

A date, as gathered was agreed on when and where his boss would drop the amount.

But, during the conversation, the boss never envisaged his employee was behind the whole thing.
How suspect was nabbed

On the fixed date, about 2.30 p.m, last Friday, the employer reportedly went to Amuwo-Odofin Industrial Layout with a cellophane presumed to contain the requested amount and dropped it where he was instructed to and left.

Immediately, Amaechi reportedly came out from nowhere to pick the bag. But, unknown to him, the boss had hinted policemen from Festac, where the Divisional Police Officer, Mr Mohammed Muazu, drafted some policemen to the point of collection and Amaechi was arrested.
Although the suspect expressed regret over his action, but to the amazement of all, he declared that he was ready to die for the offence, saying his boss did not deserve what he did to him.

My boss was nice to me —Suspect“My boss is nice. I am one of his favourite employees. I have been working for him for a while and I am paid N15,000 monthly. I am also among those he gave accommodation on the company’s premises. I regret my action. I have been trying to call him and beg for forgiveness.

”All I want is for him to tell me he has forgiven me, then I will be at rest to face the legal consequences of my offence. Honestly, this is the handiwork of the devil because I really did not know what I would have done with the money had I succeeded.”

http://www.nigerianeye.com/2012/08/nigerian-worker-nabbed-for-posing-as.html

ELA is the only Opitan and I know of no other who can "correct misconceptions about Yoruba culture, language, history etc." A true omo Oodua would not claim to be ELA, only ELA can.

This review was first published in THE GUARDIAN of Saturday June 18, 2005 (pages 22-23). I could not find an online copy so I typed it out unedited and scanned the pictures.

[size=16pt]The Man Who Rewrote Genesis[/size]

Septuagenarian Modupe Oduyoye is an exegete, language expert, polyglot etc., all rolled into one. In this piece, Yemi Ogunsola examines how this international scholar explores many African and Semitic languages to shed new light on the Book of Genesis and many difficult Yoruba words.

BY YEMI OGUNSOLA

Modupe Oduyoye When in 1972, Modupe Oduyoye, language expert and exegete, unleashed his book “The Vocabulary of Yoruba Religious Discourse” on the public, it sent shock waves throughout the linguistic community. Exegetes are experts who undertake critical study of texts, especially the Bible.
[img]http://yemitom.files./2012/04/modupe-oduyoye.png?w=225&h=300[/img]
Oduyoye’s theories were bold, daring. He seemed to harbor no reverence for any hallowed folk etymology, but what his phonological tools told him. He challenged and often discreditedmany conventional etymological conclusions of the time.

However, his arguments were difficult to fault. They were intellectually water-tight and many times air-tight.

For one, they demolished once and for all, all notions that a ‘monolingual” approach is sufficient to find the root meanings (etymology) of difficult words in Yoruba – or any language for that matter. In many of his explanations of Yoruba words, Oduyoye drew from languages from outside Yoruba.

Secondly, Oduyoye demonstrated most vividly, the relationship, already acknowledged by language experts, between Semitic languages like Hebrew, Akkadian, Aramaic, Ugaritic, and many African languages like Hausa, Tiv. Efik, Yoruba, Ibibio, Igbo, Fon, Twi etc.

Oduyoye’s book was actually in response to the publication in 1969 of the report of the first consultation of African theologians held in Ibadan in 1966 with the title: “Biblical Revelations and African Beliefs.”

The report was subsequently recommended for the General Assembly of the All African Congress of Churches in September 1969. Oduyoye read and reviewed the publication.

Contributors to the conference included eminent scholars like the late Professor Bolaji idowu; Rev. E.A.A. Adegbola and Monsignor (Ezeanya. Oduyoye wasn’t very satisfied with many of the conclusions.Now he joined the “fray” armed to the teeth.

Oduyoye had studied Hebrew at Yale in 1964, Comparative Semitic Linguistics at the Linguistics Institute of the Linguistics Society of America on a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies in 1965, Arabic at Yale from 1965 to 1966 and Middle Egyptian in London from 1969 to1970. Added to this was his intimate knowledge of the traditions of his people, the Yoruba, a considerable knowledge of many Nigerian and African languages and a passionate curiosity about words and their origins. So Oduyoye undertook a review of the theological conference with the best tools.

While the scholars who contributed papers at the conference put up commendable efforts, Oduyoye could see that they were sorely limited by their, mostly monolingual tools.Oduyoye’s tool was different. It was comparative theology at its keenest. With profuse references to linguistic authorities in Afro-Asiatic (Hamito-Semitic) languages, Oduyoye sliced through hitherto impregnable words with the cold objectivity of an intellectual guillotine.

Who, for instance, would fault Oduyoye when he pointed out that Igbo “dibia” (medicine man) is cognate (has the same origin) with Arabic “tibia” (Physicnan, doctor)? Or that Yoruba ajo is cognate with Hebrew Haj and Arabic Hajj? And that “Alhaji” is cognate with Yoruba Alejo?

You see, in philology, (the scientific study of the nature and growth of words and languages) consonants like k, l, s, t, etc are the tell-tale that give away the relationships between words. These consonants are to words what bones are to fossils. Though vowels (the flesh) may decay or change as words travel over time and space, the consonants (bones) remain. It is these consonants (consonantal roots) that philologists use to track words to find their meanings or genealogy.

But then, some consonants are “liquid”, that is, change form from language to language.Thus, when the English word “guava” gets to Yoruba-speaking peoples, the consonant “v”, being absent Yoruba pronounciation becomes “b” or “f””. So guava becomes “goba” or “gofa”. Similarly “l” often becomes “r”, “s” becomes”sh” (e.g. among Ibadan indigenes) or “th” or even “z”.Philologists look out for these consonantal changes (liquidity) in the “detective work of tracking words.

Armed with these basic rules of comparative philology, Oduyoye tracked the irun-prefix in Yoruba Irunmale

(divinities) hitherto thought to be “400” to the Arabic” word harem and Hebrew herem both of which convey the idea of “sacred” or “holy”. The r-m-consonantal roots are clear, but the “h” is missing in Yoruba, Oduyoye says, because “Yoruba nouns generally do not begin with an /h/ or any h-type sound.”

From Ijebu “Lisa” (chief of first rank) to Igbo “Olise” (“God” as in Olisemeka) to “Lesa” among the Ambo of Malawi, the Barotse, the Bemba, the Kaonde, Lala, Lamba, Oduyoye, tracks the “l-s” consonantal root (which liquid forms are r-s” “l-z” “r-th” which all convey the idea of “head” “chief” first”) to Hebrew “rosh” (first) to Arabic “ras,” Aramaic “resh” and Akkadian “rishu”. And to Yoruba “Orisha”. In fact Hebrew “Harison-iym” is translated “Ancestors” in Psalm 79.8 of the Jerusalem Bibe Oduyoye says, the “-iym” being a mere plural suffix in Hebrew

Oduyoye also laces Yoruba Religious Discourse, with interesting “linguistic gossips in the foot notes like generous crumbs of stock-fish in an already delicious Osiki soup.

However, Oduyoye’s glaring success did not get into his head. He acknowledged the pioneering efforts of eminent scholars like Archdeacon Olumide Lucas (who was teacher to his father) with whom he actually corresponded while writing the book: ‘The thoughtful restudy of past scholarship is not criticism for the sake of criticism, but an attempt to elucidate the principles involved in the discovery of truth… in doing this, however, it is right that we express our gratitude and respect to those whose work is being used and restudied, and, without whose pioneering zeal and daring,the present evaluation will not have been attempted.” Oduyoye wrote, quoting yet another authority.

So when seven years later, in August 1979, the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Odogbolu, (now in Ogun State) the Rt. Rev. I.B.O. Akintemi, invited Oduyoye to lead a series of Bible studies at the diocese’s clergy schools, it was an opportunity to take apart Genesis 1 – 11 with the scalpel of Hamito-semitic (Afro Asiatic) philology.

Puzzles usually glossed over by other interpreters came under Oduyoye’s scrutiny. “Why” Oduyoye asks, “does the Hebrew language have a world with a plural suffix (-iym) as its word for “God” when Hebrew religion is anti-polytheistic?”

“Who,” Oduyoye asks “are the sons of the Gods of Genesis 6:1?”

Traditional interpretation will say “angels” or “Israelites”, but Oduyoye says “no” to both.

Hear Oduyoye “And thus I dug up the questions those obvious in the English version and those patent only to one who reads from the Hebrews text. The true nature of the literary corpus we were studying thus becomes clear, and the need for interpretation could not be questioned…” The result, expectedly, was extraordinary. And for the , it was fascinating, if a mite disturbing. What would these unusual interpretation do to the faith of Christians? One of them wondered aloud.

Oduyoye’s response was simple: “Christian preaching certainly needs a stronger pillar to lean upon than a basis of obscurantism.”

Oduyoye himself was and remains an eminent member of the Church having served in many capacities, including being the literature secretary of the Christian Council of Nigeria.

Oduyoye had first informed his cleric students that. Hebrew, the original language of the Old Testament texts and other Semitic languages like Aramaic, Akkadian, MEgyptian, Ugarithic etc all belong to the same Afro-Asiatic (Hamito Semitic) language group as many Africa languages like Hausa, Efik, Ibiobio, Yoruba, Igbo Fulfide, Twi, Fon etc. Thus, in seeking explanations to passages of Genesis 1- 11, Oduyoye drew from these languages.

Having equipped himself with considerable acquaintance with many African languages, Oduyoye stood, as it were, at a vantage point where he has an unusually panoramic view of the innards of these languages. The substance of this Bible studies, Oduyoye later compiled in a book with the title: “The Sons of the Gods and the Daughters of Men.”

On the whole, the 132- page book, published in 1984 by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, impresses upon the reader that Genesis 1 – 11 contains a lot of folk or popular etymology as “tall stories for popular consumption” which are told not for their basis in fact but by way of the lay man’s attempt to explain things that are obscure to him.

Oduyoye had dealt at length with the problem of folk etymology in Yoruba Religious Discourse. In it, he cited the drum signal used then to reproduce the intonation pattern of the English statement: “This is the Nigerian Broadcasting Service.” Which some Yoruba folk erroneously interprete as

“Ninu Ikoko dudu la ti n se’be. It is inside a black pot that we cook stew”

He then cites such popular etymology in the Book of Genesis:

“that Eve was so named because she was the mother of all life; that Isaac was so named because he grabbed his twin brother by the heels while they were still in the womb; that Cain was so named because the mother said at birth” I have acquired a man with the help of God”… that Marah was so named because there Israelites found the water bitter”

“Babel” for instance, which according to the Bible, was derived from the fact that it is where God confused the tongue of men..

First, Oduyoye dismissed the claim that the whole world had one language by reminding us that earlier in Gen 10 we had been told that the son of Yaphet, Ham and Shem had been classified according to their different tongues.

Confused in Hebrew is “balal”. But the Genesis writers are saying that “Babel” (b-b-l) is derived from Balal (b-l-l).

Oduyoye says “no”. “The (writer of Genesis) is basing etymology on a single leg of sound similarity without any consideration for the other leg of meaning similarity. Hebrew “balal” means “mingle” mix, confuse, confound cognate therefore with Chichewa ideophone “balala-balala” scatter, disperse.

“Here, etymology has two legs to stand upon. Phonology and semantics. But what does Babel” mean? “Babel is Hebrew. It is the name of the Babylonian capital whose only gate was memorably designed with religious motiffs. It came to be known by the Babylonians as baab ilu the gate of God.’ Babel could therefore not be so called because Yahweh balal the speech of all the earth.” Oduyoye then goes blunt: “The etymology of Genesis 1-11 are based on fancy, not fact. They serve the purpose of mythology, not that of linguistics or philology. As far as the Genesis writers were concerned, a word in a strange language must connote something similar in a similar- sounding word in Hebrew. The semantic tour de force produces a good story, and in mythology, the story is the end.”

Oduyoye also drew attention to how Genesis writers borrowed generously form polytheistic mythology, but then superimposed their own brand of “monotheistic theology” on it. Genesis 2:4 for instance talks of the towledot (genealogy) of the heavens and the earth.

A genealogy gives the list of children just like in the genealogy Shem. But the Genesis writers, Oduyoye says, don’t want to hear talk of “sons and daughters” born of heaven and earth, which inevitably implies procreation . Instead they introduced YHWH (Yahweh/Jehovah) as a solo creator. “To introduce YHWH ‘eloh-iym into an ancient mythology in which the male heaven and the female earth were procreative agents—- persons or spirit or gods—- is to turn mythology into (Hebrew) theology,”Oduyoye comments.

Other glimpses of mythology shows in statements like that in Gen 6: that ‘the sons of the gods (heaven) married the daughters of men (earth) and gave birth to gibbor-iym (powerful ones).

In essence, what Genesis writers did is to rewrite mythology to suit their own religious (theological) purpose—- which is to push Yahweh as the sole creator who moulds (forms).
[img]http://yemitom.files./2012/04/modupe-oduyoye1.png?w=300&h=258[/img]
Another major record in the Bible which gives away this doctoring of ancient mythology is the very first sentence in the Bible. In the original Hebrew Bible, it reads:

“In the beginning eloh-iym (the gods) created the heavens and the earth. “Why,” Oduyoye asks does the Hebrew language have a word with a plural suffix (-iym) as its word for ‘God’ When Hebrew religion is anti-polytheistic?”

In repainting the existing picture of the polytheistic mythology of the time the Genesis writers left many patches of the old paint. And in several cases, the old paint shows from underneath the new.

Later translators of the Hebrew into Greek had to grapple with this tell-tale ambiguities. And in their efforts, they messed up many translations.

For instance, though Hebrews/Judaists insist that Yahweh is the only God, they left words like ­Ben-ey ha-eloh-iym (sons of the gods) in places like Genesis 6. Where do these fit in Hebrew theology? Who are the gods and who are their sons?

Oduyoye however tells us that such “sons of the gods” are not unknown in African tradition. He quotes Joshua N. Kudajie. Aspects of Religion and Morality in Ghanaian Traditional Society with particular reference to the Ga Adangme.”:

“The sons and daughters of Naa Nyamo (Ga “Father God”) are known to us as jemawoji ‘the gods of the world’. They are powerful and intelligent beings who walk about the world, but they have their own abodes in the seas, Lagoons, mountains and other natural objects. Having been delegated by Naa nyamo to be his vicegerents, they are in active contact with the world of nature in man.”

Oduyoye now compares this extract with Job 1:6:

“Now there was a day when ben-ey ha elo-iym (sons of the lords) came to present themselves before YHWH and Satan also came among them…..”

Oduyoye then draws the inference that ben-ey ha eloh-iym are” divine beings like Satan (Ngas go sot ‘the people of knowledge and power’) “We can not escape the answer that ben-ey ha eloh-iym in Gen 6 refers so to the same divine beings whom the Ga of Ghana know as jemawoji, whom the Akan of Ghana know as abosom….”

Then he adds: “The two examples of divine beings named in genesis and Job (Nimrod and Satan) are reflected in West Africa.

as Yoruba Lamurudu, a legendary hero and
as Ngas go sot “persons of knowledge and power.” In Yoruba these would be the Orisa.

So, how do translators of Hebrew Genesis to Greek cope with these mythological beings?

Badly: They gave different translations to the same words.

Hear oduyoye “The Septuagint (bible) renders ben-ey ha eloh-iym into Greek as hoi angeloitou theou “messengers of God” in Job 1:6 but as hoi huioi tou theou “the sons of God” in Gen. 6:2….”

A freak word which never existed in English was also introduced: “angel”.

“Those who know the ordinary meaning of Greek angeloi know that it means only “messe

ngers” just as Hebrew male’ak-iym means ‘messengers” ordinarily.

“But when mythical thinking enters into it, Greek angeloi and Hebrew male’alk-iym are rendered into English as angels… the Jews who translated the Hebrew Bible (old Testament) into Greek in Alexandria avoided the mythology of ben-ey ha eloh-iym in Gen.6:1 and Job 1:6 but gave us another myth —- that of angels…”

Perhaps some of Oduyoye’s most sensitive remarks are on what he calls “anti-Hamitism” — hatred for the descendants of Ham and Canaanites in the Genesis accounts. Why rain curses on Canaan when it was Ham who by accident saw his drunken father’s (Noah) unclothedness? Oduyoye asks.

Many Bible readers will gloss over this anomaly or rationalize it. But not Oduyoye. It is a ploy to justify the annihilation of theCanaanites, he says:

“The truth is that the story is one of many told by the Hebrews to ridicule nations against whom they harbor a grudge.”

Four of such nations, he says are

*Egypt because of what one of its Pharaohs did to the ancestors of the Jews:

*Canaan who the Jews considered “Idolaters” and therefore could be annihilated in the name of Yahweh

*Moab whom the Hebrews say were born from an incestuous relationship between Lot and his two daughters;

*Babel whom the Jews considered too ambitious and therefore sees the ruins of its imposing ziggurats as punishment from Heaven.

Earlier, Odoyoye had also dealt with another personalty whom he said the Hebrew writers tried to run down because of his greatness: Nimrod, a blackman (Kushite) whom, quoting Genesis, oduyoye described as one of the gibbor-iym (Yoruba al-agbara) cited in Genesis as the ‘first on Earth to be a mighty man.”

Nimrod, according to Oduyoye is actually Yoruba Lamurudu (N-m-d / l-m-d) and he was the first empire builder whose kingdom spread from Babylon ot Nineveh.

“Given this anterior greatness of the Kushite Nimrod, the first gibbor, the writers of Genesis did with Nimrod what they did with Nebuchadnezzar: For no reason other than his greatness, they stated that Nimrod’s greatness was offensive to God (Yahweh).”

Then he adds; “The fact is that the jews had never been great (except during the empire of David and Solomon). On the contrary, they had suffered from great nations many of these included in the kingdom/empire of Nimrod. Babylonians… Assyrians”

Oduyoye return again and again to this issue of racism shown by the Jews in their records. On page 100, he declares: “It is the business of blacks to expose the inherent anti-Hamitism, which resulted in the paradigmatic extermination of the Canaanites by those who,when the tide is turned, have been complaining of anti-Semitism.”

Then Oduyoye zeroes in on the Nigerian situation: “We are asked not to believe that the Abore have any relationship with the ‘iber-iym, and yet what the Iber-iym did to the Canaanites in the name of Yahweh the Abore have done to the sons of Kush from Sokoto to Ilorin in the name of Allah.”

Citing the –b-r consonantal root among other evidence, Oduyoye had told us in the opening of Chapter 7 (page 63) that the Hebrew and Fulani (Bororo) have a common origin: “Eber is the name of the ancestors of the ben-ey Eber “sons of Eber.” These were, in the Bible, the ‘iber-iym ‘the Hebrews.

“Eber, the name of their ancestor is comparable to the name by which the wandering Fulani of West Africa are known: Abore in Nigeria (Borno) and in Chad, Bororo in Nigeria (Adamawa… Their language is called ful-ful-de in Nigeria.”

The ‘b-r root in the name ‘Eber and in the name ‘iber-iym (Hebrews), Oduyoye says occur in Hebrew ‘abar ‘(cross over, trespass, pass on, past by); twi boro (to trespass); Yoruba afara (bridge); Ibara (ford); Ibara-mu (Across the nose); eburu [Shortcut (across an area)].

Oduyoye then declares: “the ‘iber-iym, (Hebrews)go that name because being nomads, they were always passing by the cities of the Canaanites and never settling among them ‘-b-r means “pass on, pass by in judges 19: 12b, 18 and in Ruth 4:1

The sons of the Gods and The daughters of Men is a many-layered work which value continues to be uncovered with repeated reading.

Many more fascinating information are enclosed in its pages: like the link between Adamu Orisa (of the Awori Eyo masquerade in Lagos State) and Hebrew r’ison Adam, the link between Qayin (Cain) and Ogun the Yoruba Patron Saint of Smiths.

The latter link is particularly interesting in its detective nature. On the latter, Oduyoye notes that Hebrew Qayin is cognate with the Arabic word for smith(s) qayn/quyun.

Reminding us of the q/g/k consonantal liquidity, Oduyoye says the words are cognate with the Yoruba Ogun and Fon Gun both meaning “patron saint of smiths.” Other cognates include Hamn kuno (Investor of iron smelting) and Ebira Egene (the caste of Smiths)

He reminds us too tat the name Akin (valiant man) is most prevalent in Ondo which shares the n-d consonantal root with the land of Nod to which Qayn headed after leaving Eden. And is there a link between the city of Hanok (Enoch) and the Nok culture of Jos Plateau in Nigeria? And can the name Yoruba be a distant relation of Europa?

While the book’s appendix gives further detail on some words already tackled in the body-proper and summarises the main pillars of Oduyoye’s arguments, the index is a mini Afro-Anglo-Semitic dictionary.

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