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Culture / Re: Olokun by Ekundayo7: 10:02pm On Sep 24, 2014
2prexios:
Whether you believe Olokun to be male or female, I reiterate, is due to geography.
Note:Are you an unbiased specialist?
Am actually in the Ifa priesthood, so yes, I happen to have a say in the matter.
You will find plenty of "natives" who worship Olokun as female, especially in Lagos and Ogun state.
Note: Then you are not a specialist, you have your personal preference, but you want mine "caged" in your conclusion.
Am not trying to cage anyone into a "conclusion", and actually yes, am a "specialist", being that I deal day in and day out with Ifa matters. Are you expecting me to take a poll among my peers and report back to you on who perceives Olokun as male or female lol?
And whether you are referring to Olokun as Olokun Iserin Ade or seri Aje,
Note: Your clever mistake is a proof that you have no native-vocabulary on Olokun of your own.
[b]What people fail to realize is that Ifa and the verses of Ifa have a deeper spiritual meaning. It is very easy to take something on face value, but one must look deeper. The "crown", while it can refer to one made of brass, or that she wears, or that she gave to Oduduwa, really refers to Olokun being crowned with riches, brass and cowries being the height of wealth ascribed to ancient times, she is the "Owner of Riches" and the mother/owner/giver of Aje/wealth. It is Orunmila who passed through the Akoko tree and journeyed to her home in deep ocean to dwell with her. It was through the union of Orunmila, the friendship with Orunmila, that Olokun rose to power as the most powerful of all orisa and giver of wealth. When Orunmila was traveling back from her home he was bringing with him the cowrie shells, so the other orisa were surmising and discovering that this was the source of his wealth. This is also why Ifa/Orunmila is referred to as Ifa Olokoun Asorodayo, because of the great bond and friendship the two maintained and how happiness and wealth came from this union, i.e., meaning that ALL OF US can find our spiritual and material wealth by emulating this union.[/b]
the truth remains that Olokun is the Mother of Aje, her children.
]Note:You have a wrong perception on what Aje is to Yoruba tradition. Think about this.
No, I do not have a "wrong perception" what Aje means to Yoruba tradition. Olokun is the mother/spiritual owner/creator/ possessor of aje. Aje in itself comes from Olokun. Common perception to the man or woman on the street is one thing, to people in the priesthood is an entirely different matter. That there is an "orisa" called "Aje" yes, that people commonly refer to, we can all agree, but Aje is born of Olokun, not as a material issue son or daughter, but in the deeper spiritual sense, coming from her body and realm. Olokun herself was "childless" in the anthropomorphic version of her life. This is the place where people get hung up because we insist to see things on human terms, and with spiritual energies it is not black and white.

It makes no difference if one prefers male or female. All orisa are both male and female energy.

Note: It makes a lot of difference to you, hence you choose to hammer on it to foreclose collateral damage
[b]Am really not understanding your need to make a fight over this, honestly. If you have an personal issue perhaps you should take that up in another fashion? Odu Ifa are quite clear on the matter of Olokun from Ogbe Ate, Ogbe Irete, Irosun Ogbe, Ose Owonrin, Ejiogbe, Oturupon Meji. It is very important to understand that there is always a deeper meaning to verses, and when speaking of orisa is doubly so. You can take an academic who has studied Ifa, who writes books, but he or she will miss the deeper meaning inside those verses, because they do not WORK inside the tradition, they are not priest with a destiny. You will even find some babalawo and iyanifa who are superior above others. It is natural. God gives to each one certain talents and insight. Just like a professor or academic, they can shine and have good grasp of the subject matter, but the mysteries of Ifa and orisa enter a spiritual realm that is approached by destiny and surrender, to become a true representative of the power of Ifa and orisa. Again, am not sure your point in arguing here, but if it makes you happy, you are welcome. I am not in the habit of nitpicking over details with people. If this is what you believe fine, but I am not trying to sway you over in to any position or conclusion. That is meant for each person to delve into and discover. So please excuse me, I have work to do now[/b].
Culture / Re: Olokun by Ekundayo7: 6:55am On Sep 23, 2014
2prexios: please take note that it is not Olokun seri Aje, but Olokun Seni Ade.
Aje is Yoruba female icon of wealth. It is possible to confuse Aje with Ade... native adherents believe the same to be a man.

Whether you believe Olokun to be male or female, I reiterate, is due to geography. You will find plenty of "natives" who worship Olokun as female, especially in Lagos and Ogun state. And whether you are referring to Olokun as Olokun Iserin Ade or seri Aje, the truth remains that Olokun is the Mother of Aje, her children. It makes no difference if one prefers male or female. All orisa are both male and female energy.
Politics / Re: How Army Took Down SHEKAU Impersonator Mohammed Basir.a MUST READ by Ekundayo7: 6:41am On Sep 23, 2014
OneNaira6: You can actually tell that's not shekau.
I think they killed an innocent man that somewhat resembled shekau cause the dead person has a smaller nose than shekau. His bottom lip is darker than shekau those suggesting he smokes more than shekau. The guy is darker than shekau, etc.
OneNaira6: You can actually tell that's not shekau.

The real Shekau is dead but the "new" Shekau could quite possibly be this one in the photo. But why he would be out in full blown offensive battle? He would more likely be safe in Sambisa or some governor's mansion camp protected from harm. The bone structure does resemble the body double Shekau though, especially the nose, and his lying in the hot sun and pooling of blood and natural swelling of corpse could make the face look puffy. The beard is a little overgrown though but hopefully that is because NA has had them on the run with no time for d body double Shekaus meticulous toiletry sessions. The dark skin can also be some good hours frying in the sun and skin turning dark ash from no blood flow. I wouldn't call the one in the photo an "innocent man". My only wish is that if is the "real" fake body double, he could be captured alive, pilloried in the town market then let anyone who wishes to carve him a new face and limbs use their dullest blade. Add some salt hourly to his wounds and pizz on him for a day or two, by then he should be well marinated for a journey outside town to be left for wild animals to eat their premarinated meat. Barring that idea, he should be tortured with knife, wrapped with a fist size yam repeatedly in the yansh, then bathed in pig blood and beheaded. Display the head on a pike for all to see and bury his useless corpse in a pit with a pig head on his shoulders. What goes around comes around, and that Mo Fo's time is up.

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Politics / Re: A Student Was Detained For Criticizing Gov. Shetima On Facebook by Ekundayo7: 8:44am On Sep 22, 2014
Banana Republic no brain goat Governor. No wonder Nigeria has a bad name with fools like this.
Politics / Re: Rumour Of Shekau’s Death Spreads In Borno, How True? by Ekundayo7: 12:20pm On Sep 21, 2014
Hah. If it is true than almighty God be praised. Form a line, I would like to be the first to piss on his useless corpse.
Nairaland / General / Re: Tag And Answer by Ekundayo7: 1:37am On Sep 21, 2014
Tagged by Macof

What was the last book you read?
The True Story of Grace O'Malley
IRELAND'S PIRATE QUEEN

2)How Old will you be at your next birthday?
Old enough to know something of life, smart enough to know I have much more to learn

3) What do you love more than anything
The Yoruba, God Esu Ifa and all orisa

4)What is your song of the week
no song, just the one inside my head lol

5)Do you still watch cartoons?
No

6)Have you ever gotten into a fight?
Yes, but only because they asked I learn them well well....

7)Favourite food?
eba and egusi, pounded yam, akara in palm oil

coolAre you lazy?
If I feel so

9)Are you afraid of heights
No

10)Zodiac sign:
Virgin

11) Favorite thing ever:
working with Ifa to help others, sunrise at the beach in the water,

12) Can you die for anyone?
The Yoruba people and land

13)Ever been in love?
I love all good people, the ones who plot evil and do evil, no

14)Do you miss anyone right now
Yes

15)Who was the last person to call you?
can't remember

16)Last crush?
lol grin I still have crush on Marta "a fenomena"

17)If you could have one super power what would it be?
"To destroy all the foreign religions in Africa" Macof, I agree but add to also bring better knowledge, acceptance and understanding between Christian Muslim and traditional believer and to also do away with human greed, hey, it is a super power wish.

18)What’s the most important thing you look for in a significant other
Ability to speak the truth and not lie, to themself or other person, to be looking at life with spiritual eyes balanced with a good material head

19)can you go bungee jumping?
Never, I appreciate my intact body

20)most stressful thing you've ever done
don't know, many things can be stressful. Maybe going through customs with items they might be interested in grin grin grin grin

ummm I don't know anyone here so just pulled you from thread to keep going
@ Echarlz
Politics / Re: Amnesty International Exposes "Nigeria's Torture Chambers" by Ekundayo7: 12:29pm On Sep 19, 2014
sunboy: Now I can see the USA is determined to destroy this country. Just yesterday the military was complaining about the USA blocking their ways that we were blacklisted to buy arms because of human rights violations, I didn't really believed it because we can always buy from Russia, Iran, China and even India who won't wait a second to sell. Now I'm reading about human right publishing this shi.t now I believed whatever the military excuse of laundering such cash. This mu.mu human right people no see Israel on Palestine soil committing anything, the USA Guatemala bay ? The Russian KGB method which was considered the toughest? The Indians torture was sef especially their police. What the mess does the USA stands to gain from a divided or destroyed Nigeria ?
I also strongly believe that I.diot Australian old man is a plant by the western world who's volunteering to talk sh.it he wasn't paid to do. All these doesn't just add up ?
Bottom line: either USA like it or not, petrodollar is going for good, then they can start surviving on their technology and become their dream world largest oil exporter. I'm beginning to dislike that country this days and their puppets media must especially BBC who never publish any good news from the military but look for lope holes. Like the same USA would have brought peace to Liberia suppose Nigeria army didn't single handedly did.
I'm vex.ed
Procuring knowledge is the best way to stem ignorance...
1. Amnesty International is a Non-profit, Non-governmental organization which mission is "to protect human rights". It was founded on May, 28 1961 in London. http://www.glotter.com/entry-2869

2. At 3pm on 2 November 1936 the BBC began the world's first regular hi-definition television service, from specially constructed studios at Alexandra Palace in North London. http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc

3. Guantanamo Bay Amnesty International listed US indefinite detention of 166 prisoners at Guantanamo as the country's primary human rights concern in its latest annual report. [/b]The paper also denounced drone strikes and uninvestigated deaths from secret CIA detentions.

4. [b]What assistance has the United States provided to Nigeria to help it counter the Boko Haram threat?

U.S.-Nigerian diplomatic engagement has focused on the Boko Haram threat through a Regional
Security Working Group of the Binational Commission, as well as through regular engagement
by U.S. embassy officials in Abuja. Through the BNC dialogue, the United States has supported
Nigerian efforts to establish a joint intelligence fusion center; the FBI has also provided periodic
support to the Nigerian government to assist in specific incident investigations. The United States
has provided counterterrorism training and assistance to Nigerian civilian and law enforcement
agencies, but counterterrorism support for the Nigerian military has been limited in comparison
with that provided to some countries in the Sahel and East Africa. U.S. military assistance to
Nigeria has focused primarily on professionalization, peacekeeping support and training, and
border and maritime security. The country has received sizable assistance to support the Nigerian
military’s peacekeeping deployments through the Global Peacekeeping Operations Initiative
(GPOI), totaling $2 million to $3 million annually in recent years. Nigeria also receives on
average $1 million annually in Foreign Military Financing (FMF), which has been used to sustain
the country’s fleet of C-130 aircraft.
Nigerian security forces have received counternarcotics
assistance from the State Department and DOD.
U.S. counterterrorism programs in Nigeria are implemented through the State Department’s West
Africa Regional Security Initiative (WARSI), the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership
(TSCTP) and other State Department-led initiatives, including Anti-Terrorism Assistance (ATA)
and the Regional Strategic Initiative (RSI), as well as through DOD funds for counterterrorism
and military-to-military cooperation activities.


Nigerian law enforcement agencies receive ATA and RSI training regularly totaling more than $3 million per year, focusing on border security,crisis response, counter-IED, and investigative and analytic capacity. Counterterrorism assistance
to the military is increasing—FY2014 assistance includes $5 million in counter-IED and civil-
military relations training, and U.S. military trainers have recently begun efforts to train a ranger
battalion. Some U.S. assistance for Nigerian military and police units has been restricted based on
human rights concerns (see below)
.
The State Department and USAID additionally support programs that focus on counteringradicalization in Nigeria. Other counterterrorism-related support includes justice sector programming focused on improving Nigerian capacity to prosecute terrorist financing cases.
MEANWHILE.....
"Turkish Airlines denies smuggling arms to Boko Haram The statement specifically stated that no arms deliveries were made to Nigeria from Turkey or any other country"...worldbulletin.net

What are the major factors constraining further U.S. assistance to Nigerian security forces in their operations against Boko Haram?
Human rights concerns have constrained U.S. security assistance to Nigeria for both legal and policy reasons, and coordination on counterterrorism efforts has also been hampered at times by a lack of cooperation from Nigerian officials. U.S. legal provisions, popularly known as the Leahy Laws, that prohibit assistance to foreign security force units implicated in gross violations of human rights have had a significant impact on U.S.-Nigerian security cooperation. DOD officials have further described Nigeria as “an extremely challenging partner to work with,” and“slow to adapt with new strategies, new doctrines, and new tactics.”

2 Likes

Fashion / Ancient Egyptian Woman With 70 Hair Extensions Discovered by Ekundayo7: 11:38am On Sep 19, 2014
Maybe this will stop the ignorance arguing that women in ancient times never had hair extension or weave, so why should modern women have them. grin




By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | September 17, 2014 08:40am ET

More than 3,300 years ago, in a newly built city in Egypt, a woman with an incredibly elaborate hairstyle of lengthy hair extensions was laid to rest.

She was not mummified, her body simply being wrapped in a mat. When archaeologists uncovered her remains they found she wore "a very complex coiffure with approximately 70 extensions fastened in different layers and heights on the head," writes Jolanda Bos, an archaeologist working on the Amarna Project, in an article recently published in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.

Researchers don't know her name, age or occupation, but she is one of hundreds of people, including many others whose hairstyles are still intact, who were buried in a cemetery near an ancient city now called Amarna. [See Photos of the Egyptian Skeletons and Elaborate Hairstyles]

This city was constructed as a new capital of Egypt by Akhenaten (reign ca. 1353-1335 B.C.), a pharaoh who unleashed a religious revolution that saw the Aten, a deity shaped as a sun disk, assume supremacy in Egyptian religion. Akhenaten ordered that Amarna be constructed in the desert and that images of some of Egypt's other gods be destroyed. Amarna was abandoned shortly after Akhenaten's death, and today archaeologists supported by the Amarna Trust are investigating all aspects of the ancient city, including the hairstyles its people wore.

Bos is leading the hairstyle research, and the woman with 70 extensions leaves her puzzled.

"Whether or not the woman had her hair styled like this for her burial only is one of our main research questions," said Bos in an email to Live Science. "The hair was most likely styled after death, before a person was buried. It is also likely, however, that these hairstyles were used in everyday life as well and that the people in Amarna used hair extensions in their daily life."

Many of the other skulls Bos analyzed also had hair extensions. One skull had extensions made of gray and dark black hair suggesting multiple people donated their hair to create extensions.

Hairy discoveries

As Bos analyzed a selection of 100 recently excavated skulls (of which 28 still had hair) from the Armana cemetery, she noticed the people who lived in the ancient city had a wide variety of hair types. They range "from very curly black hair, to middle brown straight," she noted in the journal article, something "that might reflect a degree of ethnic variation." [Photos: 10 Iconic Hairstyles That Took Root]

Those skulls with brown hair often had rings or coils around their ears, a style that was popular at Amarna, she found. Why people in this city liked it is unknown. "We still have no idea. This is of course one of the answers we are still trying to find from the record," said Bos in the email.

People in the city also seemed to be fond of braids. "All braids found in the coiffures were simple and of three strands, mostly 1 cm [0.4 inches] wide, with strands of approximately 0.5 cm [0.2 inches] when tightly braided," Bos writes in the journal article.

People at Amarna also liked to keep their hair short. "Braids were often not more than 20 cm [7.9 inches] long, leaving the hair at shoulder length approximately," Bos added. "The longest hair that was found consisted of multilayered extensions to a length of approximately 30 cm [11.8 inches]."

Fat was used to help create all the hairstyles Bos found, something that would have helped keep the hair in one piece after death. More research is needed to determine whether the fat was from animals. A textile found on each of the skulls may have been used to cover part of the head.

Hide the gray?

In one case a woman has an orange-red color on her graying hair. It appears that that she dyed her hair, possibly with henna (a flowering plant).

"We are still not completely sure if and what kind of hair coloring was used on this hair, it only seems that way macroscopically," said Bos in the email. "At present we are analyzing the hairs in order to find out whether or not some kind of coloring was used. On other sites dyed hair was found from ancient Egypt."

This woman, among other ancient Egyptians, may have dyed her hair "for the same reason as why people dye their hair today, in order not to show the gray color," Bos said.
http://www.livescience.com/47875-ancient-egyptian-woman-with-hair-extensions.html

4 Likes 2 Shares

Foreign Affairs / Re: Cops Beat & Kidnap 12-yo Girl In Front Of Home, Claiming She Was A Prostitute by Ekundayo7: 6:42am On Sep 19, 2014
2buff:
Just this past Thursday, Danièle Watts, star of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, wrote on her Facebook page that she was handcuffed and thrown into the back of a police cruiser after failing to provide officers with ID.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cops-beat-kidnap-12-yo-girl-front-home-claiming-prostitute/
I listened to the over 20 minute tape of that incident with Daniele. She was dead wrong. Her boyfriend, who is white, was with his legs out the car door in a parking lot, her grinding on top his groin with her boobies in his face. Someone complained and called the cops. At no time were the police disrespectful. She created a confrontation and did not hand over id, which if you are asked to, you do it. Her boyfriend handed over and no problem. They could have left in 5 minutes had she not pulled a prima dona act and thrown the race card out. If you do not show id, you are going to be detained until they can get you to cooperate or you are going in to jail cell, white or black. She only negatively added to sterotype of the "difficult" and disorderly black criminal in those 20 plus minutes of tape, calling her daddy on the phone and shrieking "do you know who I am! I have a publicist". The best line of the whole tape was after shrieking she had "a publicist" d officer said evenly, "okay, am mildly interested" , what restraint that man had with her stupid mouth. If a police asks you to hand over id because someone has called in a report, you do it, else face the consequences. Her career is going in the toilet after this.... undecided As far as bad police, they come in all colors all over the world. I tend to cross the street and stay far away as possible.
Politics / Re: Can Social Media Save The Nigerian Soldiers That Have Been Sentenced To Death by Ekundayo7: 6:17am On Sep 19, 2014
There had better be a pardon, this is beyond belief but then again, only in naija. This needs to be front page every day.
Politics / Re: Boko Haram: Igbo, Yoruba Youths Join Hands Against Insurgency by Ekundayo7: 6:11am On Sep 19, 2014
It is about time people put difference aside and start finding strength together. The threat is real, is it not? So a united front is better than none at all.Hopefully a solid head and voice of leadership will come out of this. Nigeri a needs new blood and leaders, let them try sort it out together. Cohesion is better than confusion.
Foreign Affairs / Re: Ebola Health Workers Murdered In Guinea by Ekundayo7: 6:04am On Sep 19, 2014
very sad
Culture / Re: Olokun by Ekundayo7: 6:02am On Sep 19, 2014
GooseBaba: Ekundayo7,... Haba..!!! this was an inside joke.. People always accusing macof of having several handles. I can guarantee you that I have no problem with you.

Meanwhile, why are some ATR priests hot tempered..? I think I have to create another handle code name "ogogorobaba" grin
grin
Politics / Re: Two Nigerians And An Israeli Smuggle $9.3million Into South Africa by Ekundayo7: 1:52pm On Sep 16, 2014
NairaMode: I personally feel Nairaland shouldn't be promoting such news.

If the Europeans are using their media to "demodernize" Africa and always paint us in the bad light, the only reasonable service we can do ourselves is to make people see the positive sides of us.

Not with our politicians sha. They are a bad apple. We should always expose them.

My opinion.
Do you mean to put your head in the sand like the ostrich and just pretend the arms deal did not happen? No one is painting anyone any color. Nigerians do a good job painting themselves.

5 Likes

Nairaland / General / Re: Strange Aircraft Responsible For Building Collapse-TB Joshua by Ekundayo7: 6:19pm On Sep 14, 2014
Some people will do anything to shift blame from themselves. What a selfish man to not even address those who are grieving.
Education / Re: Angry Students Stone Afe Babalola Over One Month Power Outage by Ekundayo7: 6:16pm On Sep 14, 2014
Yomieluv: Nawa oo. When did Afe babalola become PHCN,or incharge of electricity.

Most students are just in school for certificate sake,no iota of wisdom in their brains.

They are so dumb,that they can't channel their grievance to the right people. In summary,they are intelligence deficient.

Long Hissssss.
Olumiland: first and foremost, "In summary,they are intelligence deficient." this is an obscurity that calls for clarification... I do not want to know if you are one of the la cram la pour university menace but my concern is ur enormous lack of uncommon sense which has literally degraded you to the point of posting hocus pocus on this blogoshere in the name of promulgating your naturally embedded illiteracy.....Had it been you are a student of federal poly ado, you wouldn't have foolishly and ignorantly spewed your comment... The students were aggrieved because of epileptic power supply, meanwhile, an hotel which belongs to Afe babalola uses light unceasingly.... #don't abuse the privilege of using nairaland# SHALOM!!!
The students had the correct idea in the beginning arranging for meeting. Sounded good until they took the wrong path. It is always wiser to look deeply into a matter before committing yourself to action that could harm yourself. Investigating if the hostel indeed is run by gen would have been a "smart move" and one that showed wisdom, or at least a pulse of intelligence. The original op meant to say "intelligence deficit".
Politics / Re: Breaking News: Boko Haram Video Journalist Killed "On Duty" by Ekundayo7: 7:19pm On Sep 13, 2014
Orikinla: The Boko Haram video journalist has produced better videos than many Nollywood home videos. He made Shekau the Nigerian actor of the year and in fact Shekau should make the 2014 TIME 100, for the most influential people in the world, since previous editions also included heroes, villains and other strange people.
cheesy It's true! But his cover shot will be of his useless head separated from his useless body, for all to see around the world. It will happen.
Politics / Re: Breaking News: Boko Haram Video Journalist Killed "On Duty" by Ekundayo7: 7:11pm On Sep 13, 2014
Good news for now if it is true but until shekau's head is on a stick and his body in a shallow ditch, no rest.
Politics / Re: Nigeria Militias Showcased On FRONTLINE, Military And Militia Atrocities by Ekundayo7: 7:04pm On Sep 13, 2014
rickkid:
And you think that's gonna cut it?
You are either extremely foolish or a poorly trained internet propagandist. What on earth can be the good to come out of posting something which is sympathetic to Boko Haram? Why on earth would you do this except because you are their supporter? And why impersonate a Yoruba when we know for a fact that you are neither Yoruba nor even Nigerian?
Lol.
EXCUSE ME YOUR ignorance might pass for "wisdom" in the circles you run with but some people actually MIGHT WANT TO KNOW WHO IS SHAPING WORLD OPINION THROUGH MEDIA. I am anti ANYTHING to do with Boko Haram and personally am not a fan of hausa fulani even being allowed to live in SW. They kill Yoruba for any thing up North, so why should they be allowed to settle, make their businesses and keep people up all hours of the night with their prayers. I don't even like YORUBA being Muslim so think on that one for a while. And who the FECK are YOU to say I am IMPERSONATING A YORUBA, you stupid eediot. So I suppose you are "IMPERSONATING A WHITE MAN" because you type in english? You have no fecking CLUE to who I really am and what I do in life so sod off and go run some errands for you oga.
Culture / Re: Olokun by Ekundayo7: 4:52pm On Sep 11, 2014
macof:

My reason for mentioning santeria is because it's known that Olofin is the husband of Olokun but the santeros confuse Olofin with Olorun.
My post made this clear enough.

ekundayo7 is not my handle
GooseBaba:

Mr, Ekundayo7 how market..? grin grin is this another Koloyinbo moment.... grin grin
[size=18pt]Someone ( "macof","GooseBaba" ) has a problem with me here? Please, pray tell, what specifically is troubling you? Have I somehow hurt your feelings? Your sense of superiority? Would you both care to elucidate on your issue with me? Is this something so troubling to you both you have resorted to name calling on NL? Feckoff and OgogoroBaba, where exactly does it hurt you? And "market" is just fine, thank God, I manage my destiny through the grace of Olodumare, Ifa and the orisa to help many people, which is more than most humans with their miserly selfish lives can say. And by the way, what makes you so sure I'm a "Mr". I suggest you both keep your noses in your own spiritual life; if you truly have one.[/size]
Nairaland / General / Re: 6 Things You Do That Annoy A Policeman on "Stop And Search" by Ekundayo7: 7:59am On Sep 10, 2014
arsetalks: Good read. However about this this?

I was coming from inside a UBA bank. A man stopped me branding his police ID card to my face wanting to know where I am coming from ( he saw me coming from inside a bank).

Me - I am coming from UBA.

Police - what did you go to do in a bank?

Me - I went to buy beans, you can go and buy some if you need.

Police - you are bla bla bla. Follow me to the station.

Me - why should you ask me what I went to do in a bank, do I look like a kid to you? Why should I go to the station with you, am I under arrest or what?

Police - you are under arrest.

Me - where is your arrest warrant or do you just pick anyone coming from the bank to arrest?

Police - I will slap you if you talk again?

Me - Slap me and show me how much of a coward you are and be ready for a bigger slap.

The idiiot thought I was a Yahoo boy as it is obvious he saw me collecting Western union.

Na so we drag am till the iidiot took me to the police station, even answered my call after forcefully taking my phone and managed to make my now late fiancee scared before the DPO who I happen to know asked him to leave me.

If people are rude to them, it is because a good number of them are clue.less about their own job. How is going to a bank or collecting western union a bad thing?
Because you are then set up as easy target and didn't dash your "protection" waiting outside o
Politics / Re: Nigeria Militias Showcased On FRONTLINE, Military And Militia Atrocities by Ekundayo7: 7:50am On Sep 10, 2014
amAZEing: They have STARTED AGAIN. BH apologhsts have Started Their Media Propaganda.

They didn't see the negative and destructive acts of BH in Mubi, Gworza, Damboa etc

The current push by the military is yielding results and here is a report from an apologist.
Abeg, ME, an APOLOGIST?? You need to check my posts my friend, am nothing of the sort. I am simply showing people what the media outlets are up to. Knowledge is much better than ignorance.

2 Likes

Politics / Nigeria Militias Showcased On FRONTLINE, Military And Militia Atrocities by Ekundayo7: 5:27am On Sep 10, 2014
All I know is that Nigeria is at WAR, and am praying fervently for the day this braying azz will be silenced and flung into a shallow pit for jackals to eat

A screengrab taken on July 13, 2014 from a video released by the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram and obtained by AFP shows the leader of the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau (centre) (AFP Photo/Ho)

Every week a new atrocity seems to strike the people of Nigeria’s north, where government forces have fought a nearly five-year war with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. The world’s attention briefly focused on Africa’s most populous, and one of its wealthiest, countries in April when Boko Haram — whose name crudely translates to “Western influence is sinful” — abducted 300 schoolgirls, apparently dispersing many to the service of leaders in its sphere of influence, which now stretches to neighboring Cameroon's border.

Boko Haram has been emboldened by the success of Islamic State, observers say, and like IS, the group has declared an intent to create a “caliphate,” a religious state where governing principles are interpreted from the Koran. In Boko Haram's case, the caliphate would be in Nigeria's north. The group has been known to massacre the inhabitants of entire small villages, using modern weapons or the ancient terror of beheading, and not sparing women or children.

The Nigerian military has sporadically tried to halt the group’s advance and had been regarded as a force for good. But now, as PBS FRONTLINE’s documentary, “Hunting Boko Haram,” chronicles in dozens of witness testimonials, video documentation and interviews, Nigeria's armed forces have crossed a boundary into darkness. As the raiser of militia groups under the two-year-old “Operation Flush,” Nigeria's army has trained, paid and haphazardly armed an amateur military that has become as deadly and feared a force as Boko Haram itself.

Caught between are Nigeria’s innocents.

“There is nowhere for people to go,” said Evan Williams, the Australian documentary writer and producer of “Hunting Boko Haram,” which can be seen exclusively here before its broadcast premiere tonight on PBS (check local listings). “They can’t go to the military or the police and say, ‘Where is my son, where is my father,’ without themselves being marked as having a possible tie to Boko Haram,” said Williams, who arrived in Nigeria five months ago after a double car-bombing in the city of Jos, where a substantial part of Muslim vs. Christian violence has occurred, left at least 118 dead.

Part one of "Hunting Boko Haram":
[img]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn4pkAxgaKo[/img]
http://youtu.be/nn4pkAxgaKo

In the course of his reporting, a man who belonged to one of the Operation Flush militias gave Williams 35 video recordings depicting its methods and told him how he was beginning to deeply question the mission.

“The military and the state government gave them the power to hold and detain anyone,” Williams said in a telephone interview with Yahoo News. “The problem, and it remains, and it is intensifying, is that these militia are not trained, they are local boys, often with machetes. …They tortured confessions out of people — and as we know, torturing victims to get evidence is the least effective way of getting anything truthful.”

The videos were often shot on mobile phones, Williams said, as the militiamen sought to document activities to prove to their bosses that they deserved to get paid. The videos depict the worst kinds of torture. With machetes, swords, bows and arrows, Operation Flush militiamen were encouraged to deal with Boko Haram suspects as harshly as they chose, wherever they thought they might have found them.

Subsequently, Williams accumulated more than 120 videos, which he then corroborated with eyewitnesses, other members of Operation Flush militias, and human rights workers and experts. All wanted to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from the military, he said, not from Boko Haram.

They depict a scenario reminiscent of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, where any whisper of collaboration with the enemy meant detention and worse. “The militia would move into a town, sometimes with the military, sometimes on their own,” Williams said. “They would do a security sweep, make sure all men were rounded up and forced to sit in the town square, and then try to determine who they thought was Boko Haram or not. They would start with some sympathizers who might identify others. They were getting paid, so they needed to keep finding victims — they needed to find more people to keep the machine going.

“They would use a ‘computer,’ or a ‘spotter,’ who claimed to know Boko Haram in the area,” sometimes a child, Williams said. “He would pick out people, and then the militia would tie them up and beat them to get a confession and then turn them over to the military.” Occasionally, Operation Flush militias would even detain people who had been Boko Haram prisoners and had been released.

Part two of "Hunting Boko Haram":
[img]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQruyXRGgzQ[/img]
http://youtu.be/uQruyXRGgzQ

Some of those handed over to the Nigerian military were brought to the Giwa Barracks in the city of Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria's Borno state, and the scene of the worst Boko Haram attacks. One man who told Williams of his experiences at Giwa said that of 120 men taken with him to the barracks, only nine came out alive.

“When he was taken in, the first thing he was told is, ‘Welcome to your death house,’ ” Williams said. No one came to question them, the man told Williams, and dozens were held in small rooms for weeks. Many died of dehydration or cholera. Nothing that resembled due process of justice seemed to happen in Giwa, and it was only a substantial bribe paid to the military by his father that secured the man’s release, Williams said.

Operation Flush has created an environment in which innocent Nigerians have nobody to turn to for help in finding relatives that have gone missing at Boko Haram’s hands, for fear of being branded a collaborator, Williams said. Nigerians are likely turning to Boko Haram for protection from government militias operating without constraint.

“Up to 3,000 men were missing who had been detained by the military,” Williams said, but the number could be more than 4,000. Boko Haram itself, over a five-year period, is thought to be responsible for more than 5,000 civilian deaths.

“This is a deadly environment, and Boko Haram are savage,” Williams said. “But there has to be due process. There are a lot of innocent people being caught up in a situation where there should be more accountability.”

FRONTLINE's "Hunting Boko Haram" premieres tonight on PBS and can be
watched online here: Part one and part two.
Religion / Ahmadi Muslims In Pakistan Still Waiting For The Right To Worhsip As Muslims by Ekundayo7: 12:07am On Sep 10, 2014

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Zia-ul-Haq
September 8, 2014

Forty years ago in the month of September the government of a country played God and snatched away the rights of a group of citizens with the stroke of a pen. The country is Pakistan and the group is the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. On September 7, 1974, the then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, submitted to the pressure of the orthodox clergy and put into effect the constitutional amendment which declared the members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as ‘non-Muslims’. The decision made by Bhutto was broadcast on Pakistan radio. The announcement came as an utter shock for the Ahmadi Muslims who lived in Pakistan. They asked questions such as, “How could a parliament decide about our faith?” Until the morning of the declaration the Ahmadis were considered as Muslims and treated as equal citizens of the country. While Christians or Hindus considered themselves not belonging to the Islamic faith, the Ahmadi Muslims were thrown out of the pale of Islam through legislation and not out of their own profession.

Now fast forward to the year 1984. Pakistan is under the rule of the military dictator Zia-ul-Haq. In order to garner the support of the religious extremists and following in the footsteps of Bhutto, he promulgated the famous anti-Ahmadiyya Ordinance XX. This ordinance directly infringed upon the religious rights of a minority sect. Now the Ahmadi Muslims were forbidden to profess their faith either verbally or in writing. The law thus passed would criminalize an Ahmadi Muslim for simply saying the Islamic greeting, “Assalamu Alaikum” or by reciting from the Qur’an the Muslim Holy Scripture. According to this new decree the members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community could be jailed for three years or fined an arbitrary sum of money for the simple profession of their faith. They were now explicitly forbidden to call their houses of worship “mosques” or give the call to Prayer, the “adhan”. What this ordinance in reality did was brand every single Ahmadi a criminal for simply “posing as Muslims”.

The decision of the Pakistani government to declare the Ahmadi Muslims out of the pale of Islam was backed by the Islamic Fiqh Council. In 1978, during their first session, they passed a resolution (Third Resolution) in which the council decided that “the Qadiani (Ahmadiyya) creed is totally out of Islam and its followers are infidels. Their pretension of being Muslims is merely for a deception and misguidance.” They also said, “The Islamic Fiqh Council makes it clear that Muslims as government officials, scholars, Da’wah (preachers) workers, intellectuals and writers must confront this misguided sect and its followers in each and every part of the world.” As a result of this collective stance the Ahmadi Muslims, who hold Pakistani passports, cannot travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, the annual pilgrimage. Pakistan is probably the only country which requires the applicants to profess their faith on the passport application. According to item number 16 on the form, which is to be filled out by those who consider themselves Muslims, the applicant must openly reject the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, and furthermore has to declare that he/she considers the Ahmadis as non-Muslims. The Ahmadi Muslims are left with choices which in either way will put them in a predicament. If they do not complete item 16, then they are indirectly admitting that they are non-Muslims and if they choose to fill it out the section then they will be going against their own belief.

Persecution against the Ahmadi Muslims was in place even prior to the promulgation of the laws of 1974 and 1984. However, the anti-Ahmadiyya groups of which the most prominent, “Tahafuz-e-Khatme Nabuwat” (Protection of the Finality of Prophethood), have been actively promoting hatred toward the Ahmadi Muslims. Billboards and posters have appeared in crowded marketplaces which call for the killing of Ahmadi Muslims. Not only do the anti-Ahmadiyya groups take to the streets and clearly proclaim that killing Ahmadi Muslims is a virtue, so-called learned journalists have also been the cause of the incitement of this hatred. A few years ago a talk show host, Aamir Liaqat Hussain of GEO TV, had a guest, a religious scholar, who boldly made the claim that Ahmadi Muslims are “Wajibul Qatl” or worthy of being killed. Within forty eight hours of the airing of the show, two Ahmadi Muslims were murdered in cold blood.

Since the promulgation of the blasphemy laws, hundreds of thousands of Ahmadi Muslims have emigrated from Pakistan and have sought asylum in countries in Europe and North America. However, there are still many more who remain in their homeland living in fear and uncertainty. In obedience to their Khalifa, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, they remain patient during these adverse times and fight with the weapon of choice- heartfelt prayers.
http://www.examiner.com/article/ahmadi-muslims-pakistan-still-waiting-for-the-annulment-of-the-2nd-amendment
Foreign Affairs / Bathroom Break: India's Sanitation Crisis Is Trapping Women In A Cycle Of Violen by Ekundayo7: 11:42pm On Sep 09, 2014
This is just unbelievable....every nation has their problems...but women getting raped for need to urinate and POO? smh angry


Author, AnushaysPoint.com

Last week, the Thomson Reuters Foundation outlined how Bangladesh, India's much poorer and flood-prone neighbor, has had more success building bathrooms for its citizens.

In just over a decade, Bangladesh managed to decrease the percentage of people defecating in the open from 19 percent in 2000 to just 3 percent in 2012.

However, across the border in India the picture is very different. According to the World Bank, over 600 million people, roughly 53 percent of Indian households, still use public streets and fields as bathrooms.

And it's the women of India who are paying the highest price.

The shortages of basic bathroom facilities in India leaves women and girls with no option but to venture out, usually late at night, to relieve themselves in the open.


The world was exposed to this shocking reality when two teenage cousins in Uttar Pradesh were found raped and hanging from a tree just this past summer.

Even though the issue is especially acute in the rural areas, mothers in the urban slums have horror stories about local men staring at them, threatening them and shouting lewd comments while women venture out to defecate in the open.

"We have had one-on-one fights with thugs in order to save our daughters from getting raped," one mother described. "It then becomes a fight that either you [the thug] kill me to get to my daughter or you back off."


In addition to the horrifying threat of assault and harassment, not being able to access toilets has a series of health implications for women and girls from urinary tract to kidney infections, not to mention the sheer stress of not being able to access a bathroom during your monthly menstrual cycle.

Why in 2014 are women and girls in India, the world's largest democracy, facing so much difficulty getting to a bathroom?

At the core of this issue is the low position of women in Indian society.


It is on their way to and from this journey that they face the risk of horrific, even deadly, attacks of sexual violence.

From religion to caste, Indian culture consistently degrades women to the point that they cannot even access the most basic of human rights: to remove bodily wastes with dignity and privacy.

This lack of value placed on the lives of women and girls begins at birth. Three millions girls are considered to be 'missing' in India where female infanticide, the killing of baby girls, is so common that the UN has called it the most dangerous place in the world to be born a girl.

To a large extent, India is an unsafe place for women period. Last year, a series of high-profile gang-rape cases were globally publicized, and it is estimated that every 30 minutes a woman in India is raped. Delhi is considered the country's rape capital.

Today in India, it is easier to get a mobile phone than find a toilet. How can a country that has more Internet users than the United States, still not provide its citizens with decent latrines?

Although social attitudes towards women and girls in India will take time to evolve, the issue of building accessible bathrooms is something we can resolve right now and right away, and it appears as though progress is on the horizon.

The country's new prime minister, Narendra Modi addressed the issue in a landmark Independence Day speech, vowing that his government would put "toilets before temples," and eliminate open defecation. And last week, the organization Sulabh International unveiled 108 cheap new toilets in the same village where the two girls were raped and hung.

"I believe no woman must lose her life just because she has to go out to defecate," the founder of the charity, Bindeshwar Pathak said.

Building safe toilets for women and girls across India may be the most fitting tribute to those two girls who were denied dignity in life and death. But how India tackles this public health crisis will determine the direction of the women's rights movement in the country for years to come.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anushay-hossain/bathroom-break-indias-san_b_5785368.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

1 Like

Agriculture / Re: FG Set To Ban Hides And Skin “ponmon” by Ekundayo7: 7:03pm On Sep 09, 2014
woodcook: I remember a class mate of mine from Ethiopia asking me if it is true we eat shoes and belts in Nigeria, that someone told him we eat hides in Naija.


Apart from the fact that "ponmon" is cheap, any nutritional value?
grin grin grin cheesy LOL...we eat shoes and belts....
Culture / 3,000-year-old Golden Bowl Hides A Grisly Archaeological Tale by Ekundayo7: 6:06pm On Sep 09, 2014
We've had millennia to figure out how to live in peace with each other, yet here we are, creating another "layer" of archaeological tragedy on planet earth.

By Megan Gannon, News Editor | September 08, 2014 08:03am ET
[img]http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/LwrK_1.YKX2Fj8Jxj7hoYA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTM0NztweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz01NzU-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_US/News/LiveScience.com/golden-bowl.jpg1409950162[/img]

In 1958, archaeologists were digging through the ruins of a burned Iron Age citadel called Hasanlu in northwestern Iran when they pulled a spectacular, albeit crushed, golden bowl from the layers of destruction.

The 3,000-year-old bowl became an object of fascination once word got to the press. The next year, it graced the pages of Life magazine in a full-color spread alongside an article about the discoveries at Hasanlu.

But the story behind the prized find is less glossy. The bowl was uncovered just beyond the fingertips of a dead soldier and two of his comrades, who were crushed under bricks and burned building material around 800 B.C. Scholars have debated whether these three men were defenders of the citadel or enemy invaders running off with looted treasures. A new interpretation suggests the soldiers were no heroes.

Hasanlu is sometimes described as the Pompeii of the ancient Near East, because of its so-called "burn layer," which contains more than 200 bodies preserved in ash and rubble, explained Michael Danti, an archaeologist at Boston University. The archaeological evidence provides a rather disturbing snapshot of the closing hours of the siege of the citadel. [Preserved Pompeii: See Images of a City in Ash]

Located on the shores of Lake Urmia, Hasanlu seems to have been first occupied about 8,000 years ago. But by the ninth or 10th century B.C., there was a bustling, fortified town at the site.

Within the town's walls were houses, treasuries, horse stables, military arsenals and temples, many of which had towers or multiple stories. The mudbrick architecture likely resembled the adobe buildings of the American Southwest, but many roofs, floors and structural supports at Hasanlu consisted of timber and reed matting — all of which would have been tinder in a blaze, Danti said.

Other central details about life at Hasanlu are less clear. Archaeologists don't know the ethnicity of the people who lived there or what language they spoke.

"Despite the really rich material record, they didn't really find any indigenous writing at all," Danti said.

The burn layer at Hasanlu suggests a surprise attack destroyed the citadel. Archaeologists who excavated the site in the 1950s, '60s and '70s found corpses that were beheaded and others that were missing hands. Danti said he has seen a fairly clear example of a person who was cut in half. [8 Other Grisly Archaeological Discoveries]

"The students that were working there would have nightmares at night, because they were spending hours and hours out there excavating murder victims," Danti told Live Science. Many of the victims were women and children. And in mass graves on top of the burned layer, excavators found the remains of people who tended to be very young or old and seemed to have suffered fatal, blunt-force trauma head wounds. These victims likely survived the initial attack only to be killed when their captors realized they would be of little use as slaves, Danti said.

"This was warfare that was designed to wipe out people's identity and terrify people into submission," Danti said.

Danti, who has been piecing together a history of the site from excavation archives as part of a larger, more daunting project, published a study on Hasanlu in the September 2014 issue of the journal Antiquity. The site was primarily excavated between 1956 and 1977 under the direction of Robert H. Dyson, who led a team from the University of Pennsylvania, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Archaeological Service of Iran. Because of security pressures and the overwhelming amount of material found at the site, the pace of their work was often hurried, and their record-keeping methods were not always meticulous. Some artifacts were pulled from the ground before they were documented or photographed in situ. There are no photographs of the gold bowl before it was taken out of the ground, for example.

In revisiting Hasanlu, Danti has taken a closer look at the three warriors. He said it seems likely they were climbing up a wooden staircase inside of a home when the building collapsed. The men fell through what was probably a waste-disposal chute and were buried by debris. Besides the gold bowl, there are other treasures scattered around their bodies, including textiles, fancy armored belts, metal vessels and delicately carved cylinder seals.

The outfits and weapons of the warriors look like standardized military equipment, Danti said. The men wore crested helmets with earflaps, and they carried spiked maces. They appear to have been well-prepared for battle.

"I doubt these men were rescuing a valued bowl and many other fine objects with little hope of egress as the citadel burned and its remaining occupants were slaughtered or taken captive," Danti wrote in his conclusion.

Danti's interpretation supports a hypothesis that the warriors hailed from the Urartu kingdom that grew out of an area in modern-day Turkey. Historical texts indicate the ancient Urartu kingdom was expanding into the region around Hasanlu during the Iron Age through a brutal military campaign. Sometime after the citadel was abandoned, an Urartian fortification wall was built on top of the ruins of Hasanlu.

Still, Danti said he hopes other researchers will test his hypothesis and perform bioarchaeological analyses on the skeletons of both the warriors and the slain people who lived at Hasanlu. Diet and drinking water leave telltale biomarkers in a person's skeleton, and a bone analysis could help confirm where the warriors came from, and whether they died trying to protect or steal the town's riches.
http://www.livescience.com/47713-golden-bowl-hasanlu-archaeology.html

1 Like

Politics / US Federal Air Marshal Attacked With Syringe In Lagos Airport by Ekundayo7: 1:04am On Sep 09, 2014


By Jana Winter
Published September 08, 2014
EXCLUSIVE – The FBI and CDC are investigating an attack on a federal air marshal who was injected with a syringe full of an unknown substance inside the Lagos, Nigeria airport on Sunday, according to a Situational Awareness notice obtained by FoxNews.com.

A federal air marshal reported being attacked by a subject while on the public side of the Lagos Airport on Sunday, according to an alert from TSA's Transportation Security Operations Center distributed throughout the agency on Monday afternoon.

It appeared to be an isolated incident, the alert says.

"The [air marshal] reported that the subject stuck him with a syringe and it is believed he was injected with an unknown substance," the alert says.

The State Department responded to the airport to assist the air marshal and his team.

"After consultation with the consulate and physicians, the [federal air marshal] was given precautionary medication," according to the alert.

The air marshal and the rest of his team--along with the syringe used in the attack-- were immediately flown out of Nigeria and back to the U.S.

The syringe also was transported back to the U.S. for testing.

An FBI spokesman said Monday night, "out of an abundance of caution, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted an on-scene screening of the victim when United Flight 143 landed in Houston early Monday morning. The victim did not exhibit any signs of illness during the flight and was transported to a hospital upon landing for further testing. None of the testing conducted has indicated a danger to other passengers."

The CDC and the FBI are involved and have opened investigations, the alert states.

The TSA and State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"This investigation is still in the preliminary stage and early indications are limited to a criminal nexus."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/08/us-federal-air-marshal-attacked-with-syringe-in-lagos-airport/
Culture / Re: Olokun by Ekundayo7: 12:48am On Sep 09, 2014
tpia1:


dear, in Yoruba cosmology (or esoterism if you prefer that term), rivers are female, the ocean is mostly male.

Yemoja is who you have in mind, Olokun is male.

You are confused by the mami wata myths.
Dear, no confusion here, again, it depends on GEOGRAPHIC area and peoples inhabiting said area whether they view Olokun as "male" or "female". Yemoja is owner of the top portions of the ocean waters, Olokun owner off ALL WATERS, both sweet and salty and owner of the depths. According to Yoruba legend SHE was close friends with Orunmila and married Odudua, was a fashioner of beads and metal crowns and bracelet as supported by the beads and bead making artifacts discovered in her shrine in Ile-Ife. Whether people merely carried out those industry there in her shrine as tribute is unknown.
The odu of Ogbe Ate tells us a true story of Olokun, as the odu Ifa have been handed down orally for thousands of years, and it is to this authentic and reliable Yoruba source that I will tell one story of Olokun, and know that there are many other versions backed up by Odu Ifa, such as how Olokun became a cowrie diviner, or how she became the most powerful among all diviners.

Ogbe Ate

Olokun is one of the most prominent, powerful and courageous orisa on earth and she holds a very high position among all diviners, besides being one of the prettiest. Her home is in Ile-ife, in the area called Igbo Olokun. The followers of Olokun were not many in the beginning. Many of them were leaving to follow and worship other orisa. Those who left were saying "Olokun is too honest, she doesn't tolerate lies". Olokun only wanted honest people around her. Olokun's intelligence goes beyond ordinary human intelligence and she doesn't tolerate any kind of nonsense from anyone. Very neat and tidy, she detests a dirty environment.

One day Olokun realized that she was not achieving the mission that Olodumare had given her because she was so honest, detested lies, didn't like dirt, and did not tolerate those things in others. She decided to consult Baba Orunmila.

IROSUN-OGBE

To her surprise, he said that he would assist her and help her to solve all of her problems. He said he needed to make sacrifice and after doing so, all of the people who had left her would come back to join her again. Furthermore, he said that she would become a powerful orisa that everyone would worship, that the work would make her rich and had never been done before on earth. Olokun of course agreed on the spot to make the sacrifice.

One day Olokun noticed a big stone that was a lovely blue color, as if water were inside, in the backyard of her home. She began thinking about what she could use the stone for. Days later she decided to fashion a necklace using the blue stone and she made a lovely ileke. When the other diviners saw the ileke they began begging Olokun to please give them their own set of ileke necklace and wrist beads. They started buying the beads from Olokun and she began to be rich and famous, to the extent that all the people who left her came back and joined her. Olokun took them back as any merciful mother would. In spite of her fame, wealth, many followers and her power amongst all the irunmole and people, she still had one problem: she did not have a husband she could lay under so she could have a child. To solve this problem she went once again to Orunmila to ask for his help.

OGBE FUN

The odu that was divined for Olokun was Ogbe-Fun

Ifa said that she will have her own husband , that he will be someone of very good character from among the diviners, that she is the one he will marry, but she must make sacrifice. She carried out the sacrifice in grand style, following all that Ifa said.

Not much later all her prayers were answered.

This is when Odudua Olofin heard the news about Olokun and her powers and beautiful beads. He began buying necklaces and bracelets from her and he himself was an accomplished blacksmith who also made lovely necklaces and bracelets made of metal. Upon first meeting her he thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and also saw that she not under any man, nor were there any men chasing her. She was clearly not an easy woman. He saw her as a very dignified woman and he began to look for a way to befriend her in order to take her as his wife. But he began to be afraid of her power and her position. He sent for Orunmila to divine the Ifa oracle for him. Heaven advised him to go ahead and propose to Olokun, that she would accept his offer and that he should make sacrifice in order to have many children with her. Odudua refused to make the sacrifice for children. To his great surprise, Olokun accepted his proposal to be his wife with no objections. This is how Olokun became the wife of Odudua Olofin.

But to his surprise, Olokun refused to move and live with Odudua in his palace as she said it would disrupt her work of making beads for necklaces and bracelets. Odudua accepted this because he loved her so much, and also because of her beauty, wealth, power and position in society. Olokun continued doing her work and without any doubts or compromise, she loved Odudua completely, but the fact is that she did not bear him any children. She still made beautiful jewelry for him, including a brass crown that was of such beauty that it was the most beautiful in all the land and it was on his head. Europeans discovered the glass making quarry and brass works that Olokun used to create her works on the border of Ileshe in Ogun State and Esinmirin in Ile-Ife, Oyo State.

As time went by, Olokun had lots of money, her blessings were accumulating, the irunmole were all coming to her side. Among all the diviners in Ile Ife it was Olokun who was the most famous (she was also an accomplished cowrie diviner). She was very generous to all and very happy to be in the midst of people and attending to their needs. This made all the irunmole want to be around her and also ask for her assistance, but it also made them jealous. Her shrine was always full and because of this they used to complain that they were really the better ones. Every year a festival was held for Olokun and everyone knew it would be the largest, grandest, and many gifts were handed out freely for all.

OSE OWONRIN
The verse of OSE WORIN tells us that the irunmole would choose to go to her festival over all the other's festivals and this caused so much jealousy that they agreed as a group to not attend her festival. Obatala consulted Ifa to see if he should go to her festival, or stay away with all the other irunmole. The irunmole asked Obatala if he was going and he said "No, I won't go", but Ifa told him to send his messenger, the Chameleon Alagemo, so Obatala could continue to have a friendship with Olokun. Unbeknownst to Obatala, all of the irunmole who had said they were not going to her festival, went, and when Alagemo the Chameleon saw this he cried "Oh NO! Obatala has been betrayed by them. Look at them all here!". Obatala had asked Alagemo to tell Olokun that his destiny had forbade him to attend her festival.

After the festival Chameleon appeared in the gardens of the all the irunmole and he took all of the colors of their clothes. This made them very afraid and they thought that Obatala was ready to do battle with them, thinking that he had sent his messenger on ahead. The irunmole all started to feel very guilty that they had betrayed Obatala but Olokun and Obatala remained friends in spite of the irunmole's attempts to make them quarrel.

Olokun was very troubled that the irunmole were not ready to honor and respect her. They thought they were all Gods, but not her. She went to Orunmila to talk to him, as she was not happy with everything that was happening on earth. She had decided to leave IFE land and told Orunmila that she would be amazed if he could find a solution to help her.

EJI OGBE
Orunmila divined for Olokun and the odu that came was Eji Ogbe. Orunmila assured her that all of her problems would resolve and she would find a new home. He asked her to do the sacrifice. He told her to go at night and get one calabash of water and in the morning one calabash of water, to go to the left side of earth and bring water and to the right side of earth to bring water, both morning and evening, and to go to the Red Sea to bring water. Orunmila used the waters to make sacrifice for her and when he was finished he said she should take the waters he had prayed over and to bathe her body, then stay inside her home for 7 days. She must not open the door, see anyone, or see daylight. She did exactly as he said.

On the third day she discovered that the door in front had turned to grass and the door in back had turned to copper. The wooden door on the right side had turned to zinc, and the door on the left side had turned to silver. On the seventh day when she decided it was safe to leave the house she saw that all under her home had become water. Olodumare had decided to giver her a house on top of the water. Olokun was amazed and set out to Orunmila's house to give him the news. He was very happy for her and she took him home to treat him as a pampered guest, entertaining and feeding him as he had never experienced before. He began to sing praises that Olokun had given him a wonderful gift and that he was happy Eledumare had allowed him to understand the message. Olokun began singing praises saying "IFA is great!". Ever since that day Orunmila enters the ocean to divine for Olokun. The story continues on as to how Orunmila came to live with Olokun for many years in her underwater realm.
PRAYER TO OLOKUN

​I bow before your mystery Olokun

The Queen of all Mothers

Mother of all Orisa

The Womb of all Life

The Keeper of feminine ASE

Womb of the whole World

Orisa of all Oceans and Rivers

It is you who holds the mystery of divine feminine Ase

​Mo juba O!

2 Likes

Politics / Re: U.S. Pentagon Finalizes Plan To Fight Boko Haram -by Attorney Patryk Utulu (USA) by Ekundayo7: 8:32am On Sep 08, 2014
BizBloke:

I thought they didn't want in. What changed?

Was the highlighted not available months ago or is the sentence before that the reason for the drones idea all of a sudden? I just think if they don't want in, they should stay out.
Why should US citizens lose their lives, someone lose their son or husband, their father, just because the useless naija FG and GEJ cannot control their corruption nor care for and protect naija citizens? Would you want your son sent to US to die there fighting because the US FG was run so badly and by such corrupt people they allowed half the nation to install shari'a law and give wings to terrorist to fly?

2 Likes

Culture / Re: Olokun by Ekundayo7: 8:20am On Sep 08, 2014
tpia1:

olokun is a he.
All orisa energy is both male and female. Depends geographically if people view Olokun as "he" or "she". That's our problem, we anthropomorphize everything, trying to understand the divine and make it fit into human terms. For me Olokun is "she", great mother, owner of all riches and blessings.

1 Like

Culture / Re: Olokun by Ekundayo7: 8:14am On Sep 08, 2014
OnyeEgo1:

*clears throat** point of correction sir JESUS own the whole day of the whole week in a whole year, he own me and u, cos of u,me and IFA worshippers he DIED for our sins to save us from everlasting torment/purnishment WORSHIP hIM halleluyah!
That's YOUR BELIEF. Kindly untangle it from others right to worship in whatever faith/belief they choose.

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