Isese: You’re neither omniscient nor omnipotent, Soyinka tells Emir of Ilorin

Playwright, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has taken a swipe at the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, for his role in preventing an Osun priestess, Yeye Ajesikemi Omolara, from holding an Isese festival in the state. The festival is to celebrate Ifa spirituality and practice.

Soyinka, who is the Akintalun of Egba and Giiwa of Ijebu-Remo, noted that such conduct turned, before our very eyes, a once ecumenical city like Kaduna into a blood-stained mockery of cohabitation.

He added that such conduct made it possible for a young Col-lege of Education student in Sokoto, Deborah Samuel, to be lynched in the presence of armed police on a mere allegation of having belittled the image of a revered prophet.

The Nobel laureate in a statement on Thursday titled, ‘’Isese festival: An open letter to Sulu Gambari,’’ noted “The greatest avatars that the world has known were not without human frailties, flaws, and errors of understanding. You are not omniscient. And you are not omnipotent.’’

Some Islamic clerics who were members of a Muslim group known as Majlisu Shabab-l-Ulamah Society earlier visited the priestess at her residence to tell her that the Emir of Ilorin sent them to warn her to desist from holding the three-day festival billed scheduled for between July 22 and July 24, 2023, in Ilorin. The priestess thereafter cancelled the festival through an online video, disclosing that her life was in danger having received several death threats.

The Akogun of Isara in the statement said, “Your Royal Highness, So soon after the Moslem season of spiritual purification, it is sad to see the ancient city of Ilorin, a confluence of faiths and ethnic varieties, reduced to this level of bigotry and intolerance, manifested in the role of a presiding monarch. The truncation of a people’s traditional festival is a crime against the cultural heritage of all humanity. Year after year, the Ramadan has been celebrated in this nation as an inclusive gathering of humanity, irrespective of divergences of belief. Not once, in my entire span of existence, have I encountered pronouncements by followers of any faith that the slaughtering of rams on the streets and marketplaces is an offence to their concept of godhead. Vegetarians hold their peace. Buddhists walk a different path. Prior to Ramadan, non-Moslems routinely join in observing the preceding season of fasting as a spiritual exercise worthy of emulation.

“Perhaps this is another occasion for self-introduction. I currently teach courses in Abu Dhabi in the Emirates. That is the region of origin, all others are mere appendages. I was there just before Christmas. I passed through again in the countdown to Ramadan. On both occasions, the streets, businesses, hotel lobbies and other public spaces were lit up with the same festive spirit. Only the symbols within the designs were different. The mood of celebration was equally pervasive and inclusive. Painfully, my mind could not help but travel back home, and some years past, recalling for instance how a procession of Corpus Christ was once attacked, some killed, by a brood of Moslem fanatics, for daring to process along the streets of that same Ilorin. Needless to say, such abominations have become routine. Community is sacrificed to bigotry.’’

The elder statesman further said that it might interest the emir to know that, in Abu Dhabi, numerous programmes were pursued, at government expense, for the evolution of a humanised community based on religious tolerance and mutual respect.

He stated, “By contrast here, several tiers removed from origin, must we turn the turban of enlightenment into a crown of bigotry? And in a society whose very constitution that supposedly governs us all guarantees freedom of belief, association and movement?

“Your Royal Highness, it is conduct like this that has bred Boko Haram, ISIS, ISWAP and other religious malformations that currently plague this nation, spreading grief and outrage across a once peaceful landscape, degrading my and your existence with their virulent brand of Islam. It is conduct like this that has turned, before our very eyes, a once ecumenical city like Kaduna into a blood-stained mockery of cohabitation. It is conduct like this that makes it possible for a young student, Deborah, to be lynched in the very presence of armed police, on mere allegation of having belittled the image of a revered prophet.

“It is action of this nature, perpetrated in obscure as well as prominent outlets of the nation that turns a young generation into mindless monsters, ever ready to swarm out and kill, kill, kill. Simply kill for the thrill of it, but under presumption of religious immunity. It is conduct like this that then nerves one extremist to wake up one day in a Scandinavian country, publicly announce his intention, and proceed to make a bonfire of copies of the Qur’an. Reprisals follow, equally mindless, trapping humanity in an ever-ascending spiral of costly but gleeful violence.’’

According to the essayist, this continent has endured centuries of disdain and despoilation at the hands of alien religions – Christianity and Islam at the forefront.

“Both religions have been sanctimoniously deployed as justification for unspeakable atrocities, for the dehumanisation of the black race. Do I need to teach you your own history, or is it that you prefer to forget? To encounter, in this century, a convert to alien spiritual dogma, appropriating the cloak of piety to impede the observation of our antecedent spirituality is not just racial treachery but an assault on civilised conduct as a universal aspiration of humanity, where every discovery, every new encounter usher in new propositions of enlightenment. Humanity builds on the past, preserving alternatives of world views, not destroying that past which, in any case, is indestructible,’’ Soyinka said.

He added, “Your conduct is an affront to my sense of racial being, and that holds true for millions beyond these national and continental borders, stretching into the Americas and the Caribbean. There you will still encounter Isese and allied spiritualities. There, Isese still exerts its hold on the human spirit. Visit Brazil, go to Columbia, explore Cuba, and be humbled by the tenacity of this spirituality among the descendants of black humanity.’’

Saying even the sturdiest of thrones crumble, the playwright predicted that long after he and the monarch were gone, generations would continue to endure the effects of present anomalies, pretensions, and hypocrisies and continue to harvest the bitter fruits of the seeds of discord being sown by their forebears.

He said, “I, therefore, urge you to rein in those agents of division, of triumphalist intolerance, such as the Majlisu Shabab Ulamahu Society. There is a thin line between power and piety. Call Yeye Ajasikemi OIokun Omolara to your side, make peace with her and make restitution in whichever way you can for this grievous insult to our race. We know the history of Ilorin and the trajectory of your dynasty – but these are not the issues. The issue is peaceful cohabitation, respect for other worldviews, their celebrations, their values and humanity. The issue is the acceptance of the multiple facets of human enlightenment.

https://punchng.com/isese-youre-neither-omniscient-nor-omnipotent-soyinka-tells-emir-of-ilorin/?amp

Previous thread https://www.nairaland.com/7749972/osun-priestess-yeye-ajesikemi-olokun

Yoruba should know their boundary and respect their host ..

What are they looking for in Ilorin a fulani territory ?

Make fulanis catch you..


Ilorin is lost and lost forever, move on .. If you guys keep misbehaving more territories will be cedded to fulanis without even a single gunshot just like Ilorin

Be warned !!!

You did the right thing your highness... They should go back to yoruba land if they must practice their archaic religion... Please trash the rubbish letter from someone who has long outlived his usefulness.... Imagine mentioning Deborah.... A girl he didn't utter a word about when she was lynched.

Modified.... Tenants now want to exceed their boundaries
I like how Ilorin people are very proactive in checkmating their activities

Soyinka should go ilorin and tell them...we want to check something


They always claim fake oneness and unity on the media

BossGerald:
Soyinka should go ilorin and tell them...we want to check something


They always claim fake oneness and unity on the media

Unity of yorubas in religion remains a figment of imagination of clowns on Nairaland from SW extraction..

I have personally and stylishly asked some Christian Yoruba single ladies I have worked with before..


I asked them, ..

If Igbo Christian man come for your hand in marriage and a Yoruba man who's a Muslim come the same time and you have only those two options ,...who would you marry ?... They all told me Igbo, except one whose father is a Muslim that told me he doesn't have issue with religion... In fact, one of them told me "Olorunmaje" for her to marry a Muslim Yoruba
Now I keep asking myself if Yoruba on nairaland are different from yorubas offline or do the ones on nairaland love deceiving themselves ?

Can somone like Prof Akitola give out his daughter for a Christian to marry ?
Average Christian in South West can't give out his daughter to a Yoruba Muslim to marry as well .
Let somebody like Osibanjo try it let me see.

80 percent of yorubas both Christians and Muslims are conscious of their religion.

If you want to know if what I am saying true, make the inquries yourself if you are very close to yorubas (Female ones)

Some SW Nairaland rodent just love deceiving themselves with "Religion doesn't matter in Yoruba land".

Absuchat:
You did the right thing your highness... They should go back to yoruba land if they must practice their archaic religion... Please trash the rubbish letter from someone who has long outlived his usefulness.... Imagine mentioning Deborah.... A girl he didn't utter a word about when she was lynched.

Maturity will forgive and ignore you cos your age is still below the appropriate age of wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

One would wonder how people who claimed serving a “utmost powerful Allah” would still be so insecure and intolerant of the “Twitter and Thread” kinda competition with a religion they claim has a “dead god”.

Ilorin once had the larger population of the Onisese, before the Uthman Dan Fodio jihad. The Ilorin King and his “fulani-like” thinking minds opined that if they start tolerating the Onisese, they will grow up in numbers to reclaim their ancestral land from them.

Ilorin.. the bane and shame of Yorubas

But they love to masturbate on Igbo cum Biafran affairs

Still better than the South East were we've seen temples getting destroyed.
The Yoruba culture left in kwara is the only reason why this North central state is not just another hell hole like other Northern states.

It is religion that brainwash Ilorin people. Alimi really used religion to damaged Ilorin people physce in d 17th century. Thats why they tolerated a Fulani emir in their midst

BeLookingIDIOT:
Still better than the South East were we've seen temples getting destroyed.
The Yoruba culture left in kwara is the only reason why this North central state is not just another hell hole like other Northern states.

Are you still deceiving yourself??


Dey play oo, this is internet...we already know what you're hiding

Absuchat:
You did the right thing your highness... They should go back to yoruba land if they must practice their archaic religion... Please trash the rubbish letter from someone who has long outlived his usefulness.... Imagine mentioning Deborah.... A girl he didn't utter a word about when she was lynched.

Come to the streets of Yoruba land and say this rubbish. We will bring out all your teeth with punches.

What happened to Deborah is the business of fellow Northerners, what happens in Yoruba land is Wole Soyinka’s business.

I am sure Emilokan Tinubu would have called the useless Emir to mind his actions so that he will not be sent on exile.

'We know the history of Ilorin and the trajectory of your dynasty'
Words on marble

Let the Yorubas keep playing the ostrich
Tinubu should get back Ilorin by making the Balogun of Ilorin a first class monarch

Slaves helplessly neighing in futility against their slavemasters. Alimi have long taken his rightful place in Ilorin.

tishbite42:
'We know the history of Ilorin and the trajectory of your dynasty'
Words on marble

Let the Yorubas keep playing the ostrich
Tinubu should get back Ilorin by making the Balogun of Ilorin a first class monarch

In view, the traditional kings should all be scrapped. They are just eating our money

Most people won't see how serious this matter is

tishbite42:
'We know the history of Ilorin and the trajectory of your dynasty'
Words on marble

Let the Yorubas keep playing the ostrich
Tinubu should get back Ilorin by making the Balogun of Ilorin a first class monarch

Dem no born am well.Tinubu does not even have the constitutional powers to do that.Only the Governor can.

APCNig:


Come to the streets of Yoruba land and say this rubbish. We will bring out all your teeth with punches.

What happened to Deborah is the business of fellow Northerners, what happens in Yoruba land is Wole Soyinka’s business.

I am sure Emilokan Tinubu would have called the useless Emir to mind his actions so that he will not be sent on exile.

Shameless dimwit
Go and punch the Emir of Ilorin

APCNig:


Come to the streets of Yoruba land and say this rubbish. We will bring out all your teeth with punches.

What happened to Deborah is the business of fellow Northerners, what happens in Yoruba land is Wole Soyinka’s business.

I am sure Emilokan Tinubu would have called the useless Emir to mind his actions so that he will not be sent on exile.

But it is not happening in Yoruba land.It is happening in Ilorin.

Too much talk no dey full basket. If e sure 4 u make una dare d emir.


You can as well respect your host or you go to Abeokuta to practice your cultural festival. Ilorin is north Central.

OriOko88:
It is religion that brainwash Ilorin people. Alimi really used religion to damaged Ilorin people physce in d 17th century. Thats why they tolerated a Fulani emir in their midst

Shut up.Illorin is not Yoruba land.

Ilorin is not Yoruba land so why is that old baboon disturbing our peace?

I should read that Teraja because of family in-fighting!? lie lie...

APCNig:


In view, the traditional kings should all be scrapped. They are just eating our money

Real truth

APCNig:


Come to the streets of Yoruba land and say this rubbish. We will bring out all your teeth with punches.

What happened to Deborah is the business of fellow Northerners, what happens in Yoruba land is Wole Soyinka’s business.

I am sure Emilokan Tinubu would have called the useless Emir to mind his actions so that he will not be sent on exile.

Tinubu won't do shit.

He is sold out like the the slaves in Illorin.

APCNig:


Come to the streets of Yoruba land and say this rubbish. We will bring out all your teeth with punches.


What happened to Deborah is the business of fellow Northerners, what happens in Yoruba land is Wole Soyinka’s business.

I am sure Emilokan Tinubu would have called the useless Emir to mind his actions so that he will not be sent on exile.

Since when did Ilorin became a Yoruba land? Oga wake up to reality

That said, what's my business with coming to "streets of Yoruba"? Oga let's finish the fight here first or better still you can go and fight the royal highness in Ilorin.... I'm not the cause of your predicaments. By the way, I don't think anyone is interested in coming to a dirt-infested street to start with, however, anytime I wake up and hear a Yoruba man beat the drum of war, I always stick to IBB's advice

Someone should tell this idiotic WS-popotamus to shut the fvck up.

Trying to use Deborah's case to fool us as usual. It will never work again.

He forgot the people he's trying to drag in into his fight were once labelled fascists by him

GeneralPula:

It’s very easy to spot your Agulu manufactured dimensional incoherent gibberish..

Ewedu warps the human brain.... Study has shown.
Avoid that disgusting algae

Na why we dey always curse Achebe for hin grave

For every statement W.S utters, Achebe would gnash his teeth more in his grave

W.S was the first Nigerian to be so honored

Glad to have been able to live in same era as he

Great one from Soyinka. Nice write i must say. Time to call our overzealous religious leaders to order.

DevilsEqual:
Na why we dey always curse Achebe for hin grave

For every statement W.S utters, Achebe would gnash his teeth more in his grave

W.S was the first Nigerian to be so honored

Glad to have been able to live in same era as he

I heard the royal highness he addressed the letter to used it as a toilet tissue before thinking of reading it